The Navajo Mountain and Sun Myth in Washington Matthews’s Work

Record summary

Washington Matthews recorded Diné, historically Navajo, ceremonial and mythic materials involving the sun, dawn, fire, lightning, and the emergence of the world. His publications, including Navajo Legends and studies of the Night Chant, are identifiable nineteenth-century sources for tracing how these motifs entered American ethnology. They are not straightforward transcripts: Matthews worked through translation, restricted ceremonial access, and scholarly categorization. Comparison with Diné-authored scholarship is needed to distinguish a specific recorded tradition from later generalized “Navajo mythology.”