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The Shawnee
The dominant type of creation myth among the
aboriginal peoples of North America is of the
earth-diver variety in which a divine being
(usually an animal) dives into water to bring up
the first particles of earth. The Shawnees, by way
of contrast, are one of the few tribes possessing a
creation account in which the high god (often
referred to as the “Master of Life”) creates the
world by imposing order on a primordial chaos.
Because the original chaos is watery (the Shawnee
term for the primordial condition seems to be
related to other words that refer to watery
expanses), these two types of creation share
certain points in common. In both kinds of stories
water is an ambivalent symbol representing
creative potency as well as threat of chaos.
After creation is complete, the Creator warns
the first people that “even I myself do not know
how long this place where you live will survive.
And the reason I do not know is this: the world
will survive as long as you interpret correctly the
way I created you” (cited in Voegelin and
Yegerlehner 1957, 57). “Interpreting the way”
means, for the Shawnee people, adhering to the
“laws”—a specific body of oral literature that
articulates the proper relationships that should be
followed among human beings as well as between
humans and the nonhuman world—which were
spoken by the Master of Life in the beginning.
The Creator’s words cited above indicate that
wholesale abandonment of these laws would de
facto constitute abandonment of order and
return to chaos.
In common with other Algonquian tribes,
Shawnee mythology contains a migration narrative
in which a large body of water is crossed. (This
myth has often been viewed by scholars as a
“cultural memory” of the migration from Asia to
North America.) In some versions of this tale, the
original people abandon a barren and inhospitable
place for a better land across the ocean. But
whatever the motivation for crossing, the great
expanse of water is almost always seen as a barrier
that must be overcome by magical means. In at
least one version, “a great wind and a deep darkness
prevailed, and the Great Serpent commenced
hissing in the depths of the ocean” during the
The Shawnee 249
crossing (Shutz 1989, 55). The “Great Serpent”
referred to here is a marine monster who, like his
parallels in other mythologies across the world,
concretely embodies the negative, disordering
aspect of the primordial waters.
After successfully negotiating the initial stage
of the journey, but prior to reaching their eventual
resting place, a party of warriors is drowned by a
large turtle who is acting in the capacity of an
agent for the hostile sea snake. In retaliation,
Shawnee shamans slay the serpent and cut it into
small pieces. Because of the snake’s potency, these
fragments do not decay. The tribe collects the
pieces with the intention of later using them for
beneficent purposes such as healing. As a manifestation
of the ambivalent power of the
primordium, the serpent’s power can be used for
good or for ill. Although the original motivation
behind gathering together the fragments is benevolent,
Shawnee “witches” would later base their
malevolent spells on the power of bundles made
from these serpent parts. The Shawnees eventually
reach the heart of the new continent, an area
where the Master of Life had originally intended
for them to live.
Historically, the Shawnees were wanderers who
could be found living in different parts of eastern
North America during different periods of time.
By the middle of the eighteenth century, the great
bulk of the Shawnee nation was living in Ohio.
Recognizing the threat that settlers posed both to
their lands and to their traditional lifestyle, the
Shawnees allied themselves first with the French
(during the French and Indian War) and later with
the British (during the Revolution) to oppose the
advances of land-hungry colonists. After the
Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War,
the Shawnees, in league with other tribes, fought
on until decisively defeated at the Battle of Fallen
Timbers. They eventually (1795) signed the Treaty
of Greenville, an unfavorable agreement in which
the tribe gave up most of its homeland in
exchange for some trade goods and annuities.
In the wake of defeat, some bands moved
further west. Other Shawnees, under the leadership
of Black Hoof, attempted to adapt to changed
conditions by turning to agriculture. The majority
rejected acculturation, continued to follow the