The religion of the Athabaskan peoples treats female puberty as one of the most important events in tribal life. The puberty rite involves the young girl’s becoming a fertile woman and, in the process of the rite, taking on the curative powers of the fertility goddess, Changing Woman or White Shell Woman. The Navajo call the puberty rite the kinaalda. A myth is told that “explains” and provides the outline for the kinaalda.