The Sauna in America

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MEDITERRANEAN BATHS

Visiting the modern Hammam in Ankara and lstanbul
Early Greek and Roman Batths
Mass Bathing in the Balnea and Thermae
The Islamic Hammam is Born
The "'Turkish Bath" Visits Europe and
America
Private Sweat Bathing Cubicles

FINNISH SAUNA

A Visit in the Dead of Winter
History of the Nordic Bath
Sauna in Europe
Sauna in Japan
Sauna in America

NATIVE AMERICAN SWEAT LODGE

Joining Running Foot in a Navajo Sweat
Lodge
A Guest at an Oglala Sun Dance Ceremony
History of Sweat Lodges
Hot Rock Sweat Lodge
Direct Fire Sweat Lodge
Sweating Without a Sweat Lodge
Origin of the Temescal
The Temescal Today
The Sweat Lodge Joins the Modern World

RUSSIAN BANIA

A Boisterous Bath in Leningrad
History of the Great Russian Bath
Bannik, the Spirit of the Bania
The Birth Bania
The Wedding Bania
The Death Bania
Health & the Bania
The Bania after the Russian Revolution
The Spreading Influence of the Russian Steam Bath

SAUNA & HEALTH

Sauna & Health
Sweating
Skin
Heating & Cooling the Inner Body
Positive Effects of Negative Ions
Spirits of the Sweat
Social Sweating

USING THE SAUNA/ SWEAT BATH

SAUNA/SWEAT SPICES

PRECAUTIONS

SPECIAL SAUNA CONCERNS FOR WOMEN

BUILD YOUR OWN

FINNISH SAUNA

The Sauna in America

©1997 Mikkel Aaland All Rights Reserved

A group of my friends in a public sauna in Richmond, California.
Photo copyright Mikkel Aaland.

The first sauna in North America was built by Finnish and Swedish immigrants who settled in the Delaware River Valley before the American Revolution in 1638.

Bath houses were common among the early settlers and some historians believe Sauna was the first name given to what became Philadelphia. Today in the center of the Philadelphia Navy Yard a plaque marks the site of that first sauna.

2011 Update: Build Your Own Sweat

I just released a new eBook titled How to Build Your Own Sauna & Sweat. It's available for instant download ( $9.99) for the Kindle and the Nook (more formats to follow).

The largest wave of Finnish immigrants came to the United States and Canada between 1850 and 1920 when four hundred thousand Finns left their hard homeland to try their luck in the "new world." Most of them settled in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin where the "new world" weather was comparable to Finland's. Some later moved west to California, Oregon and Washington to work in rock quarries, ship yards, lumber mills and fishing industries. Rocklin, Berkeley, and Astoria, Oregon contained strong Finnish communities--complete with Finnish cultural halls and public saunas.

The early establishment of a sauna on the homestead lent a sense of familiarity, order and security to immigrants who found themselves in an alien land. The construction of the saunas differed little from those in Finland. The "savusauna" was the easiest to build since the tools and materials needed were few and simple. With some logs, stone and mortar, a broad ax for hewing and an ordinary bitted ax for chopping, a plumb-line, an auger and a few pounds of roofing nails, a sauna could be built in a few days.

When the Finns first arrived in America they had a difficult time assimilating the culture. Perhaps their greatest obstacle was the language. Unlike other Scandinavian languages, Finnish has no words in common with English, limiting Finns to menial jobs, poor neighborhoods and giving them little chance to promote their own culture. The Finns sensed that trying to communicate their bathing habits would cause embarrassment since heterosexual bathing could be construed as being immodest, immoral or at least sexually suggestive.

Children were especially vulnerable to teasing and mocking by non-Finnish classmates who did not understand family bathing. For the children trying to explain such sauna words as "vihta," "kinas," and "loyly" was impossible because English has no equivalent. Many Finns gave up the bath when they became older.

Americans who chanced to see the sauna in use were puzzled. "What is this strange nocturnal rite?" Farmers in Minnesota, neighbors to Finns, complained to authorities that Finns were worshipping pagan gods in strange log temples--seen from time to time cavorting naked in the moonlight in what seemed to be ritualistic dances.

A sauna went on trial in Wright County, Minnesota in 1880. An American homesteader demanded that the Finns' public sauna be removed "from the middle of the road." The farmer went to court in an attempt to rid the countryside of "that pagan temple." On the day of the trial, the courtroom was packed with curious citizens, most of whom never heard of a sauna. But it was proved to the judge's satisfaction that the Finns were law abiding, American citizens of a staid Lutheran caiibre when it was explained the sauna was a place for cleaning and not for worshipping pagan gods. The judge ordered the plaintiff to pay the defendant thirty dollars for damages to his reputation plus forty dollars to have the sauna moved to a more isolated location.

