I sit on my chair staring out of closed glass windows at bright and blazing afternoon light beaming onto the outer worlds, watching an occasional warbler-like bird pause in mid-air and make a sudden graceful dive before twisting and darting into green bushes, and blue-white skies opening arms alluringly. What am I doing indoors, I wonder? It has been two days now without leaving home, and I have not seen or talked to a human being around here; in fact, its been nice, quiet, peaceful, and pretty much entirely Finnish. But, who knows: This may be the last times outdoors on a sunny afternoon for a long time: it has already been getting colder at night (6°C) and a wintry autumn is surely not far way. Really, what am I doing indoors on such a fine day?
A quick look at the weather (I had been warned several times that the weather in Finland can vary greatly during one day, from sudden sunshine to damp rain), and off I dart.
September 18, 2011, 15:44
Place: 22, Punkkerikatu 7B, Lappeenranta, Finland
Music: Forest Walk by David Paul
Mood: Pleased
Weather: Bright and Sunny
The nearby woods
A pleasant walk through the woods around Punkkerikatu; a scared rabbit that hared (:P) with lightning urgency; twittering of many birds; thousands of mushrooms of all sizes, shapes, and colors; many cavorting flies; droning grasshoppers; blueberries and rowanberries; and tall trees. The wooded area here is not dense, and indeed, there are many houses and people, but it is pretty 
thick. There are many bunkers too (from which Punkkeri + katu gets its name), a relic of pre-WW II days. I had been told that you can spot foxes, hedgehogs, and even flying squirrels in these parts, and I made a small mental note to do this again, but at night. It was a small walk, a
pleasant carefree walk, a nice walk (with some delicious mint-filled chocolate at its end!), and an adequate answer to that thorny question: What am I doing indoors on such a sunny day?
One of the many bunkers in and around Punkkerikatu
But, exactly the contrary question had made me pause for five whole minutes outside my house last week on September 11, Sunday, on my way to meet the usual gang for a sauna party + outdoor barbecue. A cold breeze had assailed me, almost imploring me to remain indoors: Why goest me, abandoning the comparative comforts of cement walls and cotton beds; why; why? Nevertheless, the temptation to find out what the big deal was about Finnish saunas was simply too much, and off I strode.
And saunas are a BIG deal in Finland, an integral part of Finnish culture; the Finnish love for saunas is almost legendary. There are 5 million people in Finland and more than 2 million saunas—an average of one per household. Why, even the Parliament has a sauna! And, well, so does my building actually! The Finns usually go to a sauna at least once a week, and the traditional sauna day is Saturday. It is said that the sauna culture has flourished in Finland because of their versatility: You could live in it, make food in the stove, ensure personal hygiene, and even give birth in an almost sterile environment (almost all Finnish mothers used to give birth in saunas earlier.). If you think that it is just the cold that makes the Finns love sauna, you may be wrong. The cold probably began it, but there are other cold but non-sauna-crazy countries; besides, in Finland, it is just as popular in the summer as in the winter. And, would you believe it, there are more saunas than cars! In fact, for the Finns, the sauna is more of a necessity than a luxury, a place for mental and physical relaxations, a place to relax in with friends and family.
Saunas are found most often near cottages located on the shores of Finland’s numerous lakes, presumably to facilitate easy post-sauna bathing, and our sauna was located by Lake Saimaa on a tiny but pretty beach; this was the
Our University Sauna, available for rent
University sauna, given for rent at reasonable rates. We reached there by about 15:00 and began collecting wood to barbecue some food as well as to heat up the sauna. Nowadays, electrically heated saunas are widespread, but this one had wooden-stove heating. So, we remained busy for some time heating up the sauna with wooden logs till it was ready, when amid a little silent staring into Lake Saimaa, desultory conversations, and slight shivering in the increasingly chilly breeze, the women went in first while the guys awaited their turn.
Our barbecue spread: (soya and meat) sausages, peppers, cucumbers
Many Finnish saunas are mixed, but this is not always the case, especially since nudity is not only encouraged but said to be desirable for a perfect experience. Our Finnish friend Y told us not to be alarmed by Finnish men and women walking out of the Student Union in the summer in their “birthday suit” to cover 300 meters and dive into the inviting lake waters! In fact, it is a faux pas to wear clothing in the hot room of the sauna, although it is acceptable to sit on a small towel or pefletti, a disposable tissue designed to endure heat and humidity.
However, saunas are a completely asexual place (at 100°C, it is not difficult to imagine why!), even when mixed. Moreover, for many Finns, the sauna is almost a sacred place. There is a Finnish saying that one should behave in the sauna the way one behaves in church. In fact, in Finnish folklore, the sauna is the home of the sauna-elf, saunatonttu, a spirit of the sauna. It is considered especially rude to swear in sauna, and conversations are relaxed or avoided while arguments and controversial topics are discouraged. Unless, of course, you are the famous sauna talker, the former president Urho Kekkonen, who used to bring his American and communist counterparts and foreign ministers to the sauna and would not let them out until a deal had been hammered out. Giving a whole new dimension to the phrase facing the heat!
