Finally, when you are warm to the bone, you leave sauna to jump into a freezing lake! Surprisingly, the sauna keeps your bones quite warm, and when you are too cold from the lake, you go back into the sauna. I used to think this was quite a strange tradition, but it is usually below freezing in Finland, and Finns have learned to have fun outdoors even in the midst of winter.
Saunas have a longstanding role in Finnish history; religious, mythological, meditative and even health (it is considered by Finns to be good for the body, and prisoners of war were made to take saunas because the steam killed harmful bed bugs). Many saunas have small statues of Finnish gnome or troll-like spirits, and if you have been in Finland for a long time, you may hear people greet the spirit of the sauna out of habit when they come in. In some rural towns, because it was regularly heated to high temperatures, the sauna was the cleanest place to give birth for mothers.
In modern times, you can find saunas all over the world, or at least wherever Finns are! In Finland, you can find saunas in hockey arenas, almost all hotels, apartments and homes, at the edge of most summer homes and lake cabins, and even in a Ferris wheel in Helsinki!
Staying warm in a country that frequently falls below freezing in temperature is a priority for most Finns. The buildings are built quite insulated and the windows can have up to four panes of glass, but still, saunas are the best way to keep warm. Saunas have been a tradition throughout Finnish history for practical as well as personal reasons.
