Shawnee Women and the Goddess

"The Shawnee, who lived in what is now Kentucky, believed that a deity they called "Our Grandmother" was the creator of the universe and everything in it. As the supreme goddess, her creations were always beneficial to the Shawnee directly and mankind in general. Our Grandmother, who looked like an old woman with grey hair, was mentioned in every religious rite, and the large annual ceremonials were performed specifically to worship her, thereby preserving mankind and the world.



Our Grandmother took particular care to watch out for the Shawnee women. She told the winds that they were to treat Indian women ad though they were the winds' own sisters, and she enjoined them not to stare at the women when they were naked. She also admonished the women to respect the winds. The goddess' words were not always followed by the women, however, who sometimes pulled their skirts up to their waists when the weather was cloudy in an effort to frighten the wind-borne clouds back I'm embarrassment so that the weather would be warm and sunny."



And here's the best part: a story, also from the Shawnee



The Return of the Corn Person

"A long time ago two old women lived with a man. One say the women went away and left the man home alone. After waiting all day he got hungry and went to find some roasting ears of corn. When he got to the field he began to take ears off the stalk and found an ear that had a part that looked just like a vagina. He remembered hearing something about that and said to himself, "I hear that the Corn Person, our mother, is a woman. If this is true she will be embarrassed now when I have intercourse with her." Then he pulled out his penis and stuck it in a hole in the corn. Then he went back to his house.



The next day the old women arose early and went to look for corn. When they got to the field it was empty - the corn had all vanished. The Corn Person had fled to Our Grandmother who had created her.



Someone went after her and had to cross four oceans to find her. Corn Person was persuaded to rerun to earth only when the rescuer argued that it was Our Grandmother's intention that she should benefit the Shawnee on earth."



-Carolyn Niethammer, Daughters of the Earth: The Lives and Legends of American Indian Women