Editing Birch (section)

==Culture==
Birches have spiritual importance in several religions, both modern and historical. In [[Celtic Britons|Celtic]] cultures, the birch symbolises growth, renewal, stability, initiation, and adaptability because it is highly adaptive and able to sustain harsh conditions with casual indifference. Proof of this adaptability is seen in its easy and eager ability to repopulate areas damaged by forest fires or clearings. Birches are also associated with ''[[Tír na nÓg]]'', the land of the dead and the ''[[Sidhe]]'', in Gaelic folklore, and as such frequently appear in Scottish, Irish, and English folksongs and ballads in association with death, or fairies, or returning from the grave. The leaves of the silver birch tree are used in the festival of St George, held in [[Novosej]] and other villages in Albania.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rasp.org.al/oldevents.html|title=Traditional celebrations in Novosej|publisher=RASP|access-date=August 28, 2013|archive-date=December 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203052232/http://www.rasp.org.al/oldevents.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Karjalohja.vaakuna.svg|thumb|upright=0.7|Birch leaves in the coat of arms of [[Karjalohja]]]]
The birch is [[New Hampshire]]'s state tree and the national tree of [[Finland]] and Russia. The [[Betula alleghaniensis|yellow birch]] is the official tree of the province of [[Quebec]] (Canada). The birch is a very important element in Russian culture and represents the grace, strength, tenderness and natural beauty of Russian women as well as the closeness to nature of the Russians.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kurochkaclothing.com/news/birch-tree/|title=The Birch: Russia's Tree {{!}} News & Info|website=kurochkaclothing.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-09-24}}</ref> It's associated with marriage and love.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/kandinskyoldruss0000weis/page/36|title=Kandinsky and Old Russia : the artist as ethnographer and shaman|page=[https://archive.org/details/kandinskyoldruss0000weis/page/36 36]|last1=Weiss|first1=Peg|date=1995|publisher=Yale University Press|last2=Kandinsky|first2=Wassily|isbn=0300056478|location=New Haven|oclc=30701876}}</ref> There are numerous folkloric Russian songs in which the birch tree occurs. The [[Ornäs birch]] is the national tree of Sweden. The [[Czech language|Czech]] word for the month of March, Březen, is derived from the Czech word bříza meaning birch, as birch trees flower in March under local conditions. The silver birch tree is of special importance to the Swedish city of [[Umeå]]. In 1888, the [[Umeå city fire]] spread all over the city and nearly burnt it down to the ground, but some birches, supposedly, halted the spread of the fire. To protect the city against future fires, wide avenues were created, and these were lined with silver birch trees all over the city. Umeå later adopted the unofficial name of "City of the Birches (''Björkarnas stad'')". Also, the ice hockey team of Umeå is called ''[[Björklöven]]'', translated to English "The Birch Leaves".{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

"Swinging" birch trees was a common game for American children in the nineteenth century. American poet [[Lucy Larcom]]'s "Swinging on a Birch Tree" celebrates the game.<ref>{{cite web |last=Pfileger |first=Pat |title=Our Young Folks: Swinging on a Birch-Tree, by Lucy Larcom & Winslow Homer (1867) |url=http://www.merrycoz.org/folks/BIRCH.xhtml |website=Merry Coz}}</ref> The poem inspired [[Robert Frost]], who pays homage to the act of climbing birch trees in his more famous poem, "Birches".<ref name="Fagan-2007">{{cite book |last=Fagan |first=Deirdre J. |title= Critical Companion to Robert Frost: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iA70iL5LnEIC&q=birches+frost&pg=PA42 |access-date=10 November 2013 |year=2007 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-0854-4 |page=42}}</ref> Frost once told "it was almost sacrilegious climbing a birch tree till it bent, till it gave and swooped to the ground, but that's what boys did in those days".<ref name="Parini-1999">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/robertfrostlife00pari|url-access=registration|title=Robert Frost: A Life|last=Parini|first=Jay|publisher=Halt|year=1999|isbn=0-8050-3181-2|location=[[New York City|New York]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/robertfrostlife00pari/page/22 22]}}<!-- ISBN is for hardcover (514 pp.); not known if page 22 is hardcover or paperback (ISBN=0-8050-6341-2, 522 pp.) editions--></ref>