Diné (Navajo) TraditionHoly Person
White Shell Woman (Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́)
Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́(Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́)
Also known as Yolkaí Estsán (Matthews's spelling)
- white shell
- the east
- motherhood
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.
About White Shell Woman (Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́)
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.
Worship and cult
Temples, festivals, and practices recorded for White Shell Woman (Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́)
The Holy People are part of a living religion. Ceremonies associated with them, including the Blessingway (Hózhǫ́ǫ́jí) and the chantways conducted by hataałii (ceremonial practitioners), are not described on this site, and sandpaintings are not reproduced, because they are sacred and made for healing within ceremony. Many Diné families teach that the origin stories in which the Holy People appear should be told only in winter, after the first frost and before the first thunder of spring.
Family
White Shell Woman (Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́)'s family at a glance
- Who are White Shell Woman (Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́)'s children?
- Children of White Shell Woman (Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́) recorded in the atlas: Born for Water (Tóbájíshchíní).
In the atlas
Where White Shell Woman (Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́) appears
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Washington Matthews, Navaho Legends
Appears in
Ancient and classical works featuring this figure.
Yolkaí Estsán, mother of Born for Water in this version (origin legend)
Further reading
Yolkaí Estsán in the 1897 version
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Parallels are editorial comparisons across traditions: a shared role does not, by itself, establish a shared origin.
Family relationships come from the atlas's kinship records. Ancient sources often disagree on divine genealogy.
Genealogy
Family tree
White Shell Woman (Yoołgaii Asdzą́ą́)'s parents, consorts, children and rivals, as recorded in the atlas.