Folklore and Whistled Language

Whistled language within Mazatecan communities functions as a type of verbal and customary lore; the whistling itself is verbal, and the participation in this repeated action is customary, indicating membership within the community. The indigenous Mazatecan community began using this expressive form of communication in order to send messages across distances. Whistled speech does not replace spoken word, but instead, compliments it, working alongside ordinary speech to communicate.

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This folklore group is layered; although men are typically the only ones who physically use whistles to express messages, women participate with their ability to understand such messages, making up a subgroup within the overall community. Boys are taught while they are young and spend their lives using this type of communication, typically only with other men. If a woman is whistled to, she will instead respond with spoken language. Whistled language is used for various reasons, each typically accompanying distance (e.g. while working in groups sprawled across the mountainside, a storeworker calling a passerby into his shop, as a greeting before one is close enough to speak, etc.), although distance is not always a factor; often times, men will hold a whistled conversation a mere few feet away from one another. 

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Whistled language is culturally, an integral part of conversation and Mazatec way of life. Community members talk about this type of communication as a connection with nature, coexisting with one another; instead of fighting nature and the topography of the land, the community works with it. Whistled language is more than a way to communicate, but a tradition of their ancestors, a respect Mother Earth, as well as a connection with their culture and one another. 

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