Finland - Song Of The Sauna

In Finland, the sauna is not just a bathing ritual, but also a place for healing and spending quality time with loved ones. Charukesi Ramadurai discovers its joys firsthand

- Charukesi Ramadurai

Year after year, Finland keeps coming out tops in lists of the world’s happiest countries. And after spending a week in that country, I discover the secret: sauna (which is pronounced “sao-nah”).

The traditional bathing and cleansing ritual that unites Finns of all ages and classes is the answer to this Scandinavian society’s physical and mental well-being. There are more than two million saunas in this country of some 5.5 million people, meaning they are pretty much everywhere: from small huts in the countryside to sprawling centres in luxury hotels; from the terrace of office buildings to the basement of apartment complexes. There are even floating saunas and sauna cable cars.

The sauna is where family get-togethers are held, friends catch up and business deals are negotiated. In the past, women even gave birth in the sauna. As Matti Markkanen, Sauna Chief at Löyly, a popular public sauna in Helsinki, describes it, “the sauna is more than a hot room to sweat in; it is something magical that really brings us all together”.

If there is one thing I hear repeatedly from personal and professional acquaintances in Finland, it is this: “For us Finns, the sauna is a way of life.” There are some who spend time in the sauna every single day, and others whose idea of a weekend getaway is going to their cottage by the lake that, needless to say, comes with its own sauna. It is an activity practiced throughout the year, regardless of how hot or how cold it gets outside. In the sauna, it is always a sizzling 80 to 90°C.