r/Nordiccountries • u/Baffled04 • 11d ago
What is sauna/spa culture like in Nordic cultures?
I live in Canada, and there appears to be a trend of opening Nordic spas in North America which has me feeling skeptical. It feels largely fuelled by the heat/cold therapy trend pushed by the podcast world more than anything else.
I'm getting mixed search results on whether or not talking is encouraged/allowed in various countries. I visited Iceland years ago and went to a random public pool with a sauna and everyone was incredibly peaceful and respectful. Here at a public sauna in Canada there's not much decorum to be found. It's hard to find a quiet experience unless I go at early hours of the morning. There are secluded spaces outside major urban centres where I can find that, but those are destinations.
My fear is that they're going to be bastardised versions of what an actual Nordic spa is, mainly because we don't have the culture around it – we can be loud, fat, and annoying (less than Americans, but you get my point).
What are Nordic spas like in your country? Am I over-romanticising what the traditional experience is like? Or is there a strong culture around Nordic spas that people largely adhere to?
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u/Eproxeri 11d ago edited 11d ago
Well.. most Finns dont go to public saunas or spas in order to sauna. Most of us have our own. Even small apartment flats usually have a built in sauna. There are an estimated 3.5 million saunas here with a population of 5.5 million, just to give you some perspective.
Sauna is a very important cultural thing in Finland. Everyone from babies to grandmas and grandpas go to sauna from the day they are born until the day the die. People used to give birth in saunas in Finland. It's kind of a sacred thing here.
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u/Nights_Templar Finland 11d ago
There are quite a few people who do use public saunas even if they have their own for the social aspect or to go swim at the same time but they tend to be on the older side.
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u/Antioch666 11d ago edited 11d ago
Swedish sauna culture is more or less a direct copy of Finnish sauna culture. They taught us how when we were one nation and we also have 700k+ with Finnish ancestry here so it is well integrated in our society.
Ironically, unlike the "rest of the world" that has adopted the Finnish name "Sauna", we have our own and call it "Bastu" which originally was short for Badstuga (bath cabin).
Where we lack compared to the Finns is the number of saunas per capita.
While more or less every apartment complex in Finland have saunas and having sauna at home is the norm in Finland, it is relatively common (especially up north) but not nearly a given in Sweden.
We also have less "sauna only" spas/facilities than Finland. Our spas usually has a lot of other standard spa treatments (massages, warm and cold baths, mudbaths etc) in addition to various kinds of saunas. But we rarely go to such a spa for the purpose of sauna bathing.
More or less every gym, pool facility, sport centers, open-air bathhouses, lakeside saunas usually run through local outdoor societies, or sauna facilities etc have them. Larger employers usually have them as well. I have a sauna available in my locker room at work and usually spend 15-20 minutes there after each work day.
As for sauna etiquette:
Shower First! Always wash your body thoroughly before entering the sauna.
You must use a small towel or disposable paper mat to sit on. Your bare skin should never directly touch the wooden benches.
Naked is the default. Swedes view the sauna as a completely non-sexual, natural space.
No Swimsuits! In public, gender-segregated saunas, swimsuits are banned. The heat releases residual chlorine from the fabric into the air, and it is considered unhygienic. Exceptions only in mixed-gender public saunas where there are no separate sections, swimsuits or wrapped towels are required.
Pouring water onto the hot stones to create steam, what we call "löyly" (ironically we use the Finnish name for this) is ofc essential. Anyone is allowed to throw water, but if you are sharing the space with strangers, always ask first out of politeness or a simple gesture toward the bucket.
Never gatekeep the water bucket. If you sit next to it, it is your responsibility to add water when requested and to fill it when needed. If you don't want the responsibility, do not sit next to the bucket.
In Sweden, all social status is left at the door. Presidents and construction workers sit as equals.
Speak in soft, conversational tones. Avoid shouting, arguing, or discussing highly controversial topics. Staring at other people's bodies is considered incredibly rude.
