Diné Bahaneʼ - The Creation Story of the Glittering World

Told by Red Elk – Welcome Native Spirit

I am Red Elk, and today I want to share with you a story that lives deep within my people. It is a story that has traveled through generations, whispered during long winter nights, spoken beside warm fires, and carried in every breath of Mother Earth. This story is known as Diné Bahaneʼ, the Navajo Creation Story.

When I was young, every winter as snow softened the land and the nights stretched longer, my grandfather would call me to sit beside him. The firelight would flicker across his face, warm and ancient, as if holding the memories of our ancestors. Then he would begin speaking, slowly and carefully, as though every word was a sacred thread in a much larger tapestry.

“We did not begin here,” he would tell me.
“The Diné traveled through three worlds before entering this one, the Fourth World, the Glittering World, the world you live in now.”

He described the First World as a place of mist and darkness, the earliest spark of existence where the first beings learned to recognize themselves and the presence of light. It was the first heartbeat of creation.

When those beings grew, they entered the Second World. There, new emotions appeared: jealousy, anger, conflict. They struggled to live in harmony and eventually understood they needed to leave. My grandfather often reminded me that we too sometimes need to walk away from places where we have forgotten how to be at peace.

The journey continued into the Third World, a brighter and wider place. The People learned more about community and responsibility, about building a life together. Yet the lessons of the past followed them, and harmony once again dissolved. A great flood came, washing everything away. This was not the end but a doorway. It was the sign that they needed to move on to a world where balance could finally be understood.

Then my grandfather’s voice would soften as if inviting the spirits to listen.

“They arrived in the Fourth World, the Glittering World, the world of light, the world of beauty, the world we walk today.”

In this world, the Holy People appeared and taught the Diné how to live the right way.
They taught how to greet the morning with gratitude.
How to walk gently upon the earth.
How to live in harmony with animals, plants, and even the smallest insects.
How to heal both the spirit and the body.
How to live with hózhó, which means balance, beauty, and harmony.

To protect the Diné, the Holy People placed four sacred mountains at the edges of their homeland. My grandfather said that when you stand between Blanca Peak in the east, Mount Taylor in the south, the San Francisco Peaks in the west, and Hesperus Peak in the north, you can feel the heartbeat of Navajo land beneath your feet.

Each mountain carries a sacred color: white, blue, yellow, and black. These colors are the breath of the universe and the steps of every sacred journey.

“When you feel lost,” my grandfather would tell me, “remember that you live in a world born of light. Walk gently with gratitude, and the path will find you again.”

To the Diné, the number four is the soul of creation. Four worlds. Four directions. Four seasons. Four colors. Four movements in ceremony. Four phases of life. Life does not move in a straight line. It moves in circles. Everything eventually returns to balance.

Grandfather also explained that when someone becomes ill, whether in body or spirit, it is because they have drifted away from hózhó. This is why Medicine Men use prayers, songs, herbs, sandpaintings, and ceremonies that last through the night. They do not erase the pain. They restore harmony.

These stories remain with me as I walk through life. When I created Welcome Native Spirit, I knew it could never be just a store. It had to be a place where these stories continue to live, where culture is honored, where ancestors are remembered, and where everyone can feel the beauty of walking the Glittering World.

If you are reading this now, I hope you can pause for a moment. Feel the ground beneath your feet. Feel the sky resting above you. Feel the heartbeat inside your chest.

Because you are part of this story too.
Part of this beauty.
Part of this harmony.

As my grandfather always told me: “When you walk in beauty, you never walk alone.”

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