How would you react if we invite you to take off all your clothes and go to a little room heated to almost 100°C, where you will sit naked with others to get hot and sweat? Then you will go outside and jump (still naked) through a small hole in the ice and refresh yourselves in the freezing water – or perhaps a little (st-)roll in the snow instead?
In short: “What about some sauna?”
Saunas in Finland have become an integral part of Finnish daily life. It is estimated that there are two million saunas in Finland, for a population of 5.3 million. It is therefore only natural that we also want to introduce you to this traditional ritual during our IGSM.
Traditional saunas are heated by wood, burned either in a stove with a chimney, or by a stove with no chimney. The latter – a smoke-sauna – is the original sauna and believed by most Finns to be the best. The door is closed after the wood has burned down (and most of the smoke has escaped), leaving the embers to heat the sauna to the proper temperature, but giving a soft heat and the aroma of burnt wood.
All saunas have a basket of rocks heated by the stove on which to throw water to increase the humidity. Called “löyly” in Finnish (one of the harder words to pronounce), the steam increases the feeling of heat and makes you sweat.
Basic etiquette in the sauna is quite simple. You first take all your clothes off – something not to be shy about. It is considered polite to shower before going in. Otherwise, there are very few rules. Stay in as long as you feel comfortable, and return to the sauna several times if you wish. It is recommended to “re-hydrate” often enough between sauna rounds.
While there will (hopefully) be no more snow and ice during IGSM 2015, we invite you to experience the cooling effect of the nearby summer lake/bay.