Soldiers Coming Home: A Project of Art, Healing, and Redemption
The purpose of the Soldiers Coming Home project is to welcome home soldiers. We invite soldiers and veterans to join us in creating a flower garden of peace made of old combat boots. It is a project of art, healing, and redemption.
The Soldiers Coming Home garden will be configured as a circular path of worn combat boots, that leads to the center of a bed of flowers, including peace lilies, hops, bee balm, blue vervain, etc. The boots will serve as planters for the flowers.
Returning veterans will help to plan and create the garden.
Soldiers will be invited to leave a letter in a boot, to themselves, to a loved one, or perhaps to someone they believe they have harmed, either in their personal life or in the context of war.
During the ceremony, the soldiers will march into the spiral and sit beside their boots, which will have been transformed into flower pots. The boots will then be buried in the ground, leaving only the blooming flowers exposed.
RATIONALE
Many ceremonies exist when it comes to indoctrinating people into the military, but there are few to celebrate their return from battle, which surely is the more compelling component of their journey.
The project is intended to witness the cost of war emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
VETERANS/ SOLDIERS/ FAMILES – Please contact b4peace@namayaproductions.com or (802 )254-8084