First Man
First Man, Áłtsé Hastiin, is one of the two primordial Holy People of the Diné origin narrative. He is formed in the lower worlds from the meeting of the dawn and the sacred winds, paired with an ear of white corn, and becomes the principal organizer of the ascent through the underworlds to the present earth. Together with First Woman, Black God, Water Sprinkler and other Holy People he raises the four sacred mountains from soil brought up from below and helps arrange the orderly stars. After the emergence he discovers the newborn Changing Woman on the sacred mountain and, with First Woman, rears her, thereby standing at the origin of the line that produces the Hero Twins. In some tellings he is also associated with knowledge later turned to witchcraft, marking his ambivalent authority over the ordering of the world.
Domains
- creation
- sacred geography
Powers
- to build the sacred mountains and order the surface world
- to set certain stars in the sky
Epithets
- Áłtsé HastiinPaul G. Zolbrod, Diné bahaneʼ: The Navajo Creation Story, University of New Mexico Press, 1984. (secondary)
Relations
- spouse: First WomanFirst Man and First Woman are the primordial couple formed together in the worlds below.Paul G. Zolbrod, Diné bahaneʼ: The Navajo Creation Story, University of New Mexico Press, 1984. (secondary)
- father of: Asdzą́ą́ NádleehéFirst Man finds the infant Changing Woman on Gobernador Knob (Chʼóolʼíʼí) and, with First Woman, raises her as a foster daughter.Washington Matthews, Navaho Legends, American Folk-Lore Society / Houghton Mifflin, 1897. (secondary)
Sources
- First Man (Áłtsé Hastiin) is the primordial male Holy Person of Diné cosmogony, formed with an ear of white corn, who leads the emergence, helps build the sacred mountains, and fosters the infant Changing Woman.: Paul G. Zolbrod, Diné bahaneʼ: The Navajo Creation Story, University of New Mexico Press, 1984. (secondary); Washington Matthews, Navaho Legends, American Folk-Lore Society / Houghton Mifflin, 1897. (secondary); Aileen O'Bryan, The Diné: Origin Myths of the Navaho Indians, Smithsonian Institution BAE Bulletin 163, 1956. (secondary)