sauna expert: one who has written a book on sauna culture
all except the bracketed are direct quotes from the books
viherjuuri [ 1972 ] sauna: the finnish bath
the sauna is the traditional finnish steam bath. sauna refers to the bathhouse itself but, because the verb saunoa is not translatable, in english one speaks of “taking a sauna.”
the simplest form of family sauna is a one-room hut built of logs, with a large rudimentary stove upon which stones are piled. steps lead up to a slatted wooden platform along one side of the room, and here naked bathers sit or lie in the hot air under the roof. the stones are heated until they become red hot, causing temperatures as high as 280 degrees fahrenheit; the ideal temperature is between 190 and 200 degrees f. during the bath, water is thrown on the stones, but the air remains dry because moisture is absorbed by the wood walls instantly. because the body can stand far more heat in a dry atmosphere, the temperature in the sauna is much higher than in the turkish bath.
after perpsiration, the traditional sauna in finland includes beating with tleafy birch branches, washing, and then a plunge in the nearby lake or a roll in the snow outside. then follows a necessary rest while the body cools down completely
aaland [ 1978 ] sweat
after enjoying a number of different saunas, from the wood-heated to the gas and electric heated ones, i felt i had become a connoisseur. i found good saunas and bad saunas (yes, even in finland). I cultivated my preferences.
during this difficult transition time [ the late 18th century ], urbanization shoved peasant ways into the background, and the savusauna went with them. if the sauna was to remain a finnish custom, a new style had to be conceived – a more modern one without log construction and without the chimneyless heating system. close living increased fire danger and insurance companies put a high premium on saunas built without fireproof cover for the fire and rocks. new heating units were designed, not all of them very good. stones were encased in sheet metal boxes. some were so small they could barely heat the sauna. … by the 1930s, poor construction and resulting disinterest brought the sauna’s popularity to an historic low.
building information foundation rts (complied with fifteen finnish authors) [ nd ] finnish sauna:design and construction
the finnish type of sauna, in which water is thrown onto hot stones, combines the best of the hot-air and steam bath traditions.
[ large discussion of the evolution of sauna in finland ]
[ i.e. there is not a singular idea of finnish sauna ]
saunas were built to different size according to need
- tall [ ‘thew häme saunas were also high structures, at least over three metres but sometimes more than four. there had to be standing room for a grown man under the shelf for malts’ ] and
- short [ ‘in north finland there were saunas even under two metres in height’ ]
nordskog [ 2010 ] the opposite of cold
the essential component of traditional sauna is the kiuas, a wood burning hearth used to heat rocks that produce an abundance of steam when doused.
several developments have made the sauna practice more convenient and accessible: chimneys, concrete floors, running water, and electric stoves but implacable dry heat interrupted by waves of löyly is the essense of sauna – a word that derives from the concept of the soul and describes an elemental component of a premodern finn’s world, akin to water earth metal, and death.
liikkanen [ 2021 ] the secrets of finnish sauna design
in finland, a sauna is both a place and an activity
only löyly reveals the true nature of a sauna
cooling off is integral to the sauna experience