White Birch Tree - the symbol of Russia
Everyone knows that Russian birch is not an ordinary tree. It is the symbol of homeland, personification of wonderful, light, great Russian land. In its early age the trunk of young birch is not white - the bark of a small tree is dark. But in a few years it will become white with black spots. In general birches can be not only white. There are species with yellowish, brownish and even black bark. There are more than 60 species of birches.
Fruit of birch are very small nuts. Each nut has two broad wings. Wind can take these fruit far away, more than kilometer from the mother birch. And in the place where wing nuts land, they begin to grow. But birches need much light, shady places and dark forests are not good for it.
During the Great Patriotic war of the Soviet Union against the fascists (1941-1945) healing properties of birch sap had been used to cure wounded soldiers. Four thousand tons of the sap had been got to support weak children's health and to give the wounded in hospitals. People know and use the curative properties of the birch leaves and buds. There was time when people got tar out of birch wood and used it to cure wounds.
In ancient Russia birch bark was widely used. It has a special name in Russian, it is called "beresta" (and the word birch sounds like "bereza"). People used it instead of paper to write on it. In some museums you can find very old pieces of birch bark (beresta) with text written on them in old Russian language. And people also made dishes and even buckets from birch bark. They looked very nice! And nowadays people continue to use birch bark. Now it exists as decorative art.
Beautiful birch is one of the first trees to come to life in spring. People think, that it happens thanks to its particular fruitful strength, that is why birch is a symbol of the Trinity holiday - Whitsun ("Troitsa" in Russian). It is celebrated in June on the fiftieth day from the Easter. Long time ago on that day young girls used to go to birch groves, decorated birches with ribbons, made wreaths and danced in a ring around the birch.