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Kinaalda
Navajo Rite of Passage
A film by
Lena Carr
Grades 6 and up
The Kinaalda ceremony, an intricate four-day event performed to guide a young girl’s ascent to womanhood, is considered one of the most important and sacred rituals among the Navajo people. Filmmaker Lena Carr was regrettably denied her Kinaalda ceremony because of her parents’ relocation out of the reservation. In this highly moving and visually arresting documentary, Carr journeys back into her childhood by intimately chronicling her 13-year old niece’s initiation into womanhood. Combined with an effective overview of Navajo history and culture, "Kinaalda" is a powerful testament to the importance tradition plays in strengthening a young woman’s relationship to her community and provides an insider’s perspective into the Navajo community.
- Museum of the American Indian Film Festival
- American Indian Film Festival
- Santa Fe Film Festival
- Festival International du Film d’Amiens, Amiens, France
“…A wonderful film that explores a beautiful Navajo coming of age tradition…inspiring.”
Adrianne McCurrach
GirlsFilmSchool
“'Kinaalda' not only shows us a coming-of-age ceremony that honors and empowers young women, but gives us an intimate portrait of a teenage woman. This kind of exposure can only serve to deepen girls’ sense of themselves as an integral part of this world. What’s more, it has the power to raise sensitivity and awareness about a culture that often exists only as absence in teenagers’ public-school educations.
“Recommended…Kinaalda can be used to support a variety of subject areas across disciplines…School, public and academic library collection programs, alike will be enhanced by this [film].”
Ayodele Ojumu
Educational Media Reviews Online
“Carr, who narrates, describes the ceremonial events and reflects on their importance to Navajo culture and her own growing identification with other Navajo women…very good.”
Mary Mueller
School Library Journal
“'Kinaalda' is a multi-layered film that elegantly weaves Carr’s complex personal story, family and community history, against the backdrop of the U.S. government policy toward the Navajo. Tanya Sheperd’s ceremony merges the importance of community, continuity, the power of women, and the significance of establishing a place in the universe. A compelling work from beginning to end.”
Elaine Charnov
Margaret Mead Film Fest
“…[a] moving documentary… it examines the painful history of the Navajo tribe and shows how the decisions and deceptions of long ago are having an effect on the tribe today.”
Women in the Director's Chair
An Explanation of the ‘Kinaalda’ Ceremony
Kinaalda: A Study of the Navajo Girl’s Puberty Ceremony by Charlotte Johnson Frisbie
Kinaalda: A Navajo Puberty Ceremony by Shirley M. Begay
A Clearinghouse for Resources on Native Women on the Web
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