From the turn of the century until the early 60s, when the media seemed to explode with the sauna, Finnish bathing was making a name for itself in the United States. In the late 20s and early 30s, Finnish athletes were competing well internationally and publicly advocating the sauna for training. Paavo Nurmi, better known as the "Flying Finn," won nine gold medals in three Olympic competitions, setting 25 track and field world records. Some people felt his use of the sauna was responsible for his endurance and physical prowess.

The relationship between American athletes and the sauna was off to a flying start with Nurmi's feats, and has been gaining momentum ever since. In 196O, the Olympic Games Organizing Committee contracted A. Winston Interiors (which later became Viking Sauna) to build saunas in Squaw Valley, California, where they scored a tremendous success. The units were in constant use by the athletes from all participating countries.

With the American passion for sports, saunas at the Olympics certainly helped bring saunas into the limelight, but there were other reasons as well. After World War II, Finnish Americans were looked upon with a new respect. Second and third generation Finns returned from the war as proven American citizens, ready to fight and die for the U.S.. Finland was receiving world attention for her heroics against Russia during the Winter War of 1939-4O. Although Finland lost much of her eastern territory to Russia, it was generally recognized that the Finns had fought valiantly for independence against overwhelming odds. World sympathy went out toward Finland. A few years later, tiny Finland again impressed the world when she became the first European country to pay back her war reparations debt.

Thus, Finland's notoriety primed the American public for a Finnish custom. The press reported the President of Finland's longing for a sauna during a visit to America in 1961. A sauna company responded by driving its "saunamobile" demonstrator to New York and placing it at the service of the distinguished guest. Later, President Kennedy and his family enjoyed a sauna in the White House.

Although the electric sauna stove had been invented several years before the sauna became popular in America, its appearance told entrepeneurs that the sauna could be adapted to the American market. Sauna manufacturers began advertising in Finnish/American newspapers. Reports from sauna heater manufacturers declare that business has increased steadily since the 50s, expanding to include sauna enthusiasts of non-Finnish descent. "Relaxing Sauna Baths' Growing Popularity Lifts Equipment Sales" proclaims the front page headline of a 1962 Wall Street Journal.

When it became apparent that Finns weren't the only ones interested in buying saunas, the manufacture of heaters picked up considerably. Viking Sauna, founded on the West Coast, became one of the most successful American sauna companies. lt began with virtually no market in 1961, selling only 50 saunas in their first year. Seventeen years later, annual sales reached into the thousands. When I spoke with Robert Jones, president of Viking, he translated the growth and success of the sauna into everyday business talk:

To start with, take a process which is thousands of years old in one part of the world and relatively unknown in another, and of course, we had an immediate marketing challenge. 'It's unknown.' 'It's foreign.' 'I've never heard of it.' Despite the obvious benefits of the sauna, its marketing opportunities had to be laboriously explained to potential dealers and distributors, and its many consumer benefits to the public. Fortunately times have changed and thousands of saunas are now in use throughout America. And, I might even say, they have become a part of the American scene.

Books, press coverage, sauna manufacturers listed in every phone book; the word sauna familiar to almost every American; thousands of saunas sold yearly; the sauna has been accepted in America. According to many purists, however, there has been too much commercialization and too many variations on the theme. Disgusted Finns, and others who knew better, grew weary of saying, "No, sorry, that sauna has too few rocks," or, "This is not a sauna, it has NO rocks." Some of the modern saunas employed infrared lights, sun lamps, so the bather had to turn like a chicken on a spit to keep from getting burned. "What's going on here?" cried the knowledgeable Finns, "Saunas that heat only to 150 degrees F?" When the sauna was first tested by the Underwriters Laboratory, they were very concerned about subjecting someone to such intense heat, for they had no experience with saunas, no precedents.

"A Turkish bath is not a sauna," said the Finnish spokespeople over and over again. "Nor is the sauna a place to hide illicit sex." That saunas were being used as brothels outraged Finns more than other misuses and misunderstandings. As everyone interested in the Finnish style of bathing has found, cultural transplants require care--and it may be a while before American sauna standards match those of the Finns.

[authors note: I've removed some of the more dated material from this section but the condition of the sauna in America remains very much the same today in 1997 as it did back in 1978 when I did my initial research.]

