Yolkai Estasan (or Yolkai Estsan meaning "white-shell woman") is a lunar deity associated with the seasons. Her sister is Estanatlehi. Her name comes from her creation; she was made from abalone. She ruled the ocean, the sunrise, fire, and maize.
Yolkai Estasan's sister, Estanatelhi (or Estsanatlehi), was a sky goddess who was very respected among the Navaho. She was a goddess of change, particularly the maturation of women. She endlessly grows from a young maiden to an adult woman to an old crone, then beginning the cycle again without dying. She created the first humans and now rules over the underworld.
The first man and woman saw a black cloud on a mountain, and after investigating, discovered an infant Estanatlehi who became a woman in eighteen days. She created more people out of small pieces of her skin because she was lonely and wanted companions.
Ahsonnutli was a very important deity, the creator of heaven and earth, and was called the "turquoise hermaphrodite."
Hastshehogan is a domestic deity, patron of homes. Hasteoltoi is a goddess of the hunt. Glispa invented medicine and taught it to the Navaho. Bikeh Hozho represents the personified power of speech. Tonenili ("water sprinkler") was a trickster rain god. Tsohanoai ("sun bearer") is a solar deity who carries the sun across the sky on his back and stores it in the west side of his house during the night. The Diyin dine was a group of mortals with great power; they were culture-heroes.
Mythology figures prominently in most religions, and most mythology is tied to at least one religion.
For the purposes of this article, therefore, we use the word "mythology" to refer to stories that, while they may or may not be strictly factual, reveal fundamental truths and insights about human nature, often through the use of archetypes.
Mythology is alive and well in the modern age through urban legends, scientific mythology, and many other ways.
Myths are generally stories based on tradition and legend designed to explain the universe, the world's creation, natural phenomena, and anything else for which no simple explanation presents itself.
Stories from scripture are usually not referred to as mythology except in a pejorative sense, but one can speak of a Jewish mythology, a Christian mythology, or an Islamic mythology, in which one describes the mythic elements within these faiths without speaking to the veracity of the faith's tenets or claims about its history.
Feeds |
Contact