One of the most important Blessing Way rites is the Kinaaldá ceremony, in which a young girl makes the transition to womanhood upon her menarche.
The Kinaaldá ceremony includes the girl demonstrating endurance by ritualised running, each dawn over a period of several days, as well as a hair-combing ritual and the baking of a large corn cake.
The purpose of the Kinaaldá ceremony is to ensure that the child transitioning into womanhood will be prepared to take on the social roles and expectations of a Navajo woman, not only in strength and endurance, but also with generous and kind tendencies.
[4] This ceremony involves five steps: molding into Changing Woman, running, hair washing, painting, and the making of the corn cake.
[4] The initiate is painted with white clay, or ashes from the bark of an Aspen tree, by Ideal Woman so her height can be increased and she can have minimal signs of aging.
[4] One of the most important tasks during the Kinaaldá ceremony is the making of the corn cake, which represents Changing Woman, fertility, and life.
[4] The Enemy Way (Anaʼí Ndááʼ) is a traditional ceremony for countering the harmful effects of ghosts (chʼį́įdii), and has been performed for returning military personnel.
[8] More generally, “the formal intention of the Enemy Way is to lay the ghost of an outsider: that of a white man or of some other non-Navaho such as a European, and Asiatic, or a member of some other Indian tribe”.
The Enemy Way ceremony involves song, sandpainting, dance, and the powerful mythical figure Monster Slayer.