I am currently anchored in the ritual of tending to my kiuas, the sauna stove, watching the flames take hold in the heart of the Finnish Lakeland. Heating a sauna is a meditative process and a far cry from a mindless routine.
Outside, the landscape is in transition. The late March lake ice looks solid from the porch, but it is brittle and honeycombed, giving a clear warning to stay off the grey surface. You certainly won’t find an avanto, which is a hole cut into the ice for winter swimming, at the end of my pier. I belong to the faction of Finns who believe water is only meant for swimming once it is at least a comfortable +20°C.
A Portable Sanctuary
This small room defines our national soul. While we have 5.6 million people, we have over three million saunas. In fact, this is more than there are passenger cars on our roads. To a Finn, a sauna is not a luxury, it’s a basic human right.
If a Finn moves to a desert or a conflict zone, the first thing they build is not a fence, but a sauna. Our peacekeepers have always prioritized building one first, and no Finnish vessel would cross an ocean without a hot room on board. It is our portable sanctuary and a piece of home that follows us everywhere.
The sauna’s roots are deep in its history as the pharmacy of the poor. A dark but famous Finnish proverb says that if sauna, tar, and booze fail you, the end is near. It was the most hygienic space available, making it the place where children were born and the deceased were washed for their last rites.
Beyond health and hygiene, the sauna was once the most versatile building on a Finnish farm. It was a practical workspace where people cured meat, dried flax, and prepared malt for ale. This multi purpose nature made the sauna the true heart of survival in the harsh northern climate.
The earliest saunas were simple pits dug into the earth and covered with turf to hold the heat. These soon evolved into log built smoke saunas, which were often the first permanent structures raised on a new farm. These buildings frequently served as a temporary home for the family while the main house was still under construction.
Since the sauna was the primary building that required a regular fire for its many uses, it was always the most vulnerable to destruction. A sauna fire was a genuine tragedy for a family, and this fear was immortalized by our national author Aleksis Kivi in his masterpiece Seven Brothers. In one of the most famous scenes in Finnish literature, the brothers lose their sauna to a massive fire on Christmas Eve and are forced to flee naked into the freezing woods.
From Smoke to the Sky
Even as we experiment with new formats, we remain loyal to the traditional wood fired heat. While savusauna (the smoke sauna) is a respected but rare treat, the standard wood burning sauna is what we usually mean when we talk about the perfect session. This is the type of sauna I am tending to now. It produces a soft and gentle löyly, a word so ancient it originally meant breath or soul. This steam is far more pleasant and breathable than the heat from an electric version. It captures the authentic spirit of the tradition without the extreme labor of the smoke sauna, even if the latter remains the peak of perfection for many.
Beyond these classic stoves, we now have electric versions in city apartments, portable tent saunas for the adventurous, and floating sauna rafts (saunalautta) that drift across our lakes. We have even built saunas into gondolas and Ferris wheels or carved them out of solid ice. An ice sauna is a strange paradox because the walls slowly melt away while the people inside enjoy the heat.
Equality and the Cold Madness
The sauna is the greatest equalizer in our society. When we leave our clothes at the entrance, we also leave our social status and egos behind. A CEO and a construction worker sit side by side as equals because there are no uniforms or status symbols in the heat.
While outsiders might misunderstand our nudity, for a Finn the sauna is a zone completely free from shame. We view the human form with a level of maturity that strips away the sexual tension often found in other cultures.
Because we sit naked with our families and friends from childhood, we develop a healthier and more realistic relationship with physical diversity. We do not feel the need to hide our weaknesses or imperfections because the heat accepts everyone exactly as they are. This creates a level of body peace and acceptance that is often missing in more conservative or hyper sexualized societies.
To a visitor, it might look like a strange ritual of endurance, especially when we use birch whisks (vihta) to strike our skin or strip naked with our grandmothers. This total freedom often inspires people to embrace the healthy madness of the Finnish winter. Many will happily roll in the snow or seek out ice holes for a quick plunge to boost their circulation.
Even if I stay firmly on the benches until the lake hits twenty degrees, I understand the appeal of the contrast. For the rest of us, the reward is simpler and involves a cold beer and a sausage cooked in foil on the stones.
For years, we even pushed our love for the heat to the extreme with the World Sauna Championships, until a tragic accident reminded us that the sauna is a place for healing rather than a dangerous contest.
Respecting the Spirit
We maintain a deep respect for the spirit of the sauna and the saunatonttu, which is the mythical guardian elf of the heat. Ancient stories tell of this spirit who requires everyone to follow the rules of saunarauha, a state of sauna peace where conflict and loud voices have no place. If you swear or behave disrespectfully, the elf might leave or even cause the building to burn down.
Inside these wooden walls, the noise of the world stops and the only permitted sounds are the fire and the water hitting the stones. My own kiuas has just signaled its readiness and I can hear the stones officially calling my name. I am logging off now to trade this keyboard for the steam while the heat is at its best. When you finally enter a Finnish sauna, remember to leave your clothes and your ego at the door because the guardian elf is always watching.
Further Reading and Sources
The Birch Slap
I also wrote a separate note about the sauna whisk.
thisisFINLAND: Bare facts of the sauna
Official resource from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs providing statistical background for the three million saunas in Finland and explaining the sauna as a basic human right.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs – Sauna Diplomacy the Finnish Recipe
Official speech verifying that Finnish peacekeepers prioritize building a sauna in every mission from the Sinai Desert to modern operations.
A sauna is a poor mans pharmacy
Article exploring the historical role of the sauna as a hygienic sanctuary for births and healing as well as its versatile use for curing meat.
The importance of shipboard saunas to seafarers on Finnish vessels
Research paper referencing the Finnish State Council decree 825/2012 which mandates that all Finnish merchant vessels over 500 GT must have a sauna on board.
Aleksis Kivi on Wikipedia
Comprehensive English overview of the life and legacy of Finland’s national author providing essential context for his work.
Seven Brothers, Bilingual Text at AnyLang
Features the 1929 translation by Alex Matson as a parallel text with the original Finnish including the famous Chapter 10 sauna fire scene.
Seven Brothers, Translation by Richard Impola 1991
Respected professional translation of the national masterpiece, available for reading in its entirety through the Internet Archive’s digital collection.
The Brothers Seven by Douglas Robinson 2017
The most recent and linguistically modern translation of the novel known for capturing the rhythmic energy of the original text.
UNESCO – Sauna culture in Finland
Official UNESCO listing for Finnish sauna culture as intangible cultural heritage explaining the ancient meaning of löyly as breath or spirit.
SkySauna Experience in Helsinki
Official site for the Ferris wheel sauna in Helsinki demonstrating modern urban innovations in Finnish sauna culture.
Sauna Made of Ice (youtube)
People have been making these for a while, in all sizes. Eventually, the structure melts away.
Visit Finland: Equality Nudity and Etiquette
Guide for international visitors explaining the natural and non-sexual nature of nudity in Finnish sauna culture.
The Guardian: Sauna contest ends after Russian man dies
News report on the 2010 tragedy that ended extreme competitive saunagoing reinforcing the view that the sauna is a place for healing.
The Finnish Sauna Society in English
The official English language homepage of the Finnish Sauna Society providing reliable information on traditional sauna customs and etiquette.
The Finnish way to enjoy a sauna | The SpeciaList | BBC (youtube)
The owner of the only public bathhouse in Lapland where people ice-plunge straight in the Baltic Sea, not in a lake or a pool.
She tells the secrets for a pleasant, healthy, and respectful Finnish sauna and ice-plunge experience, and dives deep into what to do and what not to do.
