White Shell Woman (Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́)
Also known as: Yolkaí Estsán (Matthews's spelling)
Mythological Narrative
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.
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## Two women, or one?
White Shell Woman's relationship to Changing Woman differs from telling to telling. In Washington Matthews's *Navaho Legends* (1897), Yolkaí Estsán and Estsánatlehi are two women who live together; Changing Woman conceives a son by the Sun, and White Shell Woman conceives a son by the water, and the two boys grow up together as brothers: Monster Slayer and Born for Water. In many later tellings, White Shell Woman is another name for Changing Woman, or an aspect of her, and both twins are Changing Woman's sons.
## White shell
White shell is one of the four sacred stones of Diné tradition, associated with the east and with Sisnaajiní (Blanca Peak), the sacred mountain of the east. White Shell Woman's name links her with that stone and direction.
## Why both entries exist
This site keeps White Shell Woman as a separate entry because a major published source treats her as a separate person, and because merging her into Changing Woman would erase that version. Readers should understand that many Diné tellers would not separate them.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding White Shell Woman (Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́).
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Changing Woman (Asdzą́ą́ Nádleehé)
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.
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.