The Finnish sauna ( sv, bastu) is a substantial part of
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
and
Estonian culture
The culture of Estonia combines an indigenous heritage, represented by the country's Finnic national language Estonian, with Nordic and German cultural aspects. The culture of Estonia is considered to be significantly influenced by that of the ...
.
It was inscribed on the
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists
UNESCO established its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage with the aim of ensuring better protection of important intangible cultural heritages worldwide and the awareness of their significance.Compare: This list is published by the Intergover ...
at the December 17, 2020 meeting of the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Intergovernmental Committee
for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
As authorized by the state, the
Finnish Heritage Agency
The Finnish Heritage Agency ( fi, Museovirasto, sv, Museiverket), previously known in English as the National Board of Antiquities, preserves Finland's material cultural heritage: collects, studies and distributes knowledge of it. The agency is a ...
commits, together with Finnish sauna communities and promoters of the sauna culture, to safeguard the vitality of the sauna tradition and to highlight its importance as part of customs and wellbeing. In the case of
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists smoke sauna tradition since 2014.
The word ''
sauna
A sauna (, ), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a ...
'' itself is of
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
origin. In
Estonian language
Estonian ( ) is a Finnic language, written in the Latin script. It is the official language of Estonia and one of the official languages of the European Union, spoken natively by about 1.1 million people; 922,000 people in Estonia and 160,0 ...
it is ''saun''.
History
Origins of the sauna
The sauna in Finland is an old phenomenon and its roots are difficult to trace, but its earliest versions are believed to be from 7000 BC. Bath houses were recorded in Europe during the same time period, but Finnish bathing habits were poorly documented for most of history. One of the first written mentions of what is believed to be the sauna customs of the forefathers of the Finns was written by
Nestor the Chronicler
Saint Nestor the Chronicler ( orv, Несторъ Лѣтописецъ; 1056 – c. 1114, in Principality of Kiev, Kievan Rus') was the reputed author of ''Primary Chronicle'' (the earliest East Slavic letopis), ''Life of the Venerable Theodo ...
in 1112. He told of "hot wooden saunas in which naked bathers beat themselves with branches and finally pour cold water over themselves".
During the
Reformation in Scandinavia the popularity of saunas expanded to other countries because the European bath houses were being destroyed.
One reason the sauna culture has always flourished in Finland has been because of the versatility of the sauna. When people were moving, the first thing they did was to build a sauna. Finns have used the sauna to live in, eat, address matters of hygiene, and, most importantly, give birth in an almost sterile environment. Unlike many other, more densely populated places in Europe, the availability of wood needed to build and warm the sauna has never been an issue. Another reason for its popularity is that in such a cold climate, the sauna allows people warmth for at least a short period of time. However, it is just as popular in the summer as in the winter.
Finnish sauna customs
![In de sauna](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/In_de_sauna._Slaan_met_berkentakken%2C_Bestanddeelnr_920-4683.jpg)
Saunas are an integral part of the way of life in Finland. They are found on the shores of Finland's numerous lakes, in private apartments, corporate headquarters, at the
Parliament House and even at the depth of in
Pyhäsalmi Mine. The sauna is an important part of the national identity and those who have the opportunity usually take a sauna at least once a week. The traditional sauna day is Saturday.
The sauna tradition is so strong that whenever Finns go abroad, they relish the chance to have a good sauna: even the Finnish Church in
Rotherhithe
Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of Dogs ...
, London, has its own sauna. Finnish soldiers on peacekeeping missions are famous for their saunas; even on the
UNMEE
The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) was established by the United Nations Security Council in July 2000 to monitor a ceasefire in the border war that began in 1998 between Ethiopia and Eritrea. First military troops Nethe ...
mission in
Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
, a sauna was one of the first buildings to be erected. A
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
-era Finnish military field manual states that a break of eight hours is all that is required for a
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
to build saunas, warm them and bathe in them. Saunas, even in the military, are strictly egalitarian places: no titles or hierarchies are used in the sauna.
