The Birch

 

The instrument called “the birch” or “the birch rod” is actually a bundle of 12 to 20 twigs form 26 to 28 inches (65 to 75 cm) long, bound in the first third of its length by ribbon, cord or leather, forming a kind of handle.

 

 

The original instrument was probably just a natural branch with its twigs. Sometimes the twigs are bound at the end of a thicker rod of wood, as in the old brooms or besoms, that were also used for punishment.

 

The twigs can be of any appropriate wood, but the favorites are the white birch (Betula papyrifera) or the silver birch (Betula pendula), because they are mostly straight and flexible.

 

It was used for punishing children for as long as history remembers. There are Roman illustrations showing kids being punished at school with the birch rod.

 

 

As the twigs are slender, the birch can only be used on the bare skin, so the punishment added the humiliation of having to undress to the pain of the lashes.

 

Small children could be punished lying over the knees, but for older kids the favorite position was bending over a stool or a especially made bench, the block. Another possibility, used also for all history, was the one showed in the Roman illustration, lying over the back of another kid.

 

The pain of the birch is sharp and the spread covers a large part of the buttocks, but the damage done is superficial, not deep as that of the cane.  The pain of the first strokes is not much, but their effect is cumulative, and if the strokes are enough the punishment can be quite severe. Of course, depending on the number of lashes, the skin can be cut.

 

Famous for its use of the rod are the English public (privately owned) schools, especially Eton, the favorite of English nobility. Most upper class Englishmen, including future kings, suffered under the rod when kids.

 

 

The picture above shows the Eton "block", were pupils had to kneel for the punishment, and a couple of rods.

 

The rod was used also for judicial punishments, mostly but not exclusively for juveniles, especially in the countries that formed the British Empire.

 

It was used all over Europe, and in many languages the name of the instruments refers to the birch tree, as in berkenroede (Dutch), birkenrute (German), bjerkeris(Norwegian), björkris(Danish). It is called verges in French and verghe  in Italian, both being just the plural of rod.

 

A very similar instrument, using the ribs of the coconut leaf instead of branches,  is the  Philipine walis ting-ting .

 

There is another type of birch, made with 4 to 6 stouter rods parallel one to the other. This one is usually made from hazel or apple branches and was used for more severe judicial punishments. The effect is the same as that of individual canes, bruising and cutting the skin.

 

One of them is the so called "Winton rod" of the Winchester College in England, with four apple switches on a wooden handle. 

 

 

This is the one, 42 inches (1.06 m) made of four stout hazel branches, used until recently in the Isle of Man.

 

A similar instrument was used for judicial punishments in Jamaica. It was called tambran (or tamarind) switch, and consisted on three braided tamarind rods.

 

Published: 01/23/03

Rev: 08/31/05