Talking God, Haashchééltií, is among the most important of the Yei, the class of Holy People central to several major Navajo chantway ceremonies, generally described as the eastern chief of the Yei and closely associated with dawn, the east and correct, sacred speech, standing in a complementary pairing with Calling God, associated with the west and the evening.
Talking God holds particular prominence in the Nightway, one of the longest and most significant Navajo healing ceremonies, a nine-night rite in which trained ceremonial practitioners and dancers wearing sacred masks representing Talking God and other Yei perform the ceremony's culminating public dances, making him one of relatively few Navajo Holy People with an established tradition of direct masked ceremonial representation. The Nightway and related chantways are understood as restoring hozho, correct order and health, for the person the ceremony is conducted for, and Talking God's role within them reflects a broader Navajo pattern in which specific Holy People are associated with specific ceremonial traditions and the particular kinds of imbalance or illness those traditions are understood to address.