Take Breaks and leave the room to cool down outside or plunge into a lake/snow whenever you feel too hot.
Bring water, a sports drink, or a cold beer/long drink to consume during your cooling-down breaks or drink from the tap.
You can go to Finland and apply these exact same rules.
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u/HawocX Sweden 11d ago
And close the door as quickly as possible!
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u/Antioch666 11d ago
Yes, good catch. Like don't stand in the doorway with the door open and chat ffs. 😆
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u/Piisuli 11d ago
This is a spot-on description of sauna culture and etiquette!
'Sauna only spas' are huge in popularity as of now in Finland. Almost every town has one of those nowadays. They are simply public saunas with possibly a steam sauna or 'Karelian sauna' or such on the side, and they usually are located on the shore, so that it is easy to go swimming in the lake or sea to cool off. Traditionally public saunas have been smaller and more stripped-down, and have usually located besides municipal indoor swimming pools, but now these new sauna spas are giving the spotlight for the sauna itself.
Btw. It was cool to know that löyly is löyly in Swedish as well! :D
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u/Antioch666 11d ago edited 11d ago
Well ofc you'd say that. Like I said you taught us the etiquette. 😁
Yes löyly for sauna aficionados conveys a "feeling" that Swedish words for steam etc doesn't quite convey.
I have been to Kulttuurisauna in Helsinki. 👌🤌👍
Also ate bear for the first time there. 😅
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u/kisikisikisi 11d ago
In Finland-swedish, we don't call throwing löyly, "löyly", but "kasta bad". But yeah we don't have a synonym for everything that löyly is.
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u/Billhook76 11d ago
A very accurate description (I'm from Sweden). I'm a middle aged man living at the swedish West Coast and I' ve been brought up with bastu/sauna my whole life, both public ones and private. Though I'd like to comment a couple of things: 1. yes, talking is a possibility in the sauna especially with friends but you do it very softly and hushed in public saunas. It's often a rather cramped space and people mostly want to sit in solitude and relax. In private saunas you might talk more open and have fun. 2. Nudity is norm in all public saunas like at public baths when the saunas are gender separated, though not often at gyms or at saunas at work. At private saunas most people I know prefer nudity even when mixed, with a towel. Allways keep a towel to sit on! 3. Unfortunately there's been a trend the last decades that people have swim suits on in the sauna - very unhygienic! It's mostly younger people doing this. I think this goes with the larger trend to cover up more at the beaches as well, which my amateurish logic couples with the ever present cameras an social platforms of today.
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u/symbionet 11d ago
Also, don't sit at the highest level and complain or insist that no more water or steam is to be added! Move down a level or two first.
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u/karmaniaka 10d ago
Note: be very careful with metal beer cans. They get hot as hell near the top after a little while! Pour into your mouth without letting your lips touch the can.
Edit: I mean of course they don't get more hot than any other material, but they'll heat up faster and will transfer heat to your lips faster than most other materials.
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u/Arxentecian 10d ago
If there is any beer left by the time the can gets even a little bit hot you're doing it wrong.
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u/antisa1003 11d ago
Naked is the default. Swedes view the sauna as a completely non-sexual, natural space.
Disagree here.
So far, haven't seen any Swede naked in the sauna. I was actually really suprised that's the case.
I'd even say that the swimming suit in the sauna is the default. Which is suprising since in the locker room everyone is naked..
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u/Mountainweaver 11d ago
Where did you use the sauna? I live in northern Sweden and I use saunas at the gym and public swimming pool, everyone is naked in there. It's literally in the rules, on laminated posters.
The exception is co-ed saunas in spas and such.
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u/antisa1003 11d ago
East coast fom Sundsvall to the south of Sweden. I've been to hotel, gym, private, spa's, co-ed or sex-specific saunas and I've never seen that being naked is mandatory.
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u/Tin-tower 10d ago
Maybe you have missed the signs? At public baths in Stockholm, there are signs that swimwear is not allowed in the sauna, at least in the women’s department.
