Healing ceremonies are so important be- cause soldiers carry their memories of the bat- tlefield home. Navajo (Diné) psychiatrist Mary Roessel says that for her people, killing people is not permitted, so her tribe offers a way for warriors to come back to the community from war through a psychological and spiritual cleansing process. She says that the Diné’s an- cient, week-long N’da (“Enemy Way”) ceremo- ny was developed to ease symptoms that early records suggest were comparable to PTSD.


Today, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) uses exposure therapy, where therapist and patient focus on the traumatic experience in a safe setting to lessen the anxiety associated with the memory of the event.


TRADITIONS THAT HEAL


Yet not all Native soldiers have had the ben- efit of healing through ceremony. Inspired by the lives of his two Yurok great-great uncles, Chag Lowry (Maidu/Yurok/Achumawi) and


SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 25


Members of the Oljato and Kayenta Veterans Associations refold an American flag at the Oljato Veterans Day breakfast, trail ride and healing ceremony on the Navajo Nation in Utah’s Monument Valley on November 9, 2019.


PHOTO BY RUSSEL ALBERT DANIELS


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