The Pawnees (or Paneassa, Pari, Pariki) are a tribe of Native Americans from Nebraska and Kansas (USA). The traditional French name for this tribe, allies of the French, is the Panis.
Their language, Pawnee, is one of the Caddoan languages.
History
In the 18th century, they allied with the French and played an important role in stopping Spanish expansion by winning a decisive victory over the Villasur expedition on August 14, 1720.
While the Pawnees formed a group of about 10,000 individuals in 1780, in the 19th century, epidemics of smallpox and cholera threatened the survival of this people, so much so that there were only 600 individuals left in 1900 against 4,500 in 1840. In the 20th century, the demography of the Pawnees recovered slightly:2,000 in 1970, they would be around 3,210 in 2010.
Traditional culture
The Pawnees are divided into two main groups. On the one hand the Skidi federation which lives in the north, and on the other the South Bands (groups from the south) which are divided into several villages. Although the Skidi federation includes the most well-known groups of the Pawnees, the Chaui are generally considered to be the political group of the latter, although each group is independent. This is a characteristic of many Indian tribes, each group is traditionally independent. But under pressure from the Spaniards, French and Americans, the Pawnees began to draw closer.
Skidi-Federation or Skiri (derived from Tski'ki - 'Wolf' or Tskirirara - 'Wolf-in-Water', Loups by the French and Wolf Pawnee by the Americans) Turikaku ('Center Village')
Kitkehaxpakuxtu ('Old Village' or 'Old-Earth-Lodge-Village')
Tuhitspiat ('Village-Stretching-Out-in-the-Bottomlands')
Tukitskita ('Village-on-Branch-of-a-River')
Tuhawukasa ('Village-across-a-Ridge' or 'Village-Stretching-across-a- Hill')
Arikararikutsu ('Big-Antlered-Elk-Standing')
Arikarariki ('Small-Antlered-Elk-Standing')
Tuhutsaku ('Village-in-a-Ravine')
Tuwarakaku ('Village-in-Thick-Timber')
Akapaxtsawa ('Buffalo -Skull-Painted-on-Tipi')
Tskisarikus ('Fish-Hawk')
Tstikskaatit ('Black-Ear-of-Corn,' or ' Corn-bla ck')
Turawiu (was part of a village)
Pahukstatu ('Pumpkin-Vine' did not join the Skidi and remained politically independent but still in being considered Skidi)
Tskirirara ('Wolf-in-Water', although the Skidi federation considered them one of their own, they remained politically independent)
South Bands Chaui or Tsawi ('Asking-for-Meat', also called Grand Pawnee)
Kithehaki or Kitkehaxki ('Little-Earth-Lodge', often called Republican Pawnee)
Pitahaureat or Pitahawirata ('Man-Going-Downstream', 'Man-Going-East', derived from Pita - 'Man' and Rata - 'screaming', the French called them Tapage Pawnee - 'Screaming, Howling Pawnee ', later the Americans Noisy Pawnee)[4] Pitahaureat (Pitahaureat proper, leading group)
Kawarakis (derived from Arikara language:Kawarusha - 'Horse' and Pawnee Kish language - 'People ', some Pawnee assert that the Kawaraki spoke like the Arikara living in the north, because perhaps they had taken refuge (1794-1795) from the attacks of the Lakota who joined the Caddo kin living in the south.
Social and political organization
In the 19th century, the Pawnees were divided into four distinct bands:the Chaui, the Kitkehahki, the Pitahauerat and the Skidi. Each band was divided into villages, as the Pawnees settled along the Platte River in Nebraska as early as the 16th century.
At that time, the Pawnees were partly farmers:corn, beans, pumpkins and squash were grown only by women7. With the arrival of Europeans, the horse was introduced to the Great Plains:the Pawnees domesticated it at the beginning of the 18th century8 and then adopted bison hunting from their neighbors.
Traditional dwelling
From the 17th to the 19th centuries, the Pawnees lived in domed huts, covered with earth. Teepees are only used for buffalo hunting. The huts evolved from a rectangular shape to a circular shape. The mud huts of the Pawnees are built from ten to fifteen poles, about 1.75 meters high and planted in the ground every three meters or so to form a circle:these peripheral poles delimit the surface on the ground. The size of the hut varies according to the number of poles placed in its center, knowing that most Pawnee huts have four, eight or even twelve central poles, the height of which varies between 3 and 5 meters. The structure is then covered with willow branches, earth and grass. We left a hole in the roof for the chimney and let the light pass through. We also left an entrance. The door was made with a piece of buffalo hide stretched over a willow frame that pivoted inward. At night, it was barricaded with a piece of wood passed through the posts that made it up. The hearth was installed in a circular depression dug in the ground in the center of the dwelling; it was surrounded by flat stones. Their dwelling was semi-subterranean.