Whistle
date: label: Accession Date
content: 18 Sep 1900
name: label: Donor Name
content: Iver Fougner
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Two tapering pieces of wood hollowed out and joined. Reed, if any, missing."
label: Notes
content: Ian Reid (Heiltsuk), Clyde Tallio (Nuxalk), and Evelyn Windsor (Heiltsuk elder) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia, made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th -24th, 2013. This is thought to be a Tsetsaut society whistle. This whistle was used during the initiation of a person into Tsetaust society when they received an ancestral name. The initiates would be confined to the back of a house for a period of time prior to the potlatch. These whistles were used to summon the ancestors of the individual being initiated, and they would dance and a crest mask would appear with connection to that name. Traditionally the whistles would be hidden while played, long ago no one even knew where the sound came from. Even today, the whistles are never blown in front of people, it's all in secret. Additionally, they were never used as an everyday musical instrument, whistles were a very sacred ceremonial piece.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 14 Feb 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: British Columbia, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Bella Coola (Nuxalk)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 037021
label: USNM Number
content: E206580-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Whistle