So, what would you do if you accidentally entered the women’s sauna? It happened to a fellow in Finland. Asked what he did, he answered: “It was nothing really, I just composed myself and asked: ‘have any of you gentlemen seen my glasses?!’ “
Wooden stove in sauna (http://www.sauna-talk.com/)
Soon, it was our turn to enter the sauna. M quickly threw water on the hot wooden stove to increase the temperature to 90°–100°C from the hitherto 75°C. In the wood stove sauna, a metal stove with stones on top (kiuas) is heated with birch wood fire; well dried birch wood is preferred because of its good quality, smell, and long lasting burn. We produced some good löyly (loulu), i.e., the steam that rises to the bathers when the stones are hot enough to evaporate the water thrown on them. The first löyly swirl around the sauna-goers like a fiery lover. The second caresses like a gentle wife. The third, you sit as in the lap of your dear mother. My sweetest löyly is grandmother löyly, says Juhani. After supper, and sitting for awhile enjoying nature’s beauty, you could sneak over to the sauna around midnight and have an after-löyly. Grandmother comes to mind then. (from http://uralica.com/sauna.htm; a great resource).
A typical wooden stove sauna (http://www.ahlman.fi/annalan_sauna)
It was so bloody hot! A blast of hot steam enveloped my body, making me wince slightly, even as I started adjusting to the considerable heat. I was suddenly reminded of Y telling us of sauna competitions and a Russian dying last year after sitting in it for too long, while a Finn went into coma for 6 months! No wonder alcohol is strictly banned inside a sauna (not to mention the risk of fire). We were perched on the topmost level and the first-timers, the Mexican J and I, were feeling the heat, quite literally. What a crazy idea, I thought, who comes up with these antics?! These Finns have one of these human furnaces even at a depth of 1400 m in Pyhäsalmi Mine! Quickly heeding the good advice of Y, we deposited ourselves on the bottom level seat, which was cooler. In fact, J remarked wryly, “Hey, this is just like being in Mexico when the air-conditioning in the car goes off!” I grinned silently, reminded of Central India, even as the heat seeped into my body, seeming to burn all germs, life, and sorrows.
Soon, we became accustomed to the heat and shifted ourselves back up. Sauna bathing, they say, not only cleans the body but also purifies the mind. The bather’s frame of mind after a leisurely relaxed sauna ritual could be best described as euphoric. It is like a rebirth; all unpleasant feelings fall away and you feel at peace with the whole world. I was quickly beginning to understand and empathize with this Finnish sentiment. This was an amazing experience, to just sit at hot temperatures, sweating from all pores, talking little, just taking in the heat, slowly…all cares seem to evaporate away, life seems to spring anew, a new body, a unique cleansing.
Jumping into this cold lake, after sauna. Unbelievable feeling!
Now desperately craving for a shower, in one burst of speed, I ran toward the lake and jumped in, only to yelp and leap back: it was so cold!! However, who can really resist a dip in any water body, and I leaped back like a convulsive trout, to emerge hungry, ready to gorge on food, completely rejuvenated, and yes, euphoric. Really, who can blame the Finns? Who can blame even the Finnish soldiers on peacekeeping missions who are famous for their saunas, which they build before bunkers! Apparently, on the UN Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia, a sauna was one of the first buildings to be erected, and a WW-era Finnish military field manual states that a rest of eight hours is all that is required for a battalion to build saunas, warm them, and bathe in them!
Sorry, fellas, I am kinda immersed right now! Will fight you later! (unable to determine source)
What we did not do is considered one of the best parts of a sauna session: the vasta or vihta. The vihta is a whisk made of a bunch of early summer birch twigs. It is used to pamper the skin by gently or briskly swatting the body from head to foot. As the saying goes, a sauna bath without a birch whisk is like food without salt. But, we had done enough the first time around, enough to make us look forward to much more.
Finally, it was time to leave, and J and I returned together, discussing the crime situation in Mexico, the government’s futile attempts to crack down on drug lords, and J asserting his belief that the way forward is to promote positive development, employment, and prosperity, and make joining the mafia unattractive and irrational and not to meet the mafioso headlong; violence begets violence and retributions. Fortunately, Finland is a peaceful country with neither mafias nor terrorists; they only have a healing device, the sauna. The Russians may have banya; the Native Americans, inipi; the Turkish, hamam; and even the Japanese, onsen; but only the Finnish have love. Love for the sauna, that is, and an ancient and enduring one at that—from a thousand years at least, it is said!
Living in relative isolation, Finland has had few contacts with the outside world, including the pervasive English forces, and the Finnish language has loaned just one word to English. Is it any surprise that it happens to be Finland’s singular and most famous identity, the sauna?
Lappeenranta Sojourn 