Hammam Al-Basha in Israel, where the only bathers are made of bronze. Image via Wikipedia

Mention sauna and everyone knows what you are talking about. A sauna is that hot, wooden room that nearly every spa, hotel and gym has for its guests. The sauna is a meme in commercials for mundane things like car insurance, eyeglasses and food safety. Sauna is so common that it describes anything hot or that makes you sweat.

The hammam meanwhile is a novelty found only at luxury spas and a few obscure locations in the Middle East. Yet two centuries ago the hammam was common throughout the entire Ottoman Empire which nearly encircled the Mediterranean and extended well into the modern Arab world, while the sauna was almost unheard of. What happened to change this?

Dallas DeForest, an American PhD student in archaeology looks at the rise of the sauna and the decline of the hammam on his blog, Mediterranean Palimpsest.

The area known as Finland had been a territory of the Kingdom of Sweden since the 13th century. In the early 1800′s, the Russians conquered Finland and annexed it as a Russian state. By the mid-1800s, a nationalist movement began within Finland to restore its identity. The Finnish language was revived, books of Finnish folklore were published, and the sauna was adopted as a symbol of all things Finnish. Mr. DeForest explains how the sauna was the ideal symbol for Finland:

The sauna works here in totality. In the sauna all are equal and without rank. Nudity is a means of breaking down social barriers by removing all evidence of one’s rank. Finnish identity also means individualism, self-reliance and sometimes isolation. This ideal is expressed through a forest/nature discourse, in which the ideal is a cottage in the woods, next to a lake, with a sauna, and the requisite supplies to live. Here the Finn lives alongside and is integrated with rugged nature, even defined by it, as free and equal.

He notes that although the Finns adopted the sauna, its origins are not exclusively Finnish. Several other cultures had long traditions of bathing in a hot wooden cabin, like the Russian Banya. This did not matter to the Finns. They had something to rally around.

In the years since then, the ideal of the Finnish sauna, “made of natural materials only, wood, stones and water, and it smells of nature when the birch is released into the air, or the logs become well-used,” has been used by many to denounce the hot baths of other cultures with a stronger pedigree, and even modern conveniences like the electric stove and infrared heating.

The hammam took the other route. At the time the sauna was gaining popularity in Finland, 1350 miles (2160km) to the south, the hammam was the center of the culture at the time. Again, from Mr. DeForest:

Hammams performed a variety of functions in Ottoman society from the 16^th until the 19^th century. They catered to the basic hygienic needs of neighborhood residents, their first and most important function; Muslims performed ritual ablutions in them on Thursday evenings and Friday mornings before mosque; certain rites of passage occurred in their halls (connected to marriage, birth, conversion to Islam, etc.); and they were important public spaces in the Ottoman city, especially for women. Typically, a hammam was a central feature of the mahalle, which centered on the local mosque (or church), a small plaza, school, and bath. Usually some 100-150 wooden houses clustered around these public buildings, which were made of stone. Some hammams gave their name to entire neighborhoods, and by 1768 so many had been built that [the Sultan] forbid the construction of anymore, since they were consuming too much of the city’s water supply.

In the 1800′s, the nationalism within the Ottoman Empire attacked the hammam. The Ataturk began a program of westernization: widening streets, building modern apartment buildings with bathrooms in the apartment, and a program of secularization. Each of these led to the demise of the hammam by removing the drivers that brought people there and demolishing many of the baths to make way for the construction projects. By 1939, fewer than 25 hammams remained in Istanbul. Today hammams are a novelty, mainly supported by foreign tourists.

You can read his full article “Nation Building and Baths: A Comparison between the Finnish Sauna and Ottoman Hammam” on his blog, which features several more articles on baths and bathing.

Sauna vs. Hammam: A Tale of Two Baths

Sauna Yoga - Photo by Hanne Manelius, Copyright Sauna from Finland association

There have been several varieties of hot yoga practiced for years, but the association Sauna From Finland is taking it to a new level with their Sauna Yoga program. Unlike the popular Bikram Yoga that is practiced at 105°F (41°C), the Sauna Yoga program is practiced at a blistering 122°F (50°C) in a real Finnish Sauna.

