Get Graduate Scholarship Program - Absentee Shawnee Tribe

The term Absentee Shawnee comes from a provisional clause in an 1854 treaty regarding surplus lands in the Kansas reservation which were set aside for the absent Shawnees. The outcome of the Texas-Mexico War (1846-1848) caused many Absentee Shawnee to leave Texas and move into the Indian Territory.

The Shawnee worshipped both a Great Spirit as well as the spirits of nature and natural objects such as mountains and animals. They also worshipped a deity known as Our Grandmother, who they believed responsible for creation and for drawing souls up to heaven in a net.

Other important ceremonies included the spring Bread Dance, held when the fields were planted; the Green Corn Dance, marking the ripening of crops; and the autumn Bread Dance. The Shawnee comprised five major divisions, each further organized through a number of patrilineal clans.

The Shawnees didn't live in tepees. They lived in small round dwellings called wikkums, or wigwams. Each Shawnee village also included a larger council house built from wood. Today, Native Americans only build a wigwam for fun or to connect with their heritage, not for shelter.

The Shawnee tribe is known for their beadwork, pottery, and wood carving. Like other eastern American Indians, the Shawnee also crafted wampum out of white and purple shell beads. Wampum beads were traded as a kind of currency, but they were more culturally important as an art material.

Being absent from their Kansas reservation, they became collectively known as the "Absentee Shawnee." An 1854 treaty failed to lure them to Kansas with the promise of allotments. ... Before the Civil War erupted, Kansas Shawnee with Southern sympathies joined the Absentee on the Canadian.

The Shawnees were farming people. Shawnee women planted and harvested corn and squash. Shawnee men hunted in the forest for deer, turkeys, and small game and went fishing in the rivers and lakes. Shawnee Indian food included soup, cornbread, and stews.

Traditional Shawnee clothing included skirts and leggings for women, and breechcloths and leggings for men. In cold weather both men and women wore ponchos, but shirts were not a requirement. Shoes were moccasins, and they sometimes wore headbands with a feather but they did not wear headdresses.

In their everyday lives, the Shawnee Indians had no elaborate clothing or the stereotypical feathered headdress. Rather, they wore what other Indians wore long skirts for the ladies and breechcloths to pants for the men. Except for battle, the Shawnee kept their hair long. They wore face paint and moccasins.