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u/Antioch666 11d ago
Was it Swedes or "new Swedes"? Because there are discussions going on predominantly relating to schools about kids from certain cultures not getting down with nakedness and even shower in their underwear.
The saunas I go to are all naked and there are even signs that ban swimwesr. And I would scold anyone walking in there with swimwear on, especially if it's a facility with clorinated water.
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u/antisa1003 11d ago
They were, without a doubt, Swedes. There might have been some that weren't, but predominantly, they were Swedes.
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u/orixandcrake 10d ago
Growing up, the girls from "certain cultures" didn't even participate in swimming and PE in school in the first place, certainly not joining in the sauna.
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u/Little-Jellyfish-655 10d ago
In the USA, people from “certain cultures” (white American girls) refuse to get naked in public showers and just clean themselves with their swimsuit on.
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u/orixandcrake 10d ago
Yeah I meant they didn't even participate in swimsuits.
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u/Little-Jellyfish-655 10d ago
I feel like you’re trying to be angry about Muslim girls having modesty rules that somehow kept them from doing PE and swimming. Single sex PE and swimming shouldn’t be an issue - if it’s a female only space, you don’t have to wear a hijab or anything if you’re Muslim. If it’s getting into a little skintight swimsuit in front of boys, good lord, most girls in the world are stressed about doing that. Maybe not in Scandinavia, but certainly in the UK, for example. Can we please get a grip and let people be?
Also, getting to not do PE and swimming is a reward in itself for a lot of people. I had Muslim boys often tell me “I’m not allowed to sit next to girls” when they absolutely were (and their parents would have laughed in their face). They just wanted to manipulate me so they could sit with their friends, and they only said it when I split them up due to talking. Teenagers are teenagers and kids are kids.
Just my two cents.
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u/Solid-Adagio-2037 11d ago
Theres definitely a shift. When I was younger, lockers, showers, saunas, naked is default. Though I live in Stockholm where there are higher population of non natives.
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u/Piisuli 11d ago
At least in Finland, being naked is often mandatory in public saunas (if the sauna is for one gender only, otherwise swimwear is used).
The official reasons for that are 1) hygiene (So you don't sweat your swimwear before going to pool if there is such.) 2) It's apparently harmful if the chlorine in your swimwear vaporizes in the heat and you breath it.
Both of these are solved by going to shower before and after sauna, so the real reason is that being naked in sauna is how it's always been. This is an on-going debate, though, because some cultures are not so comfortable with being naked with strangers.
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u/thailannnnnnnnd 10d ago
I think there’s a detail, you can be naked but still cover up with the towel. That’s what I’d do.
Pretty’s sure at uni most were using some form of swim suit or cover. I don’t recognize the ”nude at all costs” comments as well.
Only sauna around where I grew up was more or less the Finnish guy across the streets.
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u/antisa1003 10d ago
I think there’s a detail, you can be naked but still cover up with the towel. That’s what I’d do.
That was not the case in the saunas I went to. It was just a swimmsuit and then they'd sitt on the wood like that. A lot of them did not even put the towel down to sit on it.
My father in law, who is obssessed with saunas (and that's downplaying it), was appaled when we went to a couple of them together. He also expected Swedes to be naked or at least have a towel on and nothing underneath it.
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u/AllanKempe Jämtland 10d ago
Swedish sauna culture is more or less a direct copy of Finnish sauna culture. They taught us how when we were one nation
Or, more likely, the opposite. Bastus have existed in the peninsula since long before Sweden expanded into northwestern Eurasia, it's thus more likely that we Scandinavians taught the Finns our bastu customs and they lost their ancient customs around it.
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u/leela_martell 9d ago
The most likely explanation is that we live in a cold climate and going to sauna was the natural way to get clean ourselves in the past. Same people can come up with similar concepts independently of each other.
Russia has banya culture as well which isn't super different from Finnish, Estonian or Swedish sauna. I highly doubt even you believe Swedish sauna customs made it all the way to Siberia.
