Minnehaha is a
Native American woman documented in
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 epic poem ''
The Song of Hiawatha''. She is the lover of the titular protagonist Hiawatha and comes to a tragic end. The name, often said to mean "laughing water", literally translates to "waterfall" or "rapid water" in
Dakota.
The figure of Minnehaha inspired later art works such as paintings, sculpture and music. ''
The Death of Minnehaha'' is a frequent subject for paintings. Minnehaha Falls and her death scene inspired themes in the ''
New World Symphony
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
'' by
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...
. Longfellow's poem was set in a cantata trilogy, ''
The Song of Hiawatha'' in 1898–1900 by the African-English composer
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Longfellow's poem also inspired Hugo Kaun's symphonic poems "Minnehaha" and "Hiawatha" composed in 1901.
Minnehaha as a name
The character's name has been bestowed upon things, especially in the
Great Lakes region of the
United States. A ship bearing the name Minnehaha wrecked off the western shore of
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
in 1893, only 38 years after Longfellow's poem was published.
A Minnehaha Bay adjoins the small town of Sturgeon Falls in Ontario,
Canada.
Minnesota claims
Minnehaha Falls,
Minnehaha Park
Minnehaha Park is a city park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, and home to Minnehaha Falls and the lower reaches of Minnehaha Creek. Officially named Minnehaha Regional Park, it is part of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board syst ...
,
Minnehaha Creek,
Minnehaha Academy, and a boat bearing her name once operated by
Twin City Rapid Transit on
Lake Minnetonka, which has now been restored and is currently operated by
Museum of Lake Minnetonka. Minnehaha Avenue and
Hiawatha Avenue run parallel to each other from downtown Minneapolis, while another Minnehaha Avenue runs through
Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
.
Farther west,
Minnehaha, Washington stands near
Vancouver. Her name is also linked to
Minnehaha County
Minnehaha County is a county on the eastern border of the state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 197,214, making it the state's most populous county. It contains over 20% of the state's population. Its county seat is S ...
in South Dakota and Minnehaha Covenant Church and
Minnehaha Park
Minnehaha Park is a city park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, and home to Minnehaha Falls and the lower reaches of Minnehaha Creek. Officially named Minnehaha Regional Park, it is part of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board syst ...
in
Spokane, Washington. Lake Minnehaha is located in the center of Holliday Park in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Arizona's
Bradshaw Mountains contain a Minnehaha Flat.
Toward the
Atlantic coast, a Minnehaha Island stands in the
Potomac River in Montgomery County, Maryland (). A creek known as Minnehaha Branch empties into the Potomac at Glen Echo, Maryland. The town of
Minnehaha Springs stands in
Pocahontas County,
West Virginia. Farther south, Minnehaha Falls in Lakemont, Georgia near Lake Rabun features a 100-foot cascading waterfall. Florida is home to two lakes named Minnehaha: one in the
Clermont Chain of lakes in
Clermont, Florida, one of the
Outstanding Florida Waterbodies; the other in
Maitland, Florida
Maitland is a suburban city in Orange County, Florida, United States, part of the Greater Orlando area. The population was 19,543 at the 2020 census. The area's history is exhibited at the Maitland Historical Museum; the city also hosts the Mai ...
, linked to the
Winter Park lake chain.
Minnehaha's name has proven inspirational beyond the North American continent: Roca Minnehaha is an island near
Easter Island and
Sala y Gómez Island in
Chile. Two avenues in suburbs of
Auckland,
New Zealand, in
Titirangi and
Takapuna, are named for the figure. Minnehaha Falls may be found in
Katoomba,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Minne Ha Ha is also the name of a fully functional steamboat operated on Lake George New York by the Lake George Steamboat Company
In popular culture
Minnehaha is also the main character of the ''Adventures in the Old West'' four-book series by
Emilio Salgari, ''Sulle Frontiere del Far-West'' (1908), ''La Scotennatrice'' (1909), ''Le Selve Ardenti'' (1910), and ''La Vendetta di Minnehaha'' (?).
In its Germanized form, Mine-Haha, the name was used by the German writer
Frank Wedekind for the heroine of his 1903 novella ''
Mine-Haha, or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls
''Mine-Haha, or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls'' (German: ''Mine-Haha oder Über die körperliche Erziehung der jungen Mädchen'') is a novella by German dramatist Frank Wedekind, first published in its final form in 1903.
Plot
The novella ...
''.
Minnehaha is mentioned in British
glam rock band
The Sweet's song "
Wig-Wam Bam
"Wig-Wam Bam" is a song by British glam rock band The Sweet, written by songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, released as a single in September 1972. It was the first Sweet single on which the band members actually played their instruments, as ...
" (1972), in which she seduces
Hiawatha.
In the popular 1992
Disney movie ''
The Mighty Ducks
''The Mighty Ducks'' is an American media franchise. It features a trilogy of live-action films released in the 1990s by Walt Disney Pictures, an animated television series, a live-action sequel television series, and a real-world hockey team ...
'', Coach Gordon Bombay plays for the fictional “Minnehaha Waves” hockey team during Gordon Bombay's minor league career. The “Minnesota Miracle Man” was one step away from the NHL before a knee injury derailed his career and sent him back behind the bench.
References
{{Commons category, position=left
Anishinaabe mythology
American folklore
Fictional Native American people
Fictional characters from Minnesota
Literary characters introduced in 1855
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Fictional Native American women