 Finish sauna is considered as the home of the sauna. That’s why Finish sauna culture is well established. Although cultures in all parts of the world have imported and adapted the sauna, many of the traditional customs have not survived the journey. Today sauna “etiquette” and sauna customs vary highly from country to country. In many countries sauna going is a recent fashion and attitudes towards saunas are changing, while in others traditions have survived over generations.
Sauna-going plays a central social role in Finland, Estonia and Russia. These countries have the hottest saunas and the tradition of beating fellow sauna-goers with leafy, wet birch bunches. In Russia public saunas are precisely single sex while in Finland and Estonia both types occur.
Benelux and Scandinavian countries generally have a moderate attitude towards sauna-going with few traditions to speak of. Levels of nudity differ, single sex saunas are as common as mixed sex saunas and people tend to communicate.
In Germany and Austria people have to bare themselves and put towels on the benches before sitting. There you can hardly find separate single-sex saunas. Most saunas offer women-only and mixed-gender saunas. Sometimes they organize women-only days once a week. People of these countries don’t like to talk and laugh loudly in the sauna. They consider that the sauna is a place of curing rather than communication.
In Switzerland people like to go to the sauna with their families. Parents often take their children to saunas. Lots of young people go to the saunas because they like to socialize.
German speaking countries offer you wide range of facilities for washing after using the sauna including “dunking pools” and showers. In some saunas and steam rooms you may rub some scented salt into the skin for extra aroma and cleaning effects. In Francophone Switzerland, customs are less rigid. There are different types of saunas, like nude single-sex saunas, nude mixed-gender saunas, and clothed mixed-gender saunas on the same premises.
In Europe single gender saunas are more common than mixed gender saunas. Nudity is allowed in the segregated saunas but hard forbidden in the mixed saunas. Sauna sessions tend to be shorter and cold showers are avoided by most.
Hungarians consider the sauna a part of a wider spa culture. Mixed saunas are very popular. There people wear swimsuits. Single-sex saunas are rare, as well as those which tolerate nudity.
In Latin America a version of the sauna called temazcal. It is very popular. The temazcal is usually made of clay or stone, and has a low ceiling. One washes in the temazcal, with soap, or with herbs and medicinal bushes.
In Africa, on the whole, saunas are kept at a much lower temperature than in Europe.
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