Being the home of the sauna, Finnish sauna culture is known worldwide. Despite the fact that all cultures penetrate in each other and adapt saunas, a lot of traditions have not survived. 
Nowadays, general perception of saunas, sauna etiquette and traditions are absolutely different in different countries. In some of them visiting sauna is a current fashion and attitudes towards them are changing whereas in others customs have stayed alive over generations.
In such countries as Finland, Estonia and Russia saunas play a crucial public role. These countries can boast the best and hottest saunas and the custom to beat fellow sauna visitors with thick, wet birch bunches.
In Finland there is a very popular custom to roll in the snow. After staying in sauna for some time, you will come out and jump in the snow. When you get cold, you should go back to the sauna.
The sauna is so popular because it just gives the greatest sauna experience and makes it more and more relaxing.
In summer, there is a custom to swim in a lake between sauna sessions. Some people prefer swimming in a lake even during wintertime. In Russia, communal saunas are only single-sex, whereas in Finland and Estonia, either type is present.
The Benelux and Scandinavian countries, where communal saunas have been very popular for a sufficient period of time as well, have a reasonable, “live and let live” attitude towards visiting sauna with not many customs to tell about. Levels of nakedness differ, single sex saunas are as ordinary as mixed ones where people usually communicate.
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