Diné (Navajo) TraditionMountain
Chʼóolʼį́ʼí (Gobernador Knob)
A small peak in the Dinétah region of northern New Mexico where, in many tellings, First Man found the infant Changing Woman.
About Chʼóolʼį́ʼí (Gobernador Knob)
Where Changing Woman was found
Chʼóolʼį́ʼí, known in English as Gobernador Knob, is a small summit in Rio Arriba County, northern New Mexico, within the Four Corners region. In many tellings of the Diné origin story, it is here that First Man, following the sound of a baby's cry beneath a dark cloud, found the infant who would become Changing Woman.
Dinétah
Chʼóolʼį́ʼí lies in Dinétah, the region along the upper San Juan River where, in Diné tradition and in the archaeological record, early Diné life was centred. Together with nearby Dziłnaʼoodiłii (Huerfano Mountain), it is among the sacred mountains within the land bounded by the four directional mountains.
Respect
The knob is on public land, and it remains a sacred place for Diné people. This site gives its location because it is widely published, and asks readers to treat it accordingly.
On the map
Chʼóolʼį́ʼí (Gobernador Knob) among other places of the Diné (Navajo) Tradition.
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.
- Paul G. Zolbrod, Diné bahaneʼ
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.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.