60 Fun Facts About Saunas

In Finnic languages other than Finnish and Estonian, the word "sauna" and its cognates can also simply mean what?

In Finnish itself the word covers both the bath and the bathhouse, and it is the best-known Finnicism in many languages.

What is the Finnish word for the steam and heat produced when water is thrown on the hot stones?

The Estonian equivalent is leili; a Helsinki public sauna opened in 2016 borrowed the word as its name.

In sauna vocabulary, what is the kiuas?

Modern versions are wood-burning metal stoves with a chimney, or electric heaters.

The bundle of leafy birch twigs used to gently beat the skin in a Finnish sauna is called a vihta or what?

Vihta is the western Finnish word; venik is the Russian, viht the Estonian and vanta the Lithuanian.

The earliest Finnish saunas were of which type, heated for hours with no chimney and then aired before bathing?

The savusauna tradition nearly died out but was revived by enthusiasts in the 1980s.

For roughly how many hours is a traditional savusauna's rock pile fired before use?

Properly heated, it then yields heat for up to 12 hours.

The electric sauna stove was introduced in 1938 by Metos Ltd in which Finnish city?

Electric stoves are now the most common type in urban saunas.

Sauna culture in Finland was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in which year?

The savusauna tradition of Võromaa in Estonia had been listed six years earlier.

The Finnish Sauna Society estimates Finland may have as many as how many saunas, for a population of about 5.5 million?

Official registers list at least 2 million.

Which day of the week is the traditional sauna day in Finland?

Most Finns with the chance take at least one sauna a week.

Finland's deepest sauna sits about 1,400 metres underground in which mine?

Saunas are also found in corporate headquarters and the Parliament House.

A Second World War Finnish military field manual said a battalion needed how long a break to build saunas, warm them and bathe?

Finnish peacekeepers in Eritrea made a sauna one of the first buildings they put up.

Helsinki has a sauna built into one of the gondolas of what?

The SkyWheel Helsinki offers a sauna cabin with a view over the harbour.

Rajaportin Sauna, a public sauna established in 1906 by Hermanni and Maria Lahtinen, is in which Finnish city?

It is often described as the oldest public sauna still operating in Finland.

A Helsinki public sauna that opened in 2016 on the Hernesaari shore, and made Time's 2018 list of the World's 100 Greatest Places, is owned by which Finnish actor?

Designed by Avanto Architects, the wooden building on the Hernesaari shore doubles as an outdoor auditorium.

According to Guinness, the world's largest sauna, the Koi Sauna, is at a thermal complex in Sinsheim in which country?

It measures 166 square metres, holds 150 people and has its own koi aquarium.

How did sauna culture spread to Central Europe after the Second World War?

Finnish soldiers built saunas in tents and even bunkers; the German visitors took the habit home.

In German-speaking countries, the ritual of pouring water on the stones and fanning the heat with a towel is called what?

It is led by a Saunameister; entering the sauna once the session has begun is considered bad manners.

Why can people tolerate sauna air of 100 °C when such temperatures would otherwise be fatal?

Steam baths such as the hammam, where humidity approaches 100%, must be kept much cooler.

Because humidity approaches 100%, a hammam-style steam bath is typically kept at roughly what temperature?

Any hotter and the wet heat would scald.

Why does the higher bench in a sauna feel hotter?

Children are often seated on the lower benches; fresh steam can also be strongest in the far corners.

What was the starting temperature in the men's competition at the World Sauna Championships in Heinola?

Half a litre of water was thrown on the stove every 30 seconds; the last person to walk out unaided won.

The World Sauna Championships were held annually from 1999 until they were stopped after a competitor's death in which year?

Russian finalist Vladimir Ladyzhensky died in hospital; the reigning champion was also badly hurt.

Who won the men's World Sauna Championships five years running from 2005 to 2009?

There were no real prizes; one year he received a set of speakers designed for home saunas.

Some spas offer "cold saunas" or cryotherapy rooms operating at roughly what temperature?

Users stay inside for only a few minutes.

A modern electric sauna typically takes how long to heat up?

A wood-fired continuous stove takes about an hour; a heat-storage stove much longer.

In Russia, bathers may wear a special hat made of which material to shield the head from the heat?

Protecting the head lets the wearer take more heat on the rest of the body.

A traditional Russian banya usually has how many rooms?

A steam room, a washing room and an entrance room.

Which Moscow bathhouse is the most historically renowned of Russia's banyas?

The banya has been documented since the 12th-century Primary Chronicle.

In the Primary Chronicle, which ruler of Kievan Rus' had a bathhouse locked and set on fire to kill a Drevlian delegation?

She had invited them to wash before meeting her; the story is one of the earliest written mentions of the banya.

The Islamic hammam was inherited from the model of which earlier civilisation's public baths?

Its sequence of undressing, cold, warm and hot rooms evolved from Roman and Greek bathhouses.

Unlike bathers in the ancient thermae, hammam users traditionally wash with running water rather than immersing in a pool. Why?

Immersion in a pool nonetheless used to be customary in the hammams of some regions such as Iran.

