Rattan

Rattan (from the Malay and Indonesian word rotan) is a palm in the tribe Calameae. The term rattan usually refers to the material obtained from the stems of rattan palms. Rattan is native to the tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Australasia, and grows vine-like, scrambling through and over other vegetation.

Rattans are climbing palms. In the tropical rainforest, most of the time they wait as little palms on the forest floor. When trees fall creating a gap in the canopy, the increased light streaming down transforms them into climbing mode. Their spiny tendrils catch onto supporting trees to pull the rattan up. As they grow on, the vines often become too heavy for the support and fall back in large loops, only to claw back up again.

Rattan vines can grow up to a length of 200 metres from root to tip. To get water to their leaves high in the canopy, they have to be efficient pumps, moving water up their canes at rates of a metre per minute.

Commercial rattan

Rattan material is cylindric, lightweight, and yellowish-beige or light brown colored. Its main difference to other canes such as bamboo is that rattan is spongy-solid, not hollow, and very flexible. It is the special flexibility of rattan that makes it popular for a multitude of uses.

There are roughly 600 species of rattan, but only a few species are used commercially. Commercially harvested and processed rattan comes in diameters from a few millimeters up to 5-7 cm. Most (70%) of the world's rattan population exists in Indonesia. The rest of the world's supply comes from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Bangladesh.

After harvesting, rattan is usually peeled to create a smooth surface and to remove the spines that some species have; in further processing, it is cut to the desired lengths. It is used for making furniture, baskets, carpet beaters, walking canes, staves for martial arts, and various other uses. Rattan can be painted, like wood, but usually it is only transparently varnished to keep the natural look of the product.

Rattan canes for corporal punishment

Rattan canes are also used for corporal punishment (see caning). The flexibility of the material makes caning with rattan distinct from caning using other materials.

Rattan canes have been used for school corporal punishment mainly in the British Commonwealth (including India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand) and in Europe. They still used for judicial corporal punishment in several countries including Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

Rattan canes are also popular toys for consensual spanking and BDSM play. Sometimes, the players may re-enact school corporal punishment, such as the classic "six of the best" in the touching-toes position.

More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Rattan ]

Spanking positions
Assume the position Bending over Bending over back of chair position Bent-over position Bent-over-object position Bongo position Diaper position Frontal over-the-lap position Grabbing-ankles position Half-standing position Hands-behind-back position Hands-on-knees position Hands-on-head position Handstand position Head-between-legs position Horsed position Knee-chest position Kneeling position Kneeling-in-a-chair position Leaning position Lunge position Lying position Objectives of spanking positions On-all-fours position Over the lap Over two laps Over-one-knee position Over-the-knee position Plow position reverse chair position Side-of-bed position Sitting-with-bottom-out position Spanking position Spread legs Spreadeagle Standing on one leg Standing position Standing-between-legs position Straddling position Touching-toes position Tucked-under-the-arm position Two spankees OTK Underarm position Waist-between-legs position

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Rattan

Commercial rattan

Rattan canes for corporal punishment

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