The Historical Evolution of Finnish Bath

Finland is the birthplace of sauna. Everyone thinks that this relaxation custom originated from the ancient Finnish Ugric people in Finland. According to research, the custom of sauna was formed among tribes 7000 years ago, when Finns had not moved from Eastern Europe to their present position. At first, he was a man who worked hard all day. At night, he dug a hole in the hut, heated the stone with fire, and then poured water on it, producing a lot of steam. Its damp heat can relax long-term stiff muscles. This habit has gradually become a part of every family life. Not only has every family built an independent hut to build a pit, but the warm space has also become the main gathering place for people. Slowly, women give birth there, and the meat they hunt hangs there to dry; Even before the funeral, the bodies of relatives were parked there. Villagers in the countryside are superstitious that there are immortals everywhere in Shan Ye, so they set aside a certain period of time in the sauna every day to let the immortals enjoy themselves there. As for life events such as marriage, the process of cleaning with steam bath is indispensable; According to custom, the bride must take a sauna before going to church to get married. Today, sauna steam room is still one of the important communication places for Finns. There are public saunas everywhere in big towns. When building a house, people will definitely design the location of the sauna room in advance.

There is almost nothing else to replace the sauna in the minds of Finns. In wartime, Finnish soldiers, whose first duty is to obey orders, built saunas before digging the battlefield, otherwise their morale would be low. Finns can't travel abroad without a sauna. Without a sauna, they feel that life is boring. So, someone invented a portable sauna, a tent, including a stove, weighing only 40 kilograms. Sauna is also considered by Finns as the best social place, and inviting guests to enjoy sauna is a very popular social project in Finland. Saunas are even used in the etiquette of receiving heads of state. There is a very elegant steam room in the official residence of former Finnish President Kaikkonen. Whenever his talks with foreign dignitaries are coming to an end or are deadlocked, he will invite them to enjoy the sauna. It is said that some knots may be untied after relaxing in a hot environment. Perhaps you can't imagine that labor dispute mediation in Finland is also carried out in the sauna room. They think that kind of environment helps to improve the atmosphere and promote frank dialogue. Modern Finns firmly believe that sauna can cure all physical and mental problems. They often say that if a person's physical and mental pain can't be relieved by sauna, he must be terminally ill.

It is estimated that there are more than 6,543.8+600,000 saunas in different forms in Finland, and the population ratio is almost one for every three people, with the highest density in the world. Finland, as the birthplace of this activity, has long established a set of fixed and strict traditional sauna procedures, but many steam baths in the world are not authentic, so Finland is still the best place to enjoy authentic saunas. Over time, "visiting Finland and taking an authentic Finnish bath" has become a popular concept of tourism projects.

The basic sauna design must include steam room, bathroom and dressing room. Steam rooms are all made of unpainted wood, and platforms where people sit are all made of spruce or poplar, especially poplar. Because of its high air permeability, it will not accumulate too much heat, which makes people feel uncomfortable. Small steam rooms are equipped with independent heaters, and public saunas are equipped with large boilers to provide steam for different rooms. The temperature of the steam room is usually adjusted between 50℃ and 80℃, and the humidity stipulates that one cubic meter of air contains 50 to 60 grams of water vapor. In order to adjust the humidity and serve as a vent, the ceiling of the steam room is equipped with ventilation equipment that can be switched on and off at any time, so it is appropriate to change the steam in the room six times per hour. Traditional Savusauna uses wood to boil water outdoors, and the natural aroma of wood will penetrate into it with steam water, giving sauna bathers extra pleasure.

The first step of taking a Finnish bath is to take a shower and clean it up, and then enter the steam room naked (except for private saunas, all Finnish saunas stipulate separate rooms for men and women). Square paper towels are usually prepared at the door for use (padded on the seats in the sauna room), and towels, swimsuits and slippers should not be brought into the sauna room. In addition, it is best not to use irritating beauty products in the sauna. When doing sauna, people are used to beating the whole body with soft birch branches with leaves. In order to make the blood run faster, the skin pores are as open as possible and sweat flows out of the body more smoothly. When you sweat for a while, the second step is to take a bath to clean and cool your body. For example, if the sauna room is located by the lake, even in winter, people are used to jumping into the lake or in the ice pool dug in the snow. When the hot air dissipates, they will beat and sweat in the steam room, and then return to the water to cool down. If you go back and forth three times, the dirt in your body will be discharged and then you will be fully relaxed. Finally, you clean it thoroughly again, and the whole sauna is finished.

Usually, after enjoying the sauna, Finns are used to eating a big meal, called "sauna meal", mainly to supplement the salt lost by sweating. Sauna meals often start with pickled herring with hot potatoes, and anchovies, sardines, smoked fish or salted mushroom salad are also popular choices for many people. The second course can be pancakes, lasagna or rice. Most of the soups are French onion soup or Russian Luo Songtang, and malt beer called Sahti by Finns is the first choice for alcohol. Want to spice up the sauna room, the heating furnace in the steam room can barbecue sausages, relax muscles, and enjoy two kinds of fun at the same time.

Sauna principle: Sauna is a kind of steam bath, which is a steam bath in a space with a temperature as high as 45- 100. It is divided into dry and warm.

Dry steam bath (also known as Finnish bath wood structure) the whole bathing process of the room is sitting, that is, adding water to the red-hot ore to generate steam. The high indoor temperature makes people feel that they are dried and absorbed by body moisture in the naked sun.

Wet steam bath (also known as Turkish bath) room needs to add water to the cooling air continuously during the whole shower process to make the humidity of the whole room thicker. The bather seems to be in a tropical rain forest, producing a feeling of haze, humidity or wind and rain.

(4) The role of sauna: Sauna is to make bathers sweat, promote blood circulation, accelerate new metabolism, lose weight, restore physical strength, relieve mood, cheer up and maintain mood.

(5) The difference between dry steam bath and wet steam bath: The difference between them lies in the difference in temperature and humidity. The temperature of dry steam bath is kept at about 90 degrees, and the temperature of wet steam bath is kept at about 70 degrees. The humidity of dry steam bath is less than that of wet steam bath.