Cedar Whistle The native peoples of the West Coast of Canada made a wide variety of whistles from cedar and other woods. These were used in a wide variety of ceremonies, many of which used a large number of instruments and costumes that imitated animals and animal spirits. Cedar whistles were extremely common as cedar is a soft sonorous wood that is easy to shape. Traditionally whistles were held together with sap that hardened into a powerful bonding agent, now carpenter’s glue is used as well. Single, double and triple whistles were quite common, although there are also whistles with four and even five chambers. The UBC Museum of Anthropology has a large collection of these whistles in their research collection on public display. Country: Canada Region: North America Type: wind
©  R. Raine-Reusch, May 2002