It is traditionally in Russia to visit Banya particularly when somebody has an occasion to celebrate various events. Russians consider that people they spend time with in Banya become friends, because Banya is the place where friends generally meet. In recent times such a practice has been shared among women, making Banya a sort of a café for ‘ladies chat’.  It is known that on the wedding eve the ‘Bath party’ was held.

There are two conventional ways to heat a bath In Russia - in a white way and in a black way. The bath in a black way has a small size and is made on 1-2 persons. As a rule, its walls in a half or and even entirely immerse in the ground. For a black bath the choice of fire wood is significant. If any crude or resinous log comes across, it gets poisoned by the fumes.

When stones in the furnace become red, the bath is considered to be heated. Then the door opens wide and a towel or a broom expels with smoke and fume. Then from a gang hot water is splashed over the walls. There is no doubt that to air the ‘black bath’ is not as easy as ‘in white’, but a nice smell of a fire is felt as well. Many visitors, having tried a bath in a black way, remain its admirers for ever.

The bath in a white way has a range of variants. The Finnish sauna is closer to a usual Russian bath though often without Russian attributing - damp steam. Russian bath has one more version which meets in steppe and forestless areas where it is not possible to build a timbered premise.

Russian bath has the same levels of dampness as the air we breathe every day: about 60%. And the temperatures usually do not go above 80C/180F. Russians draw particular attention to the quality of steam: by splashing water on heated stones to extreme temperature behind metal doors, they create steam droplets of unusually small size; this makes breathing easy and pleasant.

 besom always was as the principal feature of Russian bath. Bath never was held without it. There are a great diversity of besoms: birch, oak and a lot of others. Besom used in Russian bath is made of twigs with leaves that are dried under special conditions when leaves stay green and do not peel off. Such besoms are prepared during the summer time and are kept particularly for bath. Just prior to using a besom it is wetted in hot water and then is used for hitting of body.