Taking a sauna begins with having a wash (usually a shower), followed by a sit in the sauna room, the room being typically warmed to . Water is thrown on the hot stones topping the ''kiuas'', a special stove used to warm up the sauna. This produces great amounts of wet steam, known as ''löyly'', increasing the moisture and the
apparent temperature
Apparent temperature, also known as feels like, is the temperature equivalent perceived by humans, caused by the combined effects of air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed. The measure is most commonly applied to the perceived outdoo ...
within the sauna. Only the word ''löyly'' is used for this particular type of steam; the Finnish word ''höyry'' ('steam, vapour') is never used for it except in a scientific sense. Equivalents for ''löyly'' can be found in the
Finnic languages
The Finnic (''Fennic'') or more precisely Balto-Finnic (Balto-Fennic, Baltic Finnic, Baltic Fennic) languages constitute a branch of the Uralic language family spoken around the Baltic Sea by the Baltic Finnic peoples. There are around 7 mi ...
such as the
Karelian ''löyly'', the
Estonian
Estonian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe
* Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent
* Estonian language
* Estonian cuisine
* Estonian culture
See also ...
''leil'', the
Votic
Votic, or Votian (''vaďďa tšeeli'', ''maatšeeli'') vɑːdʔda ˈtʃɨlɨ, mɑːt.ʃɨlɨ is the language spoken by the Votes of Ingria, belonging to the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. Votic is spoken only in Krakolye and Luzhits ...
''leülü'', the
Veps ''l'öl and the
Livonian ''löul''. Its original sense signified 'spirit, breath, soul' and this is still seen in the
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...
--for example, the
Udmurt ''lul'', the
Komi ''lol'', the
Mansi
Mansi may refer to:
People
* Mansi people, an indigenous people living in Tyumen Oblast, Russia
** Mansi language
* Giovanni Domenico Mansi (1692–1769), Italian theologian, scholar, historian and archbishop
* Kate Mansi, American actress born in ...
''läl'' ('life'), the
Khanty
The Khanty (Khanty: ханти, ''hanti''), also known in older literature as Ostyaks (russian: остяки) are a Ugric indigenous people, living in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as "Yugra" in Russia, together ...
''lil'' and the
Hungarian ''lélek''.
![Sausage, beer and cake at Uusi Sauna](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Sausage%2C_beer_and_cake_at_Uusi_Sauna.jpg)
Occasionally one uses a bunch of leafy, fragrant
silver birch
''Betula pendula'', commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found a ...
called a ''
vihta'' (''vasta'' in Eastern Finland) to gently beat oneself. This supposedly has a relaxing effect on the muscles and also helps to soothe the irritation from mosquito bites. When the heat begins to feel uncomfortable it is customary to jump into a lake, sea, or a swimming pool, or to have a shower. In the winter, rolling in the snow or even swimming in a hole cut in lake ice, an
avanto, is sometimes used as a substitute. Often after the sauna it is a custom to sit down in the dressing room or on the porch of the sauna to enjoy a sausage, along with beer or
soft drink
A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...
s.
After cooling down from the first bath, one goes back into the hot room and begins the cycle again. The number and duration of hot room-cooling down cycles varies from person to person based on personal preference. Usually one takes at least two or three cycles, lasting between 30 minutes to two hours. In Finland's numerous summer cottages bathing might go on well into the night. This is especially true in the summer when there's virtually no darkness at night. The sauna session itself is finished off with a thorough wash.
For someone brought up in Finland, the rules are instinctive but they are difficult to put into words. Depending on the size, composition, relationships, and the age structure of the group three basic patterns can emerge: Everyone can go to the sauna at the same time, men and women may take a sauna separately, or each family can go to sauna separately. Mixed saunas with non-family members are most common with younger adults, and are quite rare for older people or on more formal occasions. It is common for teenagers to stop going to sauna with their parents at some point.
In the sauna it is a
faux pas
English words
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