Zhenia Tarlin talks about the use of birch bark

“Whether it can be peeled off, only the birch itself knows. Yesterday, I stripped it off over there. I found some beautiful birch trees. At this time of year, the bark sticks tightly. Maybe we can peel it off piece by piece, if it works. If I manage to do it. I’ll just set my knife down here. It’s hard to peel. This way works well – I just have to pull it off slowly. A nice piece of birch bark came off like that.

People make dishes out of birch bark, or they sew large containers. In the past, they also made cradles for babies and large boxes from it. People even used birch bark for roofing. First, the birch bark was boiled. Then it would become soft. Once it had softened, they used it to cover dwellings. When we traveled to the Ob River, we would take birch bark to build shelters. I also covered my own house with birch bark at first. When I built it in the year 2000, there was no roofing felt available. So I used birch bark and removed it later. They were long strips of birch bark.

We also use birch bark to make fire – it helps the fire in the stove catch quickly. Even now, I use birch bark to light the fire. When I heat up my stove, I start by lighting birch bark. You can sew all kinds of containers with it, even cradles for children. Nowadays, no one makes cradles anymore. In the past, little children were placed in cradles. They were wrapped up and tied with a rope. People don’t do that anymore. Newborns are no longer placed in cradles.

My cradle must have rotted away by now. I had a little cradle stored in my shed. Then the shed collapsed, and the cradle disappeared – probably burned.”

Recorded by Stephan Dudeck, Kazym, 2021.