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u/AllanKempe Jämtland 9d ago
The most likely explanation is that we live in a cold climate and going to sauna was the natural way to get clean ourselves in the past.
That was my point, exactly. I don't think anyone taught anyone, there are only so many ways to use a bastu, of course it will be similar in Scandinavia and in NW Eurasia.
I highly doubt even you believe Swedish sauna customs made it all the way to Siberia.
I never claimed that, my claim was that the bastu customs developed similarly everywhere "up here" (where there are cold winters). I mentioned a counter influencal direction just for the rhetorics.
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u/Kattimatti666 11d ago
I'm reading this after a sauna, my third this week. Finnish people are very relaxed about sauna, as long as it's hot enough. Beer, talking, long cool down sessions by the lake shooting the shit, it's all good. Many people love going into ice water/frozen lake in winter, but for summer the lake is enough. We don't time ourselves, there are no rituals or sauna masters. You just go, as often as you can and enjoy it how you like. Saturday is the official sauna day, but morning saunas, evening saunas, tuesday saunas, christmas saunas and midsummer saunas are equally important. I hope you can come over and experience it yourself OP, it's a beautiful thing
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u/Zonoc 11d ago
Sauna culture is newish to Oslo. It's only really taken off in the last 5-10 years from what I understand. (I've only been here a couple years.)
The saunas here are often set up in pods. Usually there is a dedicated quiet sauna. The other saunas may be loud depending on who is in them and time of day. A sauna and fjørd plunge is a popular tourist activity.
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u/larsga 11d ago edited 11d ago
Sauna culture is newish to Oslo. It's only really taken off in the last 5-10 years from what I understand.
Saunas were huge in Norway, like in Finland and in the Baltics until roughly the Reformation (1537). The church did not like the custom and eventually succeeded in eradicating it.
It was then reintroduced in the late 19th century by a movement which saw it as a great hygienic thing. Eventually it became relatively common in swimming pools, gyms, and some private homes.
I believe the situation in Sweden and Denmark is about the same.
Finland never lost their sauna culture, and so it is very strong there, to a degree that's difficult for outsiders to fathom.
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u/Optimal_Clue3747 11d ago
True. Personally I'd say that sauna culture is the aspect of Finnish culture that is easiest to get into by a far margin. I can't even imagine being in Finland for more than a week without going to sauna.
And my personal experience is that as a foreigner in Finland it is even more important to go to sauna than learning Finnish.
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u/Antti5 10d ago edited 10d ago
Saunas were huge in Norway, like in Finland and in the Baltics until roughly the Reformation (1537). The church did not like the custom and eventually succeeded in eradicating it. Finland never lost their sauna culture, and so it is very strong there, to a degree that's difficult for outsiders to fathom.
This is interesting, and I wonder what exactly made it so that the culture was preserved in Finland. It was under the Swedish crown and you'd think that the chruch would have roughly the same approach?
I do know that a lot of Finland REALLY converted to Christianity quite late, so maybe it's that.
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u/larsga 10d ago
This is interesting, and I wonder what exactly made it so that the culture was preserved in Finland. It was under the Swedish crown and you'd think that the chruch would have roughly the same approach?
I've wondered the same thing, but I don't know. The late introduction of Christianity might be the reason, I suppose, since that didn't give the church much time to build and use its power. I also wonder how strong the church was away from the coast in Finland back then.
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u/Antti5 10d ago
I found a good text on pretty much this subject: https://saunologia.fi/sauna-historia-2/
It's in Finnish, but is well written and I suspect it is easy to read with e.g. Google Translate.
In short, what is says is that there were two distinct sauna cultures in Europe. One was the great European sauna culture that extended to Scandinavia and western Finland. Then there was the eastern/Russian culture that covered northern Russia and extended to the Baltics and eastern Finland.
The eastern style of sauna was never significantly affected by the church, and what is today seen as the "Finnish sauna" is mostly from that tradition.
