First Woman

First Woman, Áłtsé Asdzą́ą́, is the primordial female Holy Person of the Diné emergence story, formed in the lower worlds from the sacred winds and paired with an ear of yellow corn. She ascends with First Man through the underworlds and shares in the ordering of the present world, in some tellings placing the Little Dipper in the sky opposite the Big Dipper set by First Man. The famous episode of the separation of the sexes, in which the men and women live apart across a river until reconciliation, turns on the pride and independence First Woman asserts. With First Man she discovers and rears the infant Changing Woman, placing her at the head of the maternal line from which the Hero Twins descend.

Domains

• creation
• celestial order

Powers

• to place stars and help order the surface world

Epithets

• Áłtsé Asdzą́ą́Paul G. Zolbrod, Diné bahaneʼ: The Navajo Creation Story, University of New Mexico Press, 1984. (secondary)

Relations

• spouse: First ManFirst Woman and First Man 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)
• mother of: Asdzą́ą́ NádleehéWith First Man, First Woman raises the infant Changing Woman found on the sacred mountain, acting as her foster mother.Washington Matthews, Navaho Legends, American Folk-Lore Society / Houghton Mifflin, 1897. (secondary)

Sources

• First Woman (Áłtsé Asdzą́ą́) is the primordial female Holy Person of Diné cosmogony, formed with an ear of yellow corn, consort of First Man, and foster mother of 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); Gladys A. Reichard, Navaho Religion: A Study of Symbolism, Bollingen / Pantheon Books, 1950. (secondary)