Getting hot in Helsinki by Chris Keeling The Finns have developed a cultural delight to relax you totally: the sauna. The Finnish bath is distinct from what you might already know of Swedish or Turkish sauna baths, and the Finns would likely claim that theirs is the original and most sophisticated way to unwind in a hot, darkened room. Among the several types of sauna are lakeside wood-burners, from which you can run directly out onto a jetty and hurl yourself into cold, shallow water, to the vast, communal "smoke" saunas or savusaunan, like the one at Kuusijarvi, in Vantaa, just outside the capital. This is where the whole family or groups of work mates can congregate on a Friday afternoon to unwind.
Hygiene first
Virtually all Finnish apartment buildings have a communal sauna in the basement, and individual homes built from the 1970s onwards often include a sauna in the shower room. Enamel bathtubs are hard to come by, as flowing water is considered more hygienic, hygiene being an aspect of social responsibility that is deeply regarded in the culture here. Steam saunas are less common, but there is usually a second sauna at public swimming pools in excess of 75° C-and 85°C for the more experienced. In Helsinki, the place to go is the Yrionkatu Uimahalli, a stunning1920s Roman spa (www.hel2.fi/liv/eng/pools.html). Contemplative silence
In the past, the sauna was where one would cleanse the body by sweating and scraping the skin, stimulating the blood circulation with light smacks from a bath "whisk" of fresh birch leaves, rinsing off with either a plunge in the adjoining lake (there are more than 180,000 of them in this country of just over 5 million people) or a quick dip through a newly hewn ice hole in winter. It was also the place where water heated by the log burner was used to wash the family clothes. And as the warmest, comfiest place, most Finns up until the 1960s were born here too. It's little wonder that the sauna remains so dear to the Finns.
The only sauna etiquette I came across is that in the single-sex sauna (naked, because swimming trunks can harbor dirt!), men tend toward contemplative silence. Yet, if conversations strike up, everyone is welcome to join in. There is no rule about who may or may not pour water over the hot stones. Like any new cultural experience, it's wise to simply observe and follow what you see before you. The point, remember, is to relax totally. IL |
