Naʼashjéʼii Asdzą́ą́ (Naashjeii Asdzaa) — "Spider Woman / Spider Grandmother"

In the material summarized by the provided sources, Naʼashjéii Asdzą́ą́ is described as a being entrusted by the Diyin Dinee (Holy People) to weave a pattern of the universe. The Yale National Initiative summary explicitly states that Naashjeii Asdzaa was given responsibility by the Holy People to weave the universe; related summaries and retellings place her within origin-story and instructional contexts where culture-hero figures meet her. The excerpts indicate her role is cosmogenic and pedagogical — a figure who mediates the ordering of the world through weaving — but the supplied materials do not provide a fuller, step-by-step cosmogonic narrative or an extended litany of episodes beyond these concise statements.

The provided sources do not supply a consistent, detailed physical description. English-language renderings commonly call her Spider Woman / Spider Grandmother / Spider Old-Woman, implying association with spiders and an elder female persona, but the excerpts do not specify whether she appears as an actual spider, a human woman with spider attributes, or in multiple forms. The notes also point to variation across Southwest traditions (e.g., Zuni and Pueblo references to Grandmother Spider) where representations range from an ancestral woman-figure to spider-associated embodiments; the present sources emphasize the conceptual combination of spider imagery and elder/teacher status rather than fixed corporeal details.

Across the provided excerpts, Naʼashjéʼii Asdzą́ą́'s central attributed ability is weaving as a cosmological act: she was entrusted to 'weave a pattern of the universe' by the Holy People, a creative and ordering power (Yale summary). She functions as an instructor and guardian in narrative contexts, encountered by hero figures such as the Hero Twins, which situates her as a mediator of cultural knowledge and guidance (Anishinabek News review; Yale Unit summary). The collected materials also note cross-cultural Southwest parallels in which a spider-grandmother figure transmits cultural practices (for example, a Zuni attribution of string games to Grandmother Spider cited in the Hitotoki summary), but the supplied Navajo-focused excerpts do not claim specific magical abilities beyond weaving, teaching, and cultural transmission. No malicious behaviors, possession accounts, or harmful powers are documented in these sources.