This society was mentioned in The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who used informational materials made available from Henry Schoolcraft to compose the epic poem.
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Like the Midewiwin, the Wabunowin is a secretive animistic religion, requiring an initiation, thus early non-indigenous writers lumped the information on the Wabunowin with the Midewiwin.
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Further, the Wabunowin lodge, usually with less than 25 participants, but as many as 300, only needed one or two elders to perform the ceremonies, unlike the Midewiwin which required several.