The Sun Bearer (Jóhonaaʼéí)
Also known as: Tsóhanoai (Matthews's spelling), Sun Bearer, the Sun
Mythological Narrative
The Sun, who carries the sun across the sky, father of Monster Slayer by Changing Woman; he tests the twins harshly before recognising them as his sons and giving them lightning weapons.
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## The one who carries the sun
Jóhonaaʼéí is the Sun, often described in English as the Sun Bearer because he carries the sun across the sky each day. He lives in a house in the east, described in Matthews's version as made of turquoise, from which he sets out each morning.
## Father of the twins
By Changing Woman he is the father of Monster Slayer, and in many tellings of Born for Water too. When the twins arrive at his house, he is not pleased: his wife asks him whose children these are, and he tests the boys severely, throwing them against spikes, shutting them in an overheated sweat house, and offering them poisoned tobacco. Spider Woman's gifts and the help of others protect them, and at last he acknowledges them as his sons.
## Gifts and a price
The Sun gives the twins armour of flint and weapons, including arrows of lightning, to destroy the monsters, and himself strikes the first blow against Yéʼiitsoh, who in some tellings is also his son. Later, in widely published tellings, he asks Changing Woman to live with him in the west, and builds her a house there on the water.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding The Sun Bearer (Jóhonaaʼéí).
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Born for Water (Tóbájíshchíní)
The younger of the Hero Twins, Monster Slayer's brother; in Matthews's version the son of White Shell Woman by the water, in many later tellings Changing Woman's son by the Sun.
Changing Woman (Asdzą́ą́ Nádleehé)
The most beloved of the Diné Holy People, 'Woman who changes', found as an infant on Chʼóolʼį́ʼí, mother of the Hero Twins by the Sun, and creator of the first Diné clans; she grows old and young again with the seasons.
First Man (Áłtsé Hastiin)
One of the first beings of the lower worlds, who with First Woman leads the people through the emergence, helps order the world above, and in many tellings finds the infant Changing Woman.
First Woman (Áłtsé Asdzą́ą́)
First Man's partner in the lower worlds, whose quarrel with him leads to the separation of women and men and, in many tellings, to the birth of the monsters; she helps raise Changing Woman.