The seasonsCornThe twinsThe house in the westThe kinaalda
Mythology Summary
Asdzaa Nadlehee, Changing Woman, is the central female sacred being of the Dine (Navajo) emergence tradition: raised by First Man and First Woman, mother of the Hero Twins by the Sun, she becomes young and old with the seasons. The four-day Kinaalda puberty ceremony is modelled on her first change, and she is the mother of the people. The narrative is given in the Dine bahane' (see Paul Zolbrod's 1984 translation) and in the ceremonial literature. She is a sacred being, not a goddess.
Modern Practice
Changing Woman is honoured in the Kinaalda and in the corn pollen offering, and the practice is the ceremony, the corn and the care of women at a change. The Kinaalda is a living ceremony, and the practice belongs to Dine families and ceremonial practitioners. She is not a 'goddess' to be invoked for a workshop.