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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   BUILD YOUR OWN Return to main Sweat page
			NATIVE AMERICAN SWEAT LODGE Sweating Without a Sweat Lodge ©1997 Mikkel Aaland All Rights Reserved Although other methods of therapeutic sweating are not within the scope of this work, I want to mention a couple of alternatives to the sweat lodge to show how important sweating is to the American Indians. One method was steaming arms and legs as a cure for rheumatism. A hole was dug in the ground about the size of a kettle which was filled with water and medicinal herbs. Willow root was often used after a short boiling. The Midewiwns put the kettle into the hole. The patient sat alongside, laying his ailing limb, wrapped tightly in a blanket, over the kettle. Another method was used chiefly for curing headaches. Dry herbs, often amixed variety of flowers, were placed on hot stones about the size of smallbowls. The patient's head and shoulders were hooded with a blanket, enclosing the stones, and the curative fumes were inhaled.\ Alexander Forbes describes a hot sand bath used by tribes in central California: "Preparing the temescal consists of scooping a trench in the sand, two feet wide, one foot deep and of a length proportionate to the size of the patient. A fire is then made through the whole extent of it, as well as upon the sand which was dug out of the hollow. When the hole is thoroughly heated, the fire is removed and the sand stirred about, that the warmth may be equally diffuse. The sick person is then stripped, laid down in the trench, and covered up to his chin with heated sand. In this position, a very profuse sweat soon breaks out, which gradually diminishes as the sand cools. The patient then rises and bathes in the sea or nearest river. This process is repeated until a complete cure is obtained."   RETURN TO TOP... NEXT CHAPTER... RETURN TO MAIN SWEAT PAGE