Attié love poem

Little love poem in Attié (Akye, Akie, Atche, Atie, Bodin, Naindin, Ketin, Atye (pej.), autonym: Atshe), a language of the kwa language family.

400,000 Ivorians speak this minority language classified as an isolate, in the south-east of the Ivory Coast, between Comoé and Agneby, around Adzopé and Alépé, a very forested region.

Their villages in the middle of a thick forest, isolated them for a long time, without preserving them from the hostilities, of other neighboring ethnic groups, so frequent in Africa.

The linguistic unity of the Aties, in its variants spoken in Alépé and Adzopé, shows a rather homogeneous culture. In fact, aware of their community of origin, even if each the different group has a political entity, the link which unites the villages is a system of mutual aid.

The Attiés (Atiés) consider themselves to be linked to the Ashantis, Baoulés and Agnis, since their tradition tells that a common ancestor would have had a son, from whom the Agnis and the Ashantis would descend, and two daughters from whom the Aties and Baoulés would descend. Legend says that when the suzerain died, disputes broke out to know who will succeed him, and their result was the escape and the fragmentation of the original ethnic group.

The Attiés are Akans, who live in the south-east of Côte d'Ivoire, on the side of the Komoe (Comoe) river, near Anyama. They live from hunting and food crops, cocoa and bananas.

The atié society is a society with matrilineal descent and virilocal residence, having a whole system of age groups.

A particular taboo prohibits a child, especially a boy, from eating in the same dish his great-grandfather.

The marriage of a girl who chooses to go and live with a stranger could have fatal consequences, and would unleash the wrath of all.

The wsyi is a priest-magician, whose role is to maintain the integrity of the clan.

The Attiés are festive people with a recognized music. The generation celebration is for them the privileged moment of meetings and dances to celebrate the generational passage (bléchoué, djougbo, gnando, mouna). Their art is remarkable especially their sculptures.

Ivory Coast has significant natural resources, uranium, petroleum, cocoa, bananas, coffee, and has 4 major ethnic groups.