RETURN TO TOP... NEXT CHAPTER... RETURN TO MAIN SWEAT PAGE




		Site Contents \| Search \| All about digital imaging \| Favorite Projects \| Sweat The Sword of Heaven \| County Fair \| Portfolio \| Links \| Your Comments

Return to main Sweat page MEDITERRANEAN BATHS Visiting the modern Hammam in Ankara and lstanbul Early Greek and Roman Batths Mass Bathing in the Balnea and Thermae The Islamic Hammam is Born The "'Turkish Bath" Visits Europe and America Private Sweat Bathing Cubicles FINNISH SAUNA A Visit in the Dead of Winter History of the Nordic Bath Sauna in Europe Sauna in Japan Sauna in America NATIVE AMERICAN SWEAT LODGE Joining Running Foot in a Navajo Sweat Lodge A Guest at an Oglala Sun Dance Ceremony History of Sweat Lodges Hot Rock Sweat Lodge Direct Fire Sweat Lodge Sweating Without a Sweat Lodge Origin of the Temescal The Temescal Today The Sweat Lodge Joins the Modern World RUSSIAN BANIA A Boisterous Bath in Leningrad History of the Great Russian Bath Bannik, the Spirit of the Bania The Birth Bania The Wedding Bania The Death Bania Health & the Bania The Bania after the Russian Revolution The Spreading Influence of the Russian Steam Bath SAUNA & HEALTH Sauna & Health Sweating Skin Heating & Cooling the Inner Body Positive Effects of Negative Ions Spirits of the Sweat Social Sweating USING THE SAUNA/ SWEAT BATH SAUNA/SWEAT SPICES PRECAUTIONS SPECIAL SAUNA CONCERNS FOR WOMEN BUILD YOUR OWN
	FINNISH SAUNA The Sauna in America ©1997 Mikkel Aaland All Rights Reserved A group of my friends in a public sauna in Richmond, California. Photo copyright Mikkel Aaland. The first sauna in North America was built by Finnish and Swedish immigrants who settled in the Delaware River Valley before the American Revolution in 1638. Bath houses were common among the early settlers and some historians believe Sauna was the first name given to what became Philadelphia. Today in the center of the Philadelphia Navy Yard a plaque marks the site of that first sauna. 2011 Update: Build Your Own Sweat I just released a new eBook titled How to Build Your Own Sauna & Sweat. It's available for instant download ( $9.99) for the Kindle and the Nook (more formats to follow). The largest wave of Finnish immigrants came to the United States and Canada between 1850 and 1920 when four hundred thousand Finns left their hard homeland to try their luck in the "new world." Most of them settled in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin where the "new world" weather was comparable to Finland's. Some later moved west to California, Oregon and Washington to work in rock quarries, ship yards, lumber mills and fishing industries. Rocklin, Berkeley, and Astoria, Oregon contained strong Finnish communities--complete with Finnish cultural halls and public saunas. The early establishment of a sauna on the homestead lent a sense of familiarity, order and security to immigrants who found themselves in an alien land. The construction of the saunas differed little from those in Finland. The "savusauna" was the easiest to build since the tools and materials needed were few and simple. With some logs, stone and mortar, a broad ax for hewing and an ordinary bitted ax for chopping, a plumb-line, an auger and a few pounds of roofing nails, a sauna could be built in a few days. When the Finns first arrived in America they had a difficult time assimilating the culture. Perhaps their greatest obstacle was the language. Unlike other Scandinavian languages, Finnish has no words in common with English, limiting Finns to menial jobs, poor neighborhoods and giving them little chance to promote their own culture. The Finns sensed that trying to communicate their bathing habits would cause embarrassment since heterosexual bathing could be construed as being immodest, immoral or at least sexually suggestive. Children were especially vulnerable to teasing and mocking by non-Finnish classmates who did not understand family bathing. For the children trying to explain such sauna words as "vihta," "kinas," and "loyly" was impossible because English has no equivalent. Many Finns gave up the bath when they became older. Americans who chanced to see the sauna in use were puzzled. "What is this strange nocturnal rite?" Farmers in Minnesota, neighbors to Finns, complained to authorities that Finns were worshipping pagan gods in strange log temples--seen from time to time cavorting naked in the moonlight in what seemed to be ritualistic dances. A sauna went on trial in Wright County, Minnesota in 1880. An American homesteader demanded that the Finns' public sauna be removed "from the middle of the road." The farmer went to court in an attempt to rid the countryside of "that pagan temple." On the day of the trial, the courtroom was packed with curious citizens, most of whom never heard of a sauna. But it was proved to the judge's satisfaction that the Finns were law abiding, American citizens of a staid Lutheran caiibre when it was explained the sauna was a place for cleaning and not for worshipping pagan gods. The judge ordered the plaintiff to pay the defendant thirty dollars for damages to his reputation plus forty dollars to have the sauna moved to a more isolated location. From the turn of the century until the early 60s, when the media seemed to explode with