One of the oldest and most traditional aspects of Finnish culture is the sauna (the word 'sauna' is actually of Finnish origin). Apparently, the beginnings of sauna can be traced back as early at 7000 BC. Finland was an ideal environment for saunas, because there was always lots of space and wood available to build and heat them. Today, there are almost as many saunas in Finland. As soon as I arrived here in Finland, one of the first things people told me were to try out the saunas as soon as I could.
Our first ESN trip was on Saturday January 13th, to Savutuvan Apaja, a sauna resort just outside of Jyväskylä. Located on lake Päijänne, the resort was started in the 1980s. What was really cool about Savutuvan Apaja is that the whole area is made up of old Finnish peasant buildings, some of which are almost 200 years old. The woman at the sauna told us that the buildings were originally part of a farm. Another cool aspect of Savutauvan Apaja is the fact that it is part of a nature reserve, so there was a really peaceful atmosphere around the whole area.
The ESN group rented out the whole area for the day. We left the school at around 11am, and it took about 45 minutes to get there by bus. At first we just explored the whole area, and then later we enjoyed a group lunch. After lunch, we finally went to the saunas. In the past, I have never really been to a sauna, apart from the occasional time after swimming or a workout. But it turns out that there are many different kinds of saunas. After doing a little research, I found out that there are two main types of saunas: those that are warmed up continuously, and those that are warmed before people enter (called once-warmed). Once-warmed saunas need to be heated for a longer time, and require more rocks. After that, the saunas can either be heated using wood or electricity. One cool type of sauna that they had at the Savutuvan Apaja was a smoke sauna. This type of sauna is basically wood-heated but doesn't have any type of chimney, so the smoke gets trapped within the room and heats it up. Then, just before you want to go in, the smoke is let out. Apparently this is the most 'traditional' type of sauna, and considered to be the most authentic although I don't think it is any more beneficial than the other types.
While we were at Savutuvan Apaja, we got the chance to test out a couple different saunas, and I really liked the smoke sauna. I thought it would be much harder to breathe, what with all the smoke in the air, but it was actually a very different and unique atmosphere. We just had to be careful about leaning against the walls, because if you did, your whole back would be covered in soot.
Another cool Finnish tradition is to go for a swim in a lake to cool off after being in the hot sauna. Not only does it clean off all the sweat but it also has a bunch of health benefits. For my friends and I, it was a bit of a walk to get from the sauna to the lake (which in this case was actually just a hole cut into the ice!) and we all thought it would be freezing. But after being so hot, the cold air actually felt really good. And the dip in the lake was even better! I had imagined that I would just jump in and out, but it was much more refreshing than I imagined. Actually, as I was climbing into the lake, some local Finns happened to walk by, and told me that "the real way is to stay in for a minute or more" and I might have stayed in longer if there wasn't a line of people waiting for their turn.
After the sauna experience, I can really say that I visited Finland. It was really cool to experience something that's so unique to the culture here. Yes, there are saunas in many countries around the world, but I think for the Finns, it is very much a part f their everyday lifestyle and there are a lot of traditions associated with saunas that you wouldn't find anywhere else.
I hope you enjoyed this post! As always, thank you for reading, and stay tuned for my adventures from Helsinki :)
