1986
SAUNA SATURDAY, 1986
To take a sauna, first fill your pail with water just the right temperature for your feet. A washcloth is good for dipping in cold water to put on your head to cool it off when someone throws löyly in a ladle onto the hot rocks, making them gush steam. Sit and steam up having contests to see who can take it the hottest. Finnish men especially like to do this. In summer, run and jump in the lake. In winter, roll in the snow. Make bun prints. Your body is so hot you won’t even feel the cold. Go back into the sauna to steam up again. Repeat. After you have had enough steam, begin washing with pine or tar sauna soap. Take a vihta, birch branches tied in bundles and soaked in a water bucket, to slap yourself on the back for the circulation. Pour buckets of water over your head. Wash your hair. Soap up each other’s back. Steam up again, wash up again. Take a shower and go out to the changing room. Sit on the orange bench on the rag rug loomed by Grandma. There’s clean underwear and talcum powder in the family’s sauna bag along with the rough clean towels that smell air fresh from being hung outside on the clothesline. After, go upstairs. Eat from piles of cookies, plates of cakes, Pulla, cold cuts, cheese, and sandwich makings. Go home and sleep to the Three C’s: Clean pajamas, Clean sheets, Clean body. © Jane Piirto. All Rights Reserved.