Related Myths
about Breath / Spirit

Myth 1

Myth 2

Navajo Myth

"While they were waiting for strength, they saw a Cloud of Light which kept rising and falling . . . while they watched, it turned black, and from the blackness they saw the Black Wind coming. Then the Cloud of Light turned blue, and the saw the Blue Wind coming to them; then it turned yellow and the Yellow Wind appeared; then it turned white and the White Wind came. Finally the light showed all colors and the Many Colored Wind came . . . This Cloud of Light also created the Rainbow of the Earth, and as the light changes, it creates hayolkaal the White Early Dawn; Nahodeetl'izh, the Blue Sky of noon and also the blue that comes after the dawn; nahootsoi, the Yellow of Sunset; and chahalheel, the Dark of Night. These were also made for the people of the Earth, and each of these is a holy time of the day from which comes certain powers.

"When the Winds appeared and entered Life they passed through the bodies of men and creatures and make the lines on the fingers, toes, and heads of human beings, an on the bodies of the different animals. The Wind has given men and creatures strength ever since, for at the beginning they were shrunken and flabby until it inflated them; and the Wind was creation's first food, and put motion and change into nature, giving life to everything, even to the mountains and water."

(Cajete, 1994, p. 51)