In #Maine #prisons, #NativeAmerican #SweatLodges are part of the program
A #Passamaquoddy elder has led over 100 sweats for inmates since 2007.
Reuben M. Schafir
November 6, 2025
"Since inmates won the right to hold sweat ceremonies, #BrianAltavater has traveled from his Down East home on the #PassamaquoddyReservation at #Sipayik ( #PleasantPoint ) to facilitate them. He is a pipe carrier and a sweat lodge keeper — designations, he explained, that are chosen by the ancestors.
" 'I don’t deserve to be a pipe carrier and do this sort of work,' he told his teacher, David Gehue of Sipekne’katik, Nova Scotia, when Gehue noticed his potential.
'Desert’s got nothing to do with it,” Gehue, himself a respected spiritual leader, said. 'Once the ancestors pick you, you don’t have a choice.'
" 'Let me think about it,' Altvater said.
That was several decades ago.
Altvater has held 108 sweat lodge ceremonies in Maine prisons since 2007, and in 2020 was hired by the nonprofit #WabanakiREACH (restoration, engagement, advocacy, change and healing) to continue the work.
This work is less an occupation for Altvater and more a way of life.
" 'You can start with a clean slate from today and move on to the rest of your life and learn from the mistakes that you made so you don’t repeat ‘em,” he said. "
Archived version:
https://archive.li/7pXfU
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#TraditionalHealing #SweatLodges #NativeAmericans #Wabanaki #Wabanakik #TraditionalMedicine #MainePrisons