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Some placenames use other spellings, see also Menomonee and Menomonie.

The Menominee (also spelled Menomini; known as Mamaceqtaw, "the people" in their own language) are a nation of Native Americans living in Wisconsin but also originating in Michigan. The name Menominee means "wild rice" (literally "good seed") in the Ojibwe language, as wild rice is one of their most important traditional staples.

The tribe has a reservation which is conterminous both with Menominee County, Wisconsin and with the town of Menominee, Wisconsin. They operate a number of gambling facilities and speak the Menominee language. (There is also the Menominee River in the region, which flows into the Bay of Green Bay, and the city of Menominee, Michigan is located at the mouth of the river.)

The tribe originally lived in what is now upper Michigan around Mackinac. After selling their lands to the U.S. government in 1854, they were moved to their present reservation. Although their customs are quite similar to those of the Chippewa (Ojibwa), their language has a closer affinity to those of the Fox and Kickapoo tribes.

An Eastern Woodlands tribe, the Menominee belong to the Algonquian language branch of North America. They were known as "folles avoines" by the early French. The Menominees formerly subsisted on a wide variety of plants and animals, with wild rice and sturgeon being two of the most important foods; feasts are still held annually at which each of these is served. The five principal Menominee clans are the Bear, the Eagle, the Wolf, the Crane, and the Moose.

Menominee mythology is rich with ethical meaning and interrelated in complex ways with the sacred literature of Native American people.

The Menominee have a college called the College of the Menominee Nation.

Notable Menominees

• Chief Oshkosh (1795-1858)
• Chrystos, a Two-spirit identified poet
• Ada Deer — Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, 1993-1997
• Ingrid Washinawatok — Co-Founder, Fund for the Four Directions, indigenous activist, killed by the FARC in Colombia, 1999

Sources

• Menominee Language and the Menominee Indian Tribe (Menomini, Mamaceqtaw)

External links

• Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin
• The Menominee Myth of the Flood--in Relation to Life Today

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