(ORDO NEWS) — All over the world, many mythologies tell of gods who came from the sky and their extraordinary feats. Navajo mythology also falls within this context.
Currently, the Navajo Indians number about 150,000 people living in a large desert reservation that covers the US states of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado, forming the largest Native American tribe in the US.
The Navajo Indian Reservation is larger than France, and the Navajo mythology offers many fascinating insights into their culture.
It is said that in the distant past, when people and animals had a common language, there was a dark first world, illuminated by fires that burned in craters.
From here, the insect people went to other worlds, such as the world of birds and locusts. Therefore, this story is about traveling to unknown worlds, through portals and other dimensions, and their fascinating cosmic evolution.
In the fourth world, the first Navajo people were created – a myth that explains the mysterious origin of this people. The crossing of the worlds by the first beings is a journey to the “Shining World from the Surface”.
As for other worlds, they were destroyed due to disrespect for the laws given by the gods regarding coexistence with other people, with representatives of the same people, as well as with representatives of other peoples and other civilizations.
As with other origin mythologies, the rules given by the gods must be followed to avoid destruction, but there is also forgiveness that allows a fresh start in a new world.
Navajo mythology speaks of the existence of several worlds
Navajo mythology speaks of the existence of several worlds. Therefore, even before the discovery of other planets, the Navajo Indians accepted the idea of the existence of other worlds, animated by life and other civilizations.
According to Navajo mythology, the first world was inhabited by peoples of bees, ants, dragonflies, scarabs, crickets, and flies.
The appearance of the idea of flight in this world is explained by the legend of the dragonfly, which made wings for itself and began to move them, rising from the ground. She took off into the sky, and other creatures of this world followed her example, also starting to fly.
Wanting to get out of this first world of hot craters in order to colonize other worlds, its inhabitants flew until they reached the highest part of their world, looking for a way out in the sky.
But at that moment, the sky was solid and they had to search until they saw a blue light from which a blue head emerged, which was a transition point or a portal to another dimension. Thus, the inhabitants of the first Navajo world managed to cross into the second world, where the war with birds began.
The second world in Navajo mythology was completely blue and was inhabited by birds. The bird people did not allow other peoples from the first world to settle in their world.
Because of the famine, a war with birds began, and the peoples of insects were exterminated. The remaining insects flew away again in search of a new world for life.
And again they found a portal in the sky and entered the third world, where everything was yellow and where the locust people lived.
Here people lived in peace and harmony, accepting each other and getting along together. However, the conflict eventually caused the locusts to drive off the newcomers. Accompanied by four locusts, they went through the portal to the fourth world.
This new world, the fourth world, was black and white and very bright. Deer, wild turkey and kisani lived here – strange people who knew how to build houses and cultivate the land. This world was very large and fraught with many mysteries.
So, up to this point, one can note the fact that many worlds and transitional moments are mentioned in Navajo mythology.
This is the moment when the world can become uninhabitable, and the need to leave the world for the survival of civilization, and portals, and wars between inhabitants of different worlds, and alternative dimensions, and other things that are the subject of science today.
Navajo Dancers Yebichai, Edward S. Curtis, 1900, signifying the arrival of the Navajo into the fourth world and the emergence of humans.
The Creation of Man in Navajo Mythology
In Navajo mythology, the gods have a human body. Among them are the White body, the Blue body, the Yellow body and the Black body. These sacred creatures revealed themselves to insect people, but in an incomprehensible sign language.
Therefore, the language of the gods was based on signs that differed from the sign language of insect people. Finally, seeing that they were not understood, the gods turned to the insect people in a colloquial language.
They announced to the insect people that they would soon create humans who would look exactly like the gods themselves. According to the promise, the gods were to return in 12 days. The insects have prepared and the gods have returned.
On the skin of a deer, the gods put two corncobs with the tops to the east. Under the influence of the wind, the first woman appeared from the yellow cob of corn, and the first man appeared from the white cob.
As for the wind, it brought life by entering through the head and exiting through the legs, which is the same life force that man possesses. When the life force no longer enters and exits through the mouth, the person dies.
After humans were created by the gods, more humans were born over time, and the Navajo civilization developed.
Therefore, according to Navajo mythology, man was created by a much more advanced civilization, namely the civilization of the gods. However, the catastrophe of the flood hit the fourth world, and people had to go to the fifth world.
Fifth world in Navajo mythology
As the waters of the flood rose, living creatures had to climb stairs to heaven. People had to find a hole in the firm vault of the sky, a place of transition to the fifth world. Finally, a portal was created and the creatures were able to cross over to the new world.
Safely arriving in the fifth world, the first people crowded closely on an island located in the middle of a large lake. There was dry land around the lake, but they could not get there. Then the god of the Blue body, who brought with him four sacred stones from the fourth world, threw them in four directions.
Thus, the waters of the lake flowed out through the holes made by the stones until a muddy road was formed connecting the island to the land. Thus, the gods undertook a sort of terraforming process (literally, the process of “shaping the Earth“) to make the fifth world habitable for humans.
The road was muddy, but the blowing wind helped dry it out. Thus, people were able to get to the ground. Then the humans, along with Blue Body and Black Body, modeled mountains using soil taken from the sacred mountains of the fourth world.
Thus, using materials brought from the fourth world, the fifth world was prepared and changed in such a way that it corresponded to the vital needs of people and other creatures.
Fire mountain
When the first winter came to the land of the deer, all living beings began to suffer from the cold. Among them was Coyote, who thought that he would no longer suffer so if he could get a spark from the fiery mountain.
A very interesting element appears here, because many mythologies and legends of antiquity speak of these fiery mountains.
Coyote managed to convince a woodpecker to fly over a fiery mountain with a bunch of branches in his claws. When sparks jumped on the twigs, they ignited, and the woodpecker returned the fire. But she had to avoid the fiery people, who might notice her and shoot her with fire arrows.
Climbing the mountain, the woodpecker saw two monsters, which the Fireman appointed to guard the flame and which looked like two giant flies. Since the eyes of these monsters never closed, they spotted a woodpecker and fired sparks at it. The woodpecker dropped a bunch of branches and flew back.
After this unsuccessful attempt, the hawk went to find out who the fire keepers were. He studied them in detail during the flight and returned to tell the others.
After listening to the description of the monsters, the coyote decided to try to return the fire himself. He asked the birds to tie a bunch of branches to his tail and flew away.
Having reached the mountain of fire, Coyote managed to deceive the two monsters, blinding them. Then, as the flames rose to the top of the crater, he pushed a bunch of branches through the flames. It caught fire, and Coyote was able to return the fire.
This fragment from Navajo mythology is interesting in that many mythologies speak of mountains of fire or mountains of metal. In general, it is said that metal gods who came to the world of people live inside the mountains.
These mountains are guarded by monstrous creatures, the guardians of the gods, and at the time when the gods want to leave, they disappear along with their iron mountains.
As for the fiery mountain from Navajo mythology, it could be an ordinary volcano, but it could be something more.
It could be a place where another, more advanced civilization, unknown to people, was hiding, which guarded the two monsters. Only one thing is certain: in the worlds of origin mythologies, the truth can never be known.
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