Sauna is really a national institution here in Estonia. The most important decisions take place, international treaties are agreed upon, gossip is shared (the local equivalent for the idiom a little birdie told me is naised saunas räägivad or women in the sauna say...), and community is built in the sauna. Traditional saunas here in Estonia are much like Finnish saunas. Small houses separate from the house are built for the purpose of heating a room with wood, and, in the best cases, there is some sort of natural pond or water source nearby that you can use for cooling off afterwards. The ritual is also considered as an ancient way of cleaning yourself by sweating out impurities and washing afterwards. Men and women use the sauna separately as you normally enter the sauna without clothing (and the tolerance of heat seems to divide between the sexes a bit -- men test their manliness over adding extreme amounts of water to their saunas until the heat drives those that are 'less manly' out to the pond). Sometimes people beat themselves with birch branches to improve circulation as well. The whole process is controlled by adding water to the fire and increasing the heat inside through humidity. Many people have electric saunas in their apartments and homes. The sauna is sort of a semi-sacred institution here, and it is a habit I have come to appreciate during my time here. It is relaxing, and it feels cleansing. For me, it is a great coping strategy for the gray winters.
Last weekend in the southern Estonia area near the Russian border called Setomaa, I had the opportunity to try out a traditional smoke sauna. In this sauna, there is not chimney and a fire is made underneath a pile of rocks and put out. The hot rocks stay in the room and smolder. This sauna is not as hot as a regular sauna, but it is claimed to be a healthier and more authentic sauna experience by many Estonians.
In my mind, I thought it would be awfully smoky and dirty; to be honest, I was just trying it out to say that I had. However, it was a pleasant surprise. The sauna wasn't as hot and it definitely was not as dirty as I imagine. The heat is more subtle and the smoke is nothing worse than standing next to a campfire. After spending time in the sauna, we ran out to a hole cut in the ice to refresh ourselves. Shockingly, it felt really amazing. So amazing that I repeated the sauna-ice hole cycle several times. And, yes, the experience felt almost holy!
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1 comment:
well, there is also "segasaun" (mixed sauna), so sometimes men and women go to sauna together as well (and no clothes included, but of course, you can do it together with clothes as well, but that's not the point of segasaun :))
whether to have segasaun or not - it depends on people's liberalism and on how well they know / trust each other. sometimes it can be a nice, khm, ice-breaker and sometimes it's much easier to go to the sauna with people you don't know that well than with your friends. and don't underestimate beer's or other drink's role in it.. obviously.
and a little correction - you don't increase the heat by putting water to fire, but adding little amount of water to "keris" - hot stones in "leiliruum" - that's the hottest room in sauna where you also use these birch branches. btw, some people even love to beat themselves with juniper branches. ouch..
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