the sauna, Finnish bathing was making a name for itself in the United States. In the late 20s and early 30s, Finnish athletes were competing well internationally and publicly advocating the sauna for training. Paavo Nurmi, better known as the "Flying Finn," won nine gold medals in three Olympic competitions, setting 25 track and field world records. Some people felt his use of the sauna was responsible for his endurance and physical prowess. The relationship between American athletes and the sauna was off to a flying start with Nurmi's feats, and has been gaining momentum ever since. In 196O, the Olympic Games Organizing Committee contracted A. Winston Interiors (which later became Viking Sauna) to build saunas in Squaw Valley, California, where they scored a tremendous success. The units were in constant use by the athletes from all participating countries. With the American passion for sports, saunas at the Olympics certainly helped bring saunas into the limelight, but there were other reasons as well. After World War II, Finnish Americans were looked upon with a new respect. Second and third generation Finns returned from the war as proven American citizens, ready to fight and die for the U.S.. Finland was receiving world attention for her heroics against Russia during the Winter War of 1939-4O. Although Finland lost much of her eastern territory to Russia, it was generally recognized that the Finns had fought valiantly for independence against overwhelming odds. World sympathy went out toward Finland. A few years later, tiny Finland again impressed the world when she became the first European country to pay back her war reparations debt. Thus, Finland's notoriety primed the American public for a Finnish custom. The press reported the President of Finland's longing for a sauna during a visit to America in 1961. A sauna company responded by driving its "saunamobile" demonstrator to New York and placing it at the service of the distinguished guest. Later, President Kennedy and his family enjoyed a sauna in the White House. Although the electric sauna stove had been invented several years before the sauna became popular in America, its appearance told entrepeneurs that the sauna could be adapted to the American market. Sauna manufacturers began advertising in Finnish/American newspapers. Reports from sauna heater manufacturers declare that business has increased steadily since the 50s, expanding to include sauna enthusiasts of non-Finnish descent. "Relaxing Sauna Baths' Growing Popularity Lifts Equipment Sales" proclaims the front page headline of a 1962 Wall Street Journal. When it became apparent that Finns weren't the only ones interested in buying saunas, the manufacture of heaters picked up considerably. Viking Sauna, founded on the West Coast, became one of the most successful American sauna companies. lt began with virtually no market in 1961, selling only 50 saunas in their first year. Seventeen years later, annual sales reached into the thousands. When I spoke with Robert Jones, president of Viking, he translated the growth and success of the sauna into everyday business talk: To start with, take a process which is thousands of years old in one part of the world and relatively unknown in another, and of course, we had an immediate marketing challenge. 'It's unknown.' 'It's foreign.' 'I've never heard of it.' Despite the obvious benefits of the sauna, its marketing opportunities had to be laboriously explained to potential dealers and distributors, and its many consumer benefits to the public. Fortunately times have changed and thousands of saunas are now in use throughout America. And, I might even say, they have become a part of the American scene. Books, press coverage, sauna manufacturers listed in every phone book; the word sauna familiar to almost every American; thousands of saunas sold yearly; the sauna has been accepted in America. According to many purists, however, there has been too much commercialization and too many variations on the theme. Disgusted Finns, and others who knew better, grew weary of saying, "No, sorry, that sauna has too few rocks," or, "This is not a sauna, it has NO rocks." Some of the modern saunas employed infrared lights, sun lamps, so the bather had to turn like a chicken on a spit to keep from getting burned. "What's going on here?" cried the knowledgeable Finns, "Saunas that heat only to 150 degrees F?" When the sauna was first tested by the Underwriters Laboratory, they were very concerned about subjecting someone to such intense heat, for they had no experience with saunas, no precedents. "A Turkish bath is not a sauna," said the Finnish spokespeople over and over again. "Nor is the sauna a place to hide illicit sex." That saunas were being used as brothels outraged Finns more than other misuses and misunderstandings. As everyone interested in the Finnish style of bathing has found, cultural transplants require care--and it may be a while before American sauna standards match those of the Finns. [authors note: I've removed some of the more dated material from this section but the condition of the sauna in America remains very much the same today in 1997 as it did back in 1978 when I did my initial research.] RETURN TO TOP... NEXT CHAPTER... RETURN TO MAIN SWEAT PAGE