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Red Cedar in Coast Salish Culture
by Herb Rice

For the Coast Salish peoples, Red Cedar is the traditional choice of wood. It is known as the "tree of life". Historically, the Coastal Salish people of Vancouver Island make everything from the various parts of this tree. For that reason, the cedar has been of the utmost importance to the people of the Cowichan Valley.

Here is a partial list of the uses of this remarkable tree:

Canoes, paddles, bailers, houses and other structures, storage bins such as bentwood boxes, handles on tools and paint brushes, gaming sticks, floats for nets and the nets themselves. Clothing such as hats and capes were made from the inner bark of the Cedar tree mixed with the wool from the mountain goat and the hair from a small long-haired dog bred for this purpose. The bark of the cedar tree was also used for mats and Baskets to carry many foodstuffs such as berries, dried clams or roots and tubers. The coastal people's masks and other ceremonial regalia were also carved from the cedar. These are only a small amount of the uses of cedar in the everyday life of the Coast Salish people.

A Master Carver of that era would need to know all of these uses and many more in order to make the multitude of things that cedar is useful for. Because of the refinement in tools Cedar has taken on new forms but still using the original design and style for traditional peoples. The survival of the people depended on how they could use and respect the wealth of the environment around them.

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Contact: hjrice@coastsalishjourney.com