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Did you know in ancient finland
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saunas were just bath
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houses they were sacred places where
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shamanic ritual were performed
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Finland the land of saunas
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there is well over million saunas
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in Finland a lot for a
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country with a population of five and a
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half million
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many families have summer cabins
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with lakeside saunas, but
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this obsession for saunas goes back
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all the way 10,000 years nearly to the
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time when first hunter-gatherer tribes
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arrived to the area that is now known as
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Finland?

There has been lots of
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suggestions made
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of the word sauna
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it is widely to be a Uralic
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word and its original form was savna
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a pit in a ground that was
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heated and then covered with an animal
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skin
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these kind of saunas
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from Finland anymore and the closest to
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them would be tent saunas
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which are similar to native american
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sweat lodges
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these first ground saunas were
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invented is difficult to tell but we
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know that in Finland first
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buildings in the stone age
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like among several other hunter cultures
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the belief system of these early
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settlers was animistic shamanic and they
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believed that everything in nature had
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in the early medieval period around
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Europe there was a custom to build bathing
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areas or sweat lodges next to
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monasteries and it was widely believed
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spiritual
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effects
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during the heart of the middle ages and
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late middle ages europe was a constant
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battlefield between different religious
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groups and bathing started to get
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questionable reputation as destroyer of
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people's this was one of the
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reasons why most parts of europe bathing
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culture disappeared and several bath
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houses bathing and sauna
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culture managed to and well
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in northern Europe and Baltic countries
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simply because they were some of the
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last countries in Europe that were
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into christianity
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before any of the modern hospitals
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existed it was very common in Finland
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in the sauna this
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is believed to have its roots in old
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shamanic tradition where sauna a portal
between our
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world and the spirit world
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there was a custom to take the body of a
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dead person into the sauna before a
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burial
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sauna both birth and
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death also big celebrations of life like
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weddings
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included ritualistic sauna visits going
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to the sauna was also part of yearly
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festivals the harvest festival and the
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summer solstice
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in ancient Finnick the
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person was believed to have three souls
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they were called Itze
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Loyly and Haltija
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Itse was similar to your psyche your
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human's personality
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Haltija as the higher
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self or in some cases a guardian spirit
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Lôyly meant the body soul and all the
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body functions such as breathing in
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modern finnish language Lôyly means the
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steam
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going to the sauna was like going to the
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church it was a sacred ritual and the
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person had to follow the sauna rules
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sauna also had its own spirit called Loyly
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Henke
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depending the person lived
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the sauna spirit was either male or
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female
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spirit of the sauna would not tolerate
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behavior and could even
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haunt the person who misbehaved in the
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sauna
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in ancient Finland when a person started
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to build a house for themselves first
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thing they would build is usually a
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sauna this was because of practical
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reasons
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building house was a sweaty business and
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one could also spend their nights in the
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sauna resting until the house was ready
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according to some folk tales the first
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person
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became the guardian spirit of the sauna
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or sauna Tonttu- the
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in finnish folklore elves were guardian
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spirits of buildings and often connected
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to ancestral worship
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sauna Tonttu is also one of the most
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in Finnish
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folklore the most important shamanic
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aspects of the sauna was its healing
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properties sometimes a shaman would take
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the ill patient to the sauna and in the
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shamanic trance they would travel into
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the spirit world to seek the spirit of
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the sick person and try to bring it back
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it was also a
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symbol of the womb which would explain
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connected birth, life
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and death that took place in the sauna
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healing properties of the sauna are
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still recognized today it is
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scientifically proven that visiting the
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sauna reduces stress inhaling the steam
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helps people with allergies it can also
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ease physical pain and increase your
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quality of sleep one of the elements
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Finnish sauna
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experience is a thing called Vihta or in
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some other parts of Finland it is called
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Vasta
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it is literally a leaf broomstick made
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of branches
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in shamanistic rituals they were used to
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gently brush the body bad
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thoughts and illnesses during pagan
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times making the bundle was part of a
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ritual because each tree had its own
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magical meaning
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if a person wanted to become more wise
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for example they made a bundle from oak
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leaves if one had problems with asthma
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they made a bundle from blackheart
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johannes the midsummer festival was time
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for making love spells
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women especially made special Vihtas for
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the Johannes sauna they picked
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branches from trees that were connected
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to love magic
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ancient pagan beliefs about the sauna
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are
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kind of gone the sauna still has a very
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important role in finnish culture
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going to special holiday saunas during
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christmas and the summer solstice are
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living traditions and finnish people
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know can affect their
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lives