Sauna Scene
(Page 2 of 3)
January/February 2008
Margaret A. Haapoja
For centuries, the sauna was revered by Finns as a unique, nearly ritualistic place in which bathers were calm, did not swear, sing, speak loudly or exhibit rowdiness. An old Finnish saying, still heard in Finland today, says, “In the sauna, one must conduct himself as one would in church.”
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For the do-it-yourselfer, there are many sources of pre-built saunas....
More than a steam bath
Early saunas weren’t used only for bathing. They also served as laundry rooms, smokehouses, birthing chambers, threshing rooms, and places to wash and store a body when funeral services couldn’t be held immediately. Saunas also served as hospitals in several important ways. A Finnish masseuse applied her skill in the sauna if a bone was dislocated or a muscle strained. Finns routinely put tar in the hot water of the sauna and inhaled the fumes as a remedy for arthritis. The traditional Finnish custom of “cupping,” which involved the letting of blood to release noxious poisons, was practiced in the sauna.
Our sauna experiences
When my husband, Don, and I built our home on a northern Minnesota lake more than 30 years ago, we settled smack in the midst of a Finnish community. With neighbors named Lantinen, Kujala and Savaloja, we are surrounded by people with saunas. In years past, Wednesday and Saturday nights saw smoke streaming from sauna chimneys all over our neighborhood.
Our fathers helped construct our first sauna, built with lumber salvaged from a neighbor’s home. When our two children were toddlers, the four of us took saunas together. As they grew older, we separated the sexes at bath time. Later yet, as the children reached their teens, friends brought swimsuits to share communal baths, dashing down to dive off the dock between sessions baking on the bench.
It may have been a little rough around the edges, but that sauna served its purpose well enough until the night it burned to the ground – the cause, a faulty chimney thimble. When Don rebuilt, he changed the design and added several safety features, including a chimney of concrete blocks with a clay flue liner. Now the stovepipe goes directly into the concrete chimney. The new sauna is as sturdy as it is attractive, and guests find the dressing room to be a great place to spend the night on extended visits.
Electric-fired saunas
People who incorporate a sauna into their home today have many options, and they often prefer to use an electric sauna stove to avoid the expense and mess of wood inside the house. There are dozens of electric sauna stove models on the market.