Iroquoian love poem
Ne' ne tsya'taa' tsya'tí;yú nô
U'kö;ya'táyatô'
ëhsasnuwë ne' ëwö;htö;'
U'ki' kö;nuö;hkwa' shô.
She points out: "In this translation, the verb "to love" does not refer to romantic love,
but rather to family or friendship. The alternative, seemed to me, a little too sensual."
→ French poem ←
Iroquois woman & language
Love poem the mirror, reflection of pretty women of the iroquois Indian tribes. Poem translated into Mingo Iroquoian language. This language is in great danger because there are very few people to speak, fortunately some specialists like Thomas McElwain are interested.
The Mingo language is part of the group of Northern Iroquois languages and is very close to the seneca, these two languages are mutually intercomprehensible.
There are two branches of Iroquoian languages, North and South. The Cherokee with two dialects (west and east) represents the south. To the north there are various groups, Huron (Wyandot), Tuscarora, Nottoway, Meherrin, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk. Other missing groups are cited by Cartier (the Laurentians), or by the English.
The Mingos are a group of Seneca and Cayuga having migrated in mid-18th to Ohio.
The Iroquois
The Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) lived in the valleys of the St. Laurent, Susquehanna, and on the shores of Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Huron. Iroquois is an Algonquin term which means "viper".
The Iroquois called themselves "people of the long house". This denomination corresponds to their organization who was in matriclans, and to the effective occupation of this type of habitat by extended families. The matriclans formed five tribes or nations (Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas), united in a league that the Tuscaoras joined in 1722.
The great council of the league counted 50 sages or sachems, one per matriclan, guaranteeing the freedom of minorities expression. This decision-making process passes for the most elaborate political system of North American Indians.
Farmers, fishermen and game hunters, they lived in peace until they meet the whites. They made them compete with the Hurons for the fur trade. Allied with the English, then with the Dutch, they will oppose in a massacres and harassment war, to the French, supported by the Hurons.