Birth of Dawn Woman - Luci Tapahonso's "A Breeze Swept Through"

Dawn, dusk, sunsets, morning, August, and November – all of these words are ways to mark the passing of time.  Luci Tapahonso’s emphasis on the passage of time was our focus when studying her poem, “A Breeze Swept Through.”  After a lengthy discussion, the class decided the poem was about the birth of her two daughters, Lori Tazbah and Misty Dawn. 

Later Tuesday afternoon, I was still pondering some of the lines in Tapahonso’s poem and thought it must have a deeper meaning than just the birth of her children.  After some digging, I realized that this was the case – in the video, “Native Voices” on the Annenberg Learner website, Tapahonso’s poem is identified as borrowed from the Navajo creation story.  As stated in the video, “The poet’s birthing of her daughters is retold as part of a sacred narrative, a story about the birth of the world.  Like a chant wave, the poem repeats “she is born” four times, connecting the birth to the Navajo value of harmony and completion.”

Unfamiliar with the Navajo creation story, I read it through on the Navajo Legends website and the story definitely sheds some light on Tapahonso’s poem!      The creation story outlines four worlds that depict the emergence of the Navajo people into their homeland.  Man and woman are created in the first world, “Above the sea there was a black cloud, a white cloud, a blue cloud, and a yellow cloud.  The female spirit of life lived in the black cloud, while the male spirit of dawn lived in the white.  When the blue and yellow clouds came together, the First Woman, while the black and white came together to form the First Man” (“Navajo Creation Story”).  In the third world, the First Woman gave birth to twins, neither male nor female; four days later a second set of twins, a male and female; and after twenty days, five sets of twins had been born.  These children of the First Woman and First Man go on to bring many people into being, according to the creation story.

In the video interview I watched, Tapahonso reflects on her poem: “It’s a poem that acknowledges first woman.  It begins by acknowledging a holy person and the idea of dawn, but it also acknowledges the beginning of my daughters’ lives, which is a very sacred thing.  (“American Passages”).

It is clear now that I’ve read the Navajo creation story, that Tapahonso is connecting herself with the First Woman, referenced as “dawn woman.”  Staying connected with her ancestors is an important part of Tapahonso’s life.

I am curious yet about the colors of the male and female spirits presented in the creation story.  It states the male spirit of dawn lived in the white, while the female spirit of life lived in a black cloud.  Is there a significance to the reference of dawn connected to a man?  Tapahonso’s poem uses the term “dawn woman” not “dawn man.”  What are your thoughts on this?
 

Works Cited

“American Passages: A Literary Survey – Native Voices.” Annenberg Learner, 2016, https://www.learner.org/series/amerpass/unit01/usingvideo.html.  Accessed 2 Feb. 2016.

 “Navajo Creation Story.” Navajo Legends, 2017, http://www.navajolegends.org/navajo-creation-story/.  Accessed 2 Feb. 2017.

 Tapahonso, Luci. “A Breeze Swept Through.” Sisters of the Earth, edited by Lorraine Anderson, Vintage Books, 2003, 48-49.