First Man raised Tsisnaasjini', Tsoodzil, Dook'o'oosłííd, and Dibé Nitsaa from sacred soil carried in his medicine bundle, fastening each mountain to the earth and adorning them with precious stones to mark the cardinal boundaries of Dinétah.
The Four Sacred Mountains mark the cardinal boundaries of Dinétah — Tsisnaasjini' stands in the east adorned with white shell, Tsoodzil in the south with turquoise, Dook'o'oosłííd in the west with abalone, and Dibé Nitsaa in the north with jet, each fastened to the earth by First Man to hold the Glittering World in place.
Changing Woman placed her sacred stones upon the four boundary mountains — white shell on Tsisnaasjini', turquoise on Tsoodzil, abalone on Dook'o'ooslííd, and jet on Dibé Nitsaa — binding her power of renewal to the cardinal directions.
The four sacred mountains mark the cardinal boundaries of Dinétah, the Navajo homeland, as established by the Holy People after the Emergence. Tsisnaasjini' guards the east, Tsoodzil the south, Dook'o'oosłííd the west, and Dibé Nitsaa the north.
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