Changing Woman conceived Monster Slayer and Born for Water when Sun Father's rays fell upon her and water from a waterfall entered her, the twins growing with supernatural speed before journeying to Sun Father's sky home to obtain weapons against the monsters.
Sun Father sired Yéʼiitsoh, the Big Giant and chief of the Anaye, during the chaotic period of the separation of the sexes, making the greatest monster a monstrous half-brother to the Hero Twins.
⚠ Ye'iitsoh's parentage by Sun Father is attested in Matthews and some oral accounts but not universally present in all versions of the Diné Bahane'.
Atsá and Gini serve as Sun Father's sacred messengers, carrying prayers and power between the sky realm and the earth below, their feathers charged with the holiness of the sun.
First Man and First Woman fashioned the sun from a perfect turquoise disk and placed it on Jóhonaaʼéí's back, charging him to carry it across the sky each day and establishing the cycle of light in the Glittering World.
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).
The Monster Slaying tells how Monster Slayer and Born for Water journeyed to Sun Father for lightning bolts and flint armor, guided by Spider Woman, then destroyed the Anaye terrorizing the people in the newly emerged world.
Sun Father tested Monster Slayer and Born for Water with deadly trials at his turquoise house in the sky, and when the Hero Twins survived, he accepted them as his sons and gave them lightning arrows and flint armor to destroy the Anaye.
Sun Father revealed to the Hero Twins where each of the Anaye lurked and how to destroy them, but commanded his sons to spare Old Age, Poverty, Hunger, and Cold — for without these, the people would grow complacent and the world would fall out of balance.
After the Hero Twins made the world safe, Sun Father built Changing Woman a home on an island in the western ocean, where he visits her each evening as the sun descends below the horizon.
After the Holy People emerged into the Glittering World during the Hajíínáí, they fashioned the sun from a turquoise disk and chose Jóhonaaʼéí to bear it across the sky each day, establishing the cycle of light that governs the Fifth World.
At the first Kinaaldá, Changing Woman offered the first piece of ceremonial corn cake to Sun Father at dawn, binding the puberty rite to his life-giving power and establishing the sunrise offering as a foundation of all subsequent ceremonies.
Spider Woman told the Hero Twins the secrets of Sun Father's turquoise house — the four deadly trials he would set and the life feathers that would shield them — so that when they stood before their father, they answered every test and proved themselves his sons.
Sun Father carries the turquoise sun disk across the sky by day, and Tłʼéhonaaʼéí carries the white shell moon disk by night — twin bearers placed in their courses by the Holy People after the emergence, dividing time between light and darkness.
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