The Mountain Top Chant
The Mountain Top Chant (Dzil Naʼoodilii) is a major Navajo ceremony whose origin story tells of a maiden who encountered a bear during her puberty ceremony. A young Navajo woman, while gathering materials for her ceremony, was approached by a bear who taught her the sacred songs, prayers, and sandpaintings of the Mountain Top Chant. The bear spirit took her into the mountains where she learned the entire ceremonial cycle over several days. When she returned to her people, she taught them the ceremony, which is used to invoke the protection and power of the mountain spirits and to cure illnesse