The Finns And Their Sauna Knowledge

The word sauna brings, to most people, some thing dirty in mind. But for Finns, it brings only ideas of cleanliness, not only physical but also spiritual rejuvenation. In fact, the Finns considered the sauna to be the cleanest place on earth for centuries, and they let their babies be born in these smoky, dark cabins.

All the members of a Finnish family get dressed up (or down) in sauna suites. Nothing sexual was ever brought up in anybody's talks or behavior. It seemed to be an unwritten rule, though, that the father was the only one to ever wash kids. Another unwritten rule is that when children reach puberty, they quit going to sauna with their parents or with the parent from the other sex.

Growing up in Finland, it used to be common knowledge (= a joke) that married couples only have sex on Saturdays, after sauna, in their bedroom, under the blanket with the lights off.

For the Finns, therefore, sauna has been the holy place for nakedness without sexual connotations. And most surprisingly, sauna is more communal than private of a place by its nature. Families with small children take sauna together, visiting with friends often happens by inviting them to sauna with you, business meetings are conducted in saunas and Finnish former president, Urho Kekkonen, was famous for his lauantai sauna, a Saturday sauna with prominent political, cultural and business leaders.

If you want to sell something to the Finns, consider taking the heat! There is a belief among Finns that in sauna you become equal, you can be natural, you can talk like a man to another man. Today, the women of the first nation in Europe to gain universal suffrage and the women, holding about one third of the seats in the parliament, suffer from the sauna dilemma. The sauna all of the sudden has made us unequal with your fellow man.

At the same time women have gained political power, real decision making power has escaped them again, and where else than into the saunas. Business leaders together with the politicians are meeting in saunas with men. Women are not invited. Political decisions end up having been made in advance, before they ever reach the parliament floor. Let alone the corporate boardrooms!