Five tribal nations--the Seneca, Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, and Onondaga--united to form the Iroquois Confederacy which dominated the land between the Hudson River and the Great Lakes. This document relates the oral tradition regarding the founding of the Confederacy.
Oral Tradition of the Origin of the Mide' Religion
The Mide' was the religion of the Chippewa people of the Great Lakes Region. Na'waji'bigo'kwe ("woman dwelling among the rocks") narrates this account of the development of the Mide' and of some of its rituals and beliefs.
Song of the Maiden's Leap
The legend of the maiden's leap was a song among the Sioux of the Upper Midwest. According to legend, the young woman lept to her death upon learning that the man she planned to marry had been killed in battle.