The Diyin Dine'é (Holy People) are the supernatural beings of Navajo tradition who created the world, guided the people through the underworlds to the Glittering World, and taught the ceremonial ways that maintain hózhó (harmony).
First Man, First Woman, Coyote, Begochiddy, and Water-Monster were central figures in the Emergence (Hajíínáí). Coyote's theft of Water-Monster's children provoked the great flood that drove the people upward through the worlds into the Glittering World.
Coyote threw a hide scraper into the water and declared that if it sank, the dead would return no more — it sank, and so death became permanent, giving rise to the chindi that haunt the living.
⚠ Some versions attribute this act to First Man or other figures; Coyote's role is the most widely attested in major collections.
Coyote grew impatient as Hastsezini (Black God) carefully placed stars in the sky. He seized the blanket holding the remaining stars and flung them into the heavens, scattering them randomly and ruining Black God's orderly design.
Coyote swallowed Horned Toad whole, but Horned Toad used his sharp horns to cut his way out from inside, killing Coyote — who revived as tricksters do, having learned nothing from the encounter.
Nilchʼi whispered warnings to the Holy People about Coyote's deceptions during the Emergence, serving as the voice of truth that exposed the trickster's schemes even as he hid Water Monster's stolen children beneath his blanket.
Skinwalkers take the form of a coyote more than any other animal, and encountering a coyote at night is considered an omen of witchcraft — the trickster deity's shape has become inseparable from the most feared practitioners of Navajo sorcery.
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