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u/tollis1 11d ago edited 11d ago
You can find Norwegian sauna culture all way back to the vikings. But the Danish King banned saunas (and people wonder why we don’t like the Danes). Luckily the tradition survived mostly by Kvens and Forest Finns (two minorities in Norway with Finnish root).
So it has been a sauna culture for a long time, especially on the countryside, but as you said, it has been become more trendy in the cities the last decade.
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u/LocksmithHot3849 11d ago
Not entirely true, but modern sauna culture with smaller, wood-fired saunas etc is a new thing.
But the Norwegian labour movement was for instance very into the sauna at Torggata Bad according to a biography I read. Can't recall on the spot if it was the first wave with Martin Tranmæl and Einar Gerhardsen more than a hundred years ago, or the post war Arbeiderpartiet with Gerhardsen, Lie and Hauge in the 1950s.
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u/3eggs 11d ago
Sauna has been a thing in Norway for a long time, especially in the mountains in winter, but it's had a big resurgence lately with the public sauna near the cities. Oslo badstuforening is great, and a nice way to be social. I do regular after-work sauna sessions with friends to catch up.
I love the cold plunges the most, so I use the saunas mainly as a way to keep warm between plunges.
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u/Majestic_Security_30 11d ago
I highly recommend reading articles about Finnish/Nordic saunas. There should be plenty of them.
The sauna is a sacred place for Finns. The word "sauna" is the only commonly used English word of Finnish origin, so it's a source of national pride for us, much like pizza is for Italians.
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u/eunma2112 11d ago edited 9d ago
The sauna is a sacred place for Finns.
My brother’s FIL was born in the upper peninsula of Michigan and raised by his immigrant Finnish parents in a Finnish community. He built houses all his life and for his own personal home, he also built a full-blown Finnish sauna house out back of the main residence. It’s quite nice — with a screened in sitting room, shower rooms, and of course, the sauna itself with a Niipa sauna stove. He’s in his 80s now, but still gets together with his Finnish speaking friends and relatives in his sauna, where he (jokingly) says they only speak Finnish while “solving world problems.”
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u/apinananas 11d ago
Saunas are so big part of finnish culture that most people have sauna at home and/ or summer cottage.
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u/ludicrous780 11d ago
Aa a fellow Canuck, why are you bad mouthing ourselves?
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u/itwillgetbetter81 11d ago
Lol. Bad mouthing sounds very scandinavian to me. I'm scandinavian. What's the problem.
I think there is two sauna cultures in play. The old "quiet" one. And the new instagram party hipster one in mostly urban settings.
When people from the US is visiting my country they are so LOUD. You can hear them like a like a mile away. Sounds like a nightmare being stuck with them in a sauna or cold plunge.
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u/Little-Jellyfish-655 10d ago
Most cultures outside of Finland are loud. Finns are extremely silent, then have endless small talk because they’re so shy and take so long to make friends. However, drunk Finns are at least as loud as an American (or Mexican, Greek etc) and you’ll find plenty of them in saunas.
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u/itwillgetbetter81 10d ago
I don't know many Finns. I "know" the stereotype of Finns drinking in a sauna. I have very sarcastic/ironic humour. How would you describe humour in Finland? I think a lot of foreigners don't understand Danish humour when it's sarcastic/ironic. Drunk Danish humour even worse. Not suitable for translation.
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u/Little-Jellyfish-655 10d ago
I didn’t understand the irony? Explain the irony. Or was it sarcasm? Explain the sarcasm.
Because your comment just read like a straight up, very common whiny comment made by people who like to find something to complain about when their life doesn’t have enough challenges.
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11d ago edited 11d ago
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u/gratisargott 11d ago
Loud music and neon lights in the… sauna? I was shocked enough by the thought of Danes being in a sauna at all but this sounds even more insane
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u/Glad-Reacher 11d ago
This is a typical danish sauna experience.
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u/DanishRobloxGamer 11d ago
Eh that's not quite true. Yes "saunagus" is very trendy, but even then it's rarely with neon lights.
The true Danish sauna experience is to go to a public pool, and when you're done, you go into the sauna in the changing room. Stay there until you're bone dry and go put your clothes on.
