In 19th-century Estonia, stealing apples could earn a beating
Historians in Estonia describe how, in the 1800s, children caught pilfering apples from neighbors' orchards could end up in court and face corporal punishment. The practice reflects just how valuable early apple orchards were at the time.
Estonia's first apple orchards began appearing on farms around 150 years ago, and planting one was a costly undertaking. Farmers therefore watched their harvest closely — fences kept animals out, but did nothing to stop people from helping themselves.
Gardening history researcher Anneli Banner notes that it was common to plant apple trees near windows so they could be watched from inside the house. Farmers also kept dogs in the yard, and some stood guard themselves.
Boys punished with a birch rod
Apple theft could lead straight to court. In 1874, in the village of Piilsi near Avinurme, boys aged 13 to 14 were caught taking apples — amounts ranging from eight up to seventeen.
According to Avinurme local historian Piret Haav, punishment at the time was either a fine or corporal punishment — a birching. The boys' fathers refused to appear in court, fearing they themselves might be punished, so their mothers had to appear instead and were the ones who then administered the punishment at home, giving their sons ten strokes with a birch rod. It was unusual for parents rather than the court to carry out a sentence — an adult offender would have faced harsher treatment.
Penalties varied: fines ranged from 50 kopecks to several dozen rubles, while corporal punishment ranged from 10 to 30 strokes with a birch rod.
Where the word comes from
Today it's mostly pea growers who deal with crop pilfering, but the Estonian expression raksus käima has its roots in apple orchards, describing the cracking sound of breaking branches. Iris Metsmägi of the Institute of the Estonian Language explains that raks is an onomatopoeic word, and emotionally charged acts like stealing tend to attract many such synonyms.
While such pilfering is now generally regarded as theft, in the past — especially among children — it was often seen less as a crime and more as a harmless bit of mischief.