The temazcal, a permanent domed sweat lodge of Mesoamerica, takes its name from which language?

Water is poured over heated volcanic stones, which do not crack and explode like other rocks; midwives still use it around childbirth.

Among Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the sweat lodge ceremony is traditionally associated above all with which cultures?

With the rise of pan-Indianism many other nations adopted it; the Lakota call the ceremony inipi.

The Korean bathhouse complexes called jjimjilbang, with kiln saunas, sleeping rooms and snack bars, gained popularity in which decade?

The name literally means "poultice room"; the kiln saunas are plastered inside with jade powder, salt or minerals.

Korea's domed stone kiln sauna, the hanjeungmak, was first recorded in the 15th century under which king, who backed it for its health benefits?

Buddhist monks ran hanjeungmak clinics to treat the sick poor, with separate facilities for men and women.

Neolithic stone structures with dedicated areas for fire and bathing, possibly early sauna-like rooms, are found on which Scottish islands?

The sites date to roughly 4000 BCE; the steam-bath interpretation remains speculative.

Petri Kallio's proposed Germanic etymology derives "sauna" from a word cognate with which English word, referring to a pile of stones?

The Proto-Germanic root would have become Proto-Finnic sakna before evolving into sauna.

The earliest saunas in what is now the United States arrived with the colonists of New Sweden, along which river?

The Swedish governor kept a bathhouse on Tinicum Island.

Thanks to its Finnish Americans, which US region has the strongest sauna culture?

Duluth, Minnesota once had as many as 14 public saunas, and 90% of Finnish farms in the area had sauna buildings.

Who invented the radiant-heat "electric light bath", the ancestor of the infrared sauna, in 1891?

He showed it at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair; Edward VII and Kaiser Wilhelm II both installed versions in their palaces.

The modern infrared sauna concept was revived in the 1970s in Japan under what name, meaning "soothing warmth"?

Waon therapy has some preliminary evidence for cardiovascular benefit, but many infrared-sauna health claims are pseudoscientific.

In 1977 the US National Federation of State High School Associations banned which item, after wrestlers used it for dangerous rapid weight loss?

Several college wrestlers died in 1997 while cutting weight in the waterproof garments.

Frequent Finnish-style sauna use, four to seven times a week, is associated with a decreased risk of which conditions?

Long-term use is also correlated with a reduced risk of sudden cardiac death, more so when combined with exercise.

The mild stress of a sauna session activates what in the body, credited with repairing misfolded cellular material?

They are credited with promoting longevity and protecting against muscle atrophy.

Pregnant women are advised to keep their core temperature below what level in a sauna, since higher may be teratogenic?

Alcohol, dehydration and drugs such as cocaine all raise the risk of sudden death in a sauna.

Where does the sauna sit on Japanese law and etiquette in most sports centres and bathhouses?

Many sento added saunas to survive as private baths became common after the war.

In Laos, the popular herbal steam sauna known as hom yaa is heated by what?

Herbs are added to the boiling water and bael-fruit tea is served; women often apply yogurt or tamarind paste to their skin.

In 1536 which city gained a royal privilege to build public bathhouses, and had 60 of them by the end of the century?

Sauna played a big role in Baltic pagan tradition; rites were performed there for the goddess Laima.

What did ancient Estonians believe inhabited their saunas?

The sauna was where brides were washed, women gave birth and the dying made their final bed.

Cooling down after the hot room, in a lake, shower or pool, is described as what part of the sauna cycle?

Bathers are advised to pause before a cold plunge and enter gradually, since rapid cooling stresses the circulation.

Which Swedish word for a sauna, used in Norway too, comes from badstuga, meaning "bath cabin"?

Pirts is Latvian, saun Estonian and shvitz the word used by European Jews.

In Russia, public banya baths follow what strict rule about who bathes together?

In winter bathers often dash outside for an ice swim or simply roll naked in the snow before heading back in.

What is the Russian name for the leafy, wet birch bunch used to massage fellow sauna-goers?

The Russian banya is actually quite similar to the Finnish sauna, despite the popular belief that the Finnish version is very dry.

In Thailand, who traditionally spends hours in a makeshift herbal sauna tent?

The herb-infused steam is believed to help the body return to its normal condition more quickly.

How many people does the Koi Sauna in Sinsheim, the Guinness-listed world's largest, hold?

It covers 166 square metres and has a koi aquarium; Cape East Spa in Haparanda, Sweden, holds the same number but is roomier.

The 'Smoke sauna tradition in Võromaa', listed by UNESCO in 2014, belongs to which country?

It was the first sauna entry on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list, six years before Finnish sauna culture was added.

Geographer Matti Kaups found what share of Finnish farms in the Great Lakes 'sauna country' had saunas?

That was a higher proportion than on farms in Finland itself; the region's sauna culture centres on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula.

How long did the 2003 world-record sit at the World Sauna Championships last?

The event's 110 °C starting heat is regarded as the upper limit for competition, and the championships were halted in 2010 after a competitor died.

At its peak, how many public saunas did Duluth, Minnesota, have?

The Lake Superior region's Finnish and Swedish American populations make it the strongest sauna culture in the United States.