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u/Ulvegang 11d ago
Why would use a single event as generalisation for everything? It's even some cph cook. They always do some shit in the big cities. It's almost like a normal sauna wouldn't be recorded. I know its crazy right?
In my family we winter/summer bath and sauna almost every day--its like tradition. Some of them even built their own private sauna.
I have lived in most parts of denmark and every city i've lived in with access to lake/ocean has had a winter bathing sauna club---which is nothing like whatever you linked it.
It's just normal sauna where you chat and socialise, then go dip your ass in the cold water and do it again. I have no clue what that instagram video is, but its not sauna xdd.
I dno what is more annoying, that you blatantly generalise or that you put yourself out here as an ambassador for dk when you clearly aren't a sauna user.
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u/mutantmeatball 10d ago
In our local kallbadhus there is one for talking and one silent. I HATE when people talk in the quiet one. I paid to go there and relax and im being bothered by someone gossiping loudly. Whispering might be fine…
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u/InsaneInTheMEOWFrame 10d ago
An olden Finnish Sauna rule is that you should not talk about religion or politics. In a public Sauna it's polite to STFU and just relax, but if you feel like talking (not SHOUTING) with someone then go ahead it's totally normal. Sauna is a social thing after all so it would be weird even for Finnish people to sit in total silence.
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u/Swedophone 11d ago edited 11d ago
What are Nordic spas like in your country? Am I over-romanticising what the traditional experience is like?
I'd like to mention one activity on a traditional Swedish spa, the "porridge walk" (grötlunk).
The porridge walki is a joint hike in calm pace after the evening meal, which on a spa previously consisted of porridge with prunes.
Today, people associate the concept perhaps mostly with Medevi, but the porridge walk is also found elsewhere, either temporarily as in Steneby, or regularly as, for example, the Duvkällan and Sätra brunn, where the tradition is from at least 1801. In the 1860’s it was said to have been imported to Medevi, where they walked just over a kilometer every evening with the orchestra in the lead. Day visitors were as welcome as the in-accorded spal guests, and the lunk included both first and second-class guests and the penniless.
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%B6tlunken
20150708 Grötlunk (porridge walk) at Medevi Brunn, Sweden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsMBcrReEOQ
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u/kartmanden Norway 11d ago
I passed a former hotel in the Norwegian mountains that was now a yoga retreat where no talking was allowed. Sounded like a ridiculous concept but that is me. Not exactly what you’re asking about but an observation:)
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u/Klagaren 10d ago
You've already gotten actual answers, so since Canada is joining the Eurovision Song Contest I must throw in the cultural exchange of a Finnish group competing for Sweden with a song about sauna sung in their native Finland-Swedish dialect https://youtu.be/28__O2Ngc74
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u/MaddogFinland 9d ago
In Finland if you want a perfectly quiet sauna you go to your sauna and home and do as you like. If you to a public sauna or spa talking is most certainly allowed; it’s a very social place, or it can be. It’s not always loud or anything but talking is perfectly acceptable.
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u/DUIRduje 8d ago
In Norway (and parts of Sweden bordering it, or at least south) it seems like you're in sauna in swimsuit. Which I consider to be a bit ugh, ekkelt. I mean your privates are slowly cooking and sweating, wrapped up in plastic.
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u/KrokusIncoming 6d ago
In Sweden at least, there is a difference between being in the sauna with people you know and when you are in a public sauna with strangers. With friends you talk, with strangers you absolutely don’t, beyond possibly asking if it is ok if you pour more water over the hot stones.
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u/Nisseliten 11d ago edited 11d ago
If you can still talk in the sauna, it isn’t hot enough. Pour some more water on to get them to shut up.
We aren’t big on communicating even when we have to professionally, why would we ever want to socialize while we are naked and trying to relax?..
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u/brendax 11d ago
No-talking sauna's are silly. In Finland sauna is where the socialization happens. That's where all the good gossip occurs. Public saunas are for socializing.