Saunas around Helsinki opened their doors on Saturday to all keen sauna-goers as part of the first official Helsinki Sauna Day. Jaakko Blomberg of Common Ground (Yhteismaa), the same organization that brought Cleaning Day flea markets and popular outdoor dining events to Helsinki, is the brains behind the event.
“Finland is full of saunas: three million or so for five and a half million people, so the ratio is pretty huge. Even so, not everyone has access to a sauna, so there is a clear need to arrange special sauna days like this. It is a day for bringing together sauna and the Helsinki community,” says Blomberg.
According to the organizers, Helsinki is full of saunas that are often empty and seldom seen. Helsinki Sauna Day is a day when all willing apartment complexes, private residences, public saunas, hotels and even business offices can open their doors to sauna aficionados at no cost. The idea is for people to have the chance to visit saunas throughout the city that they may otherwise never have a chance to see.
“There are plenty of options: you can try out a sauna in a Mongolian yurt, in a portable tube sauna on a trailer, or in a tent. If you don’t want to get sweaty, you can even try an interactive sauna simulator,” says Visit Helsinki’s communications director Laura Saksala.
Saunas beyond the city
Most of the 50 or so saunas participating in the joint Common Ground and Visit Helsinki event are inside the capital city’s borders, but the idea has also caught beyond the metropolis.
“Someone from Oulu contacted us, wondering if they could participate. The most distant locations that we know about are in Germany and Malaysia,” says Saksala.
Blomberg says many of the saunas throwing open their doors are already fully booked, but several on the list require no prior registