Sacred Healings through Telling Story: Lessons from the Sacred Grounds

In Canada, women—in particular, Indigenous women—comprise the fastest growing population of those who are sentenced. These trends are evidence of the continued impact of colonialism and the residential school legacy that has been well documented by scholars in varying degrees and at all levels of the Canadian criminal justice system. However, changes to address discrimination and overrepresentation have mostly resulted in changes within the current system rather than changes to the system itself. Attempts to “indigenize the white system” through training, programming, legislation, employment, and funding continue to reinforce colonialism and fail those who are Indigenous, especially women and girls. In acknowledgment of such harm, Elizabeth Fry Peel-Halton and Correctional Services Canada (CSC) collaborated with local Elder, Little Brown Bear (Ernest W. Matton), to create space where women could participate in traditional sweat lodge ceremony and healing away from correctional facilities, with the goal of providing a more authentic experience for Indigenous women and other women who are sentenced. While there are sweat lodges at both federal and provincial facilities, the Sacred Grounds are the first off-site (i.e., away from the correctional institution) space like this in Canada. This research explores the ways the Sacred Grounds possibly reduces the settler-colonial imperatives of traditional bricks and bars corrections and may encourage and support women’s stories of resilience and reconciliation.

Assessment of the Maya’s Beliefs and Preferences on Bonesetters and Bone Fracture Treatment in the Guatemalan Highlands: A Household Survey

BACKGROUND: In the Lake Atitlán region of Guatemala, traditional bonesetters (hueseros) commonly treat bone fractures. The indigenous Kaqchikel population has access to biomedical care, but traditional medicine remains the preferred treatment modality for bone fracture. METHODS: Households in four villages were surveyed to assess experiences with bone fracture treatment. Of 108 households sampled, 83 met inclusion criteria and completed the survey. Responses were analyzed to assess for group demographics, bone fracture prevalence, and treatment history. Independence testing assessed for subgroup differences. RESULTS: Mean age: 40 years old. For fracture treatment, 37% (31/83) consulted with a physician/nurse whereas 75% (62/83) consulted with a bonesetter. 19% (16/83) consulted with both. Cast immobilization was utilized by only 16% (13/83) of participants. The services provided by bonesetters included massage, temazcal (sweat lodge), herbal poultice, prayer, and recommended rest. When comparing participants that used a cast (n=13) and those that used a bonesetter exclusively (n=46), the bonesetter group had lower rates of continued pain and movement limitation, higher satisfaction with treatment, and higher interest in seeking the same treatment in the future, though these findings were not statistically significant. Regarding future care, 66% (55/83) would consider consulting a doctor whereas 83% (69/83) would seek services from a bonesetter. 53% (44/83) would utilize both.  If recommended, 46% (38/83) would consider using a cast. Only 22% (18/83) of participants reported previous musculoskeletal imaging. CONCLUSION: These results suggest a high preference of bonesetters for bone injury treatment, reduced acceptance of biomedical care, and limited acceptance of cast immobilization.

Religion as Spirituality

This chapter considers the relative success of court decisions accommodating certain individual Native American inmates in their religious exercise in prisons, especially the sweat lodge. These cases reveal a pattern of what officials refer to as “Native American Spirituality.” In the prison cases, Native American Spirituality emerges as a term of art from corrections management, a line on the intake form for religious preference, and keyed to the language of the federal chaplaincy manual. Prison chaplaincy programs use it in an effort to articulate what's often exceptional and irreducibly diverse about Native religious traditions and to articulate what makes them so difficult to pin down. Especially insofar as the cases largely involve a triad of intertribal practices: sweat lodges, pipe ceremonies, and access to medicinal tobacco, sage, cedar, and sweetgrass.

The Sweat Lodge Ceremony: A Healing Intervention for Intergenerational Trauma and Substance Use

Many traditional healers and Elders agree that strengthening cultural identity, incorporating traditional healing practices, and encouraging community integration can enhance and improve mental health and reduce substance use disorders (SUD) in Indigenous populations. Despite the fact that traditional healing practices have always been valued by Indigenous Peoples, there is very little research on efficacy. Recent research by one of the authors in this group (T. Marsh) has shown that the blending of Indigenous traditional healing practices and a Western treatment model, Seeking Safety, resulted in a reduction in intergenerational trauma (IGT) symptoms and substance use disorders (SUD). This article focuses on the qualitative evidence concerning the impact of the traditional healing practices, specifically the sweat lodge ceremony. Participants reported an increase in spiritual and emotional well-being that they said was directly attributable to the ceremony. This study demonstrates that it would be beneficial to incorporate Indigenous traditional healing practices, including the sweat lodge ceremony, into Seeking Safety to enhance the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples with IGT and SUD.

Experimental analysis of fire-cracked rocks from varied use contexts

This experimental study of fire-cracked rocks sought to determine if varied rock fracture attributes could be correlated with specific past uses of heated stones. A total of 864 rocks were heated in 41 fires that replicated hearth, stone boiling, sweat lodge, and earth oven uses of quartz, quartzite, and sandstone cobbles as heating elements. Analysis of experimental results considered three fire-cracked rock attributes (fracture rate, fragment type, and fragment shape) which can be correlated with some of the specific uses of rocks as heating elements. These attributes can be applied to fire-cracked rock assemblages from archaeological contexts to determine their past uses with relatively consistent results as long as the archaeological context of the fire-cracked rocks is carefully considered.