ST201902

SOOTHE OPERATORS:
FINNS AND THE SAUNA
A whole room dedicated to sauna? Only
in Finland. Most Finnish houses are
constructed around a sauna. One might
think this fondness for sitting sociably,
naked, in a heated (between 80 and 110C)
wooden room, could be because of the
chilly temperatures, but for the fact that
saunas are just as popular in summer.
Perhaps it’s the quest for cleanliness
that does it (in the past, women gave
birth in saunas because of the sterile
environment), or the abundance of wood.
The sauna ritual can include lightly
whipping oneself with a bunch of silver
birch twigs (a ‘vasta’ or ‘vihta’), which is
said to relax the muscles and clear the
skin, and ends with a plunge into cold
water. All thoroughly good clean fun.