The Concept of Emergence
Although there is great diversity in the languages and cultures of the Native Peoples of the Southwest, the concept of emergence is one that is common to nearly all of these peoples. The Native Peoples of the Southwest recite origin stories in which their ancestors emerged to the surface of the earth from worlds and experiences below the surface of the earth. The Navajo call themselves the Nihookáá Diné'é, 'the People of the Earth's Surface's. In these Emergence stories, all life emerges from the womb of Mother Earth and is nourished by Father Sun. Not only did human ancestors emerge from Mother Earth, but the ancestors of other species of animals also emerged from the womb of Mother Earth. Plants also have their birth from and roots in the Earth. Through emerging from the Earth, all beings are the offspring of one Mother, having been born of one womb. The concept of Emergence unites all living beings as a part of a single, universal kindred.

The Zuni account of their origin has them climbing upward from four prior worlds or eras below the surface of the Earth, and then emerging to the light of the Sun into this the Fifth World. Their ancestors emerged into this world at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, which they call the vagina of Mother Earth. To many Navajos, the Hopi and other Native Nations, the current world on the surface of the earth is the Fourth World. The three previous worlds are metaphorically analogous to the trimesters of embryonic and fetal development, resulting in birth through the womb of the earth onto the surface of the earth. The new born are then presented to the Sun Father to complete the familial pattern of universal kinship among all living beings.

The sunrise daily enacts this pattern of emergence and reemergence, of birth and rebirth. In the daily pathway of the Sun, the sun emerges from the below the surface of the earth and moves upward to its fullness in the noon day sun. Then the sun begins its descent or return to the lower world only to be reborn in the next sunrise at the beginning of the next day. This daily cycle of the sun affirms the universal cycle of life.

Navajos refer to this as sháábik'ehgo 'according to the pathway of the sun'.When one enters a hooghan or a ceremonial lodge, one must always go in and out according to the pathway of the sun. To live in hózhó 'beauty, harmony and well-being,' one must follow the pathways of the sun and live in harmony with the cycles of the earth. On a daily basis, nothing more dramatically portrays this cycle of life, this birth and rebirth, than does the rising and the setting of the sun each day.

The meanings of the solstice sunrise
Sunrises on the days of the winter and summer solstices are especially meaningful. The solstices and the equinoxes mark the seasonal cycle of the sun and the earth. The Pueblo Indians of the Southwest have annual ceremonial calendars that sustain this annual cycle of life, and harmonize the lives, thoughts and ceremonial performances of the people with the annual cycle of the sun and the earth.