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Finnish Sauna Bathing
Finnish Sauna Bathing, Customs and Etiquette
Ask anyone who has been to Finland and they will probably
tell you that they were invited to take a sauna with the locals. Finnish
sauna bathing has its traditions and customs. You certainly don’t want
to offend your host by not following the proper etiquette. As they say, when
in Finland, do as the Finns do.
Proper Finnish sauna etiquette requires bathers to take a shower before
entering the sauna room. In public saunas it is actually forbidden to wear a
bathing suit and you are also expected to take the shower without wearing
one. If you are modest (and not too many Finns are), you can wrap a towel
around your waist before entering. And yes, most Finns do their nude sauna
bathing in the company of the opposite sex.
The Finns own some 200,000 summer cottages, most of them situated on the
shores of Finland’s tens of thousands of lakes. Here, proper etiquette means
sauna bathers go to their private outdoor family sauna in
the nude, go swimming in the nude and socialize in the nude. Public beaches
are another thing: if it’s not a designated nude beach you wear the swimming
trunks for a change.
So, if you ever go to Finland and get invited to take a sauna (and it is
almost an offense to refuse), remember the proper etiquette and do your
sauna bathing the Finnish way. It would be a miracle if during your stay
there you don’t get invited to a sauna bath. Oh, and one more thing: Don’t
ever ask a Finn if the sauna is a Swedish invention if you still want him to
be your friend afterwards.
For more information also see: Finnish
sauna kits
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