Changing Woman (Asdzą́ą́ Nádleehé)
Also known as: Estsánatlehi (Matthews's spelling), Asdzą́ą́ Nádleehé
Mythological Narrative
The most beloved of the Diné Holy People, 'Woman who changes', found as an infant on Chʼóolʼį́ʼí, mother of the Hero Twins by the Sun, and creator of the first Diné clans; she grows old and young again with the seasons.
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## Woman who changes
Asdzą́ą́ Nádleehé, Changing Woman, is often described as the most beloved and benevolent of the Diné Holy People. Her name refers to her renewal: she grows old in winter and becomes young again in spring, in the cycle of the seasons and of life itself. She is associated with the earth, with growth, and with the Blessingway, the ceremony at the heart of Diné religion, which this site does not describe.
## Her finding
In many tellings, including those gathered in Zolbrod's *Diné bahaneʼ*, First Man hears an infant crying on top of Chʼóolʼį́ʼí (Gobernador Knob) in a place of dark cloud and rain and finds a small turquoise figure there, which the Holy People bring to life as a baby girl; she is raised by First Man and First Woman. She grows to womanhood in days, and her puberty ceremony, the first Kinaaldá, is the pattern for the Kinaaldá still held for Diné girls today. Matthews's 1897 version tells her origin differently: a turquoise image found by an unnamed family is brought to life by the gods, together with a white shell image that becomes White Shell Woman, and there is no fostering by First Man. This site does not choose between the versions.
## Mother of the Hero Twins
By the Sun, Jóhonaaʼéí, she becomes the mother of Naayééʼ Neizghání, Monster Slayer; in many tellings she is also the mother of his twin, Tóbájíshchíní, Born for Water, while in Matthews's version Born for Water is the son of White Shell Woman. She hides the boys from the monsters and later sends them on their way.
## The west and the clans
When the monsters have been overcome, Changing Woman goes to live in the west, in a house the Sun built for her on the water. There, in widely published tellings, she creates the first Diné clans from skin rubbed from her own body, and sends them east to Diné Bikéyah. The clan system she began remains the basis of Diné identity: a Diné person introduces themselves by their clans.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Changing Woman (Asdzą́ą́ Nádleehé).
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White Shell Woman (Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́)
A Holy Person who in Matthews's 1897 version lives with Changing Woman and is the mother of Born for Water; in many later tellings she is another name or aspect of Changing Woman herself.
Born for Water (Tóbájíshchíní)
The younger of the Hero Twins, Monster Slayer's brother; in Matthews's version the son of White Shell Woman by the water, in many later tellings Changing Woman's son by the Sun.
First Man (Áłtsé Hastiin)
One of the first beings of the lower worlds, who with First Woman leads the people through the emergence, helps order the world above, and in many tellings finds the infant Changing Woman.
First Woman (Áłtsé Asdzą́ą́)
First Man's partner in the lower worlds, whose quarrel with him leads to the separation of women and men and, in many tellings, to the birth of the monsters; she helps raise Changing Woman.