According to Sauna From Finland:

The Sauna Yoga method combines different yoga styles in a half an hour leisured exercise. The poses are done carefully in tune with one’s body and kept on for long periods, making it comparable to slow gymnastics. The session starts with a meditative breathing exercise, followed by muscle strengthening exercises in a standing position and floor-based poses sitting up. The session ends with a whole body relaxation on the warm yoga mat. The technique helps the body gain strength and aids metabolism.

The recently launched first series of Sauna Yoga method have a strong emphasis on muscles groups in the upper and lower back. Further series are being developed with the intention of launching them in a seasonal cycle.

The program is one of many that are being developed by the Sauna From Finland society to help operators of Finland’s saunas find new ways to engage this sauna-crazy public. Who knows, maybe even Nokia’s Stephen Elop will finally embrace the sauna rather than fight it.

If you want more information about Sauna Yoga or the other services that Sauna From Finland offers, contact them via their website.

Sauna Yoga – The Hottest New Trend

Rusas Spa in Budapest. Image from Budapest Winter Invitation

If our 12 Days of Sauna Christmas list wasn’t enough for you, the city of Budapest and Malev airlines just announced their “Budapest Winter Invitation.”

The deal is this: If you book a 2 or 3 night stay at one of the participating hotels, you’ll get one night’s stay free. Hotels at all price points are available. Malev airlines is also offering special fares as part of this promotion.

A part of the package, you get complimentary admission to one of Budapest’s historic spas: Gellért Baths, Széchenyi Baths, or the male-only Rudas Baths. Of course, with a three-day stay, there’s nothing stopping you from visiting all three of them, and even making a dent in the more than 40 other baths in the Spa Capital of Europe.

When you’re packing for your trip, make sure to bring your swimsuit, a towel, slippers and your own soap/shampoo. Any mixed gender baths are swimsuit required.

Single-gender areas are nude, but the custom at some baths is to tie a cloth around you to cover your private areas. Men’s cloths are worn around the waist, while women’s cloths are more like an apron. These are provided by the bath.

Budapest Tourist Guide advises that you should be sure to have some small change with you to tip the attendants in the bath. Many of the baths have the option to have your locker double-locked: once with your key, and a second time with an attendant’s. Take this option if you have valuables with you. They also caution that men-only days at some baths tend to attract a gay clientèle.

This promotion is available through March 2011, so book now if you’re interested.

Budapest Winter Invitation via Spa Finder Club Spa Blog

Budapest Winter Invitation

The Atlantic this week in their “Old Weird Tech” segment, they show one of these toaster tents as a “portable Finnish Sauna”. I don’t think that a Finn would be caught dead in one of these.

But say you’re in need of a sauna, and don’t have the time or the resources to build a proper one?

Photo Blog NoWorkDay.com has a post on what building a real temporary sauna looks like. What are the steps? Collect about 700kg (1550 lb) of rocks. Using these and a metal grating, build a fireplace out of these, then build a fire in there. Let it burn for about 2 hours to get the rocks nice and hot, then shovel out the coals (very important so you don’t asphyxiate yourself and fellow guests). Place a few large logs around the stove as seats, then put a tent over the whole thing, and you’ve got a makeshift sauna that will give you 90°C heat for 3-4 hours.

If that sounds like too much work, Australian company Ukko Saunas manufactures a tent sauna. For about AU$ 2,200 (also about US$ 2,200) you can get a complete kit with a tent, sauna stove and 5kg of genuine sauna rocks that fits into two bags and weighs in at just 23 kg (51 lb).

If you’re interested in learning more about getting a tent sauna for yourself in North America, email us. We’re interested in getting one too.

If you’re in Europe, Finnish manufacturer Savotta makes the official tent saunas of the Finnish Defense Forces. We contacted them, and they won’t ship to customers outside of Europe. The small “lumberjack size” unit sells for about € 600 + VAT including the stove.

Portable Saunas

Photo by PaintMonkey on Flickr

We’re pleased to announce a new feature to the site we’ve been working on over the last few weeks: From within Saunascape, you can now search for and book a hotel with a sauna! No more guesswork. Just access it from the “Hotels” link in the menu above.

Of course, we’ve noticed that the database is not complete. Unfortunately, we’re relying on what the hotels have reported to the central reservations system in both their description and amenities. If you know that your favorite hotel has a sauna and it’s not showing up here, tell them to update their central reservations record. Hopefully we’ll catch them the next time our data provider updates.

The database currently has over 5,000 hotels in more than 120 countries.

Try it out. Let us know what you think in the comments, and if there are any more features you’d like us to add. We’re already working on adding a hotel brand filter for those of you chasing loyalty points.

Find/Book a Hotel with a Sauna : New Feature

“Come on in and get some clean Scandanavian modernism” is the look that Seattle architects Build LLC brought to this sauna space they recently completed for a client.

More interesting though is the level of detail they’ve shared about the construction. If you’re looking to build your own sauna in your house, their information, plus their recommendation of the Finlandia website,  is a great starting point.

It’s a beautiful look. Something we’ll keep in mind the next time we remodel our bathroom.

Build Blog

Sauna Design & Construction at Build Blog

So you’re in the woods, and looking for a place to relax in a hot tub. You’re now in an area where there are hot springs, and you left your dutchtub at home. What’s a soul to do?

Player2756 posted instructions on Instructables giving instructions on how to build a wood-fired wilderness hot tub. Going through the instructions, it’s not the most environmentally build, and definitely not something you could even think about doing without several cars handy.

Instructables via Lifehacker.

DIY Wilderness Hot Tub

A site that showed up on my radar a few weeks ago is Hotsprung, subtitled “Hot Water and How to Get Into It.”

Most interesting is the post on the Dogo Onsen in Japan. According to Hotsprung, it was the inspiration for the bath house in the excellent movie Spirited Away(which probably deserves its own post here).

Hotsprung also has a very informative post on the Onsen, a style of Japanese Bath, plus some first-hand reviews of several spas in the Seattle and Vancouver area.

Take a trip over and check out Hotsprung.

Hotsprung

Photo by Paint Monkey on Flickr

In our quest to find new and interesting sauna tidbits to share with you, we spend a lot of time combing the web looking for information.

This weekend, we stumbled upon Sauna Times, a blog run by Glenn, a “Joe American” living in Minnesota. We find the similarities between his site and ours uncanny, right down to the choice of the background images. He seems to be quite a personable fellow. So much so that with this post, Sauna times now has a place in our links page.

What really caught our attention on his site though, was his post “Hotel Sauna: How to Take One.” A laminated copy now resides in our briefcase for our next stay at a hotel with a sauna.

We have noticed that most hotel (and health club) saunas, especially here in the USA, tend to be overly dry from disuse. This becomes part of the problem: If the sauna is dry and hot, it irritates your respiratory system. Most  forbid you from throwing water on the rocks, so the only solution is to turn the temperature down. You end up sitting in a warm room, which really doesn’t do much for you.

Sauna Times has a simple solution for all of this: As soon as you check in, turn on the sauna full blast. Give it 20 minutes or so to heat, then:

Flush the hotel sauna. Generously douse with fresh water:

• the bench area where you’ll be sitting.
• the hotel sauna rocks with water (they should bark back, if not, the sauna is lame, call housekeeping if you’re especially irritated).
• anywhere else you feel the urge.

Why?  underused hotel saunas can build up dust and stagnation, this ‘cleansing’ will get your hotel sauna fresh and ready to rock.

After this, reset the timer again, and give the sauna another 30 minutes to recover from this washing, and you’re ready to begin the sauna process, which Glenn distills succinctly: “It’s like the instructions on a box of laundry detergent: sauna, rinse, chill, repeat.”

If you are looking for a lodging with a sauna, don’t forget to check out our hotel sauna search engine.

[Hotel Sauna: How to Take One] Sauna Times

Sauna Times: Hotel Sauna

Mihael Cankar, a Finn living in Helsinki, has been maintaining his Finnish Sauna site since 1994. He has achieved his mission of bringing information about sauna culture to the internet.

He covers all of the important topics for the potential sauna-goer: How to Use the Sauna, Health Issues, building and maintaining Your Own Sauna, and the History and Traditions of the sauna. He rounds out his own content with judicious links to content by others, including Dr. Weil and a first-time sauna goer.

Pay his site a visit, and you’ll never wonder what Avantouinti means again.

[cankar.org/sauna]

Cankar’s Finnish Sauna Site