KINAALDA-
Coming of Age Ceremony for the Diné Girl Becoming a Woman.
Learning to stand for the ideals of Diné women, and to embody beauty, strength, generosity and humanity.
Photo by Krystal Curley
Diné Girl Becoming a Woman
​​​BACKGROUND
In Summer 2026, Indigenous Lifeways launched our inaugural Kinaalda Scholarship which allowed access to funds for coming of age ceremonies for young Diné girls to help pay for supplies, food, and other ceremonial items.
We received 74 applications in 2026 and our Kinaalda Application reached over 275k people on Social Media! Due to limited funding we successfully distributed 20 scholarship to families living in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Montana. In total, Indigenous have awarded 10k!
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Our Kinaalda Scholarship Council are representatives of our Indigenous Women's Working Group program and greatly assisted with this project.
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In Fall 2026, Indigenous Lifeways will be hosting a young Diné girls gathering, Becoming Changing Woman Day Camp, that will prepare participants and their families for their future coming of age ceremony. During the event, we will be launching our Kinaalda Toolkit and gifting participants Kinaalda ceremonial items.
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Kinaalda Support Group is an informal space for our community to share information on ceremonial efforts, ask questions to each other, volunteer time and more. This is a community-led space where we ask to be respectful in the email thread and acknowledge the variations of conducting a coming of age ceremony.
Subscribe to our Newsletter to learn more about our activities and events! (in blue section below)
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