Warrior's Heart
Ceremony
Native Americans have long understood that helping warriors heal emotionally and spiritually is key to maintaining a healthy society. Within many tribal communities, tradition bearers continue to use ceremonies, prayers, and sacred objects to help returning warriors reintegrate into society, reconnect with the natural world, and cope with the guilt, shame, and fears they bring home with them.
We understand that PTSD is "a poisoning of the spirit," and the ways Native healers and spiritual leaders bring "cleansing, blessing, and soul healing" to men and women returning to their communities from America's wars.
For centuries, tribal cultures have used healing songs and ceremonies to cleanse their warriors of the emotional scars of war. Despite the loss of language and culture among many tribes, these traditions remain vital on several reservations in the West, and they hold lessons for the nation as it struggles to bring comfort to the latest generation of warriors suffering from PTSD.
Zuni Pueblo, for example, a medicine group associated with the War Gods conducts purification ceremonies for returning veterans at the reservation’s border before they are escorted to a welcoming feast on tribal land. Navajo are known to have Coming Home Ceremony in which the veteran is “washed with sacred songs,” and veterans at the Ute nation attend a special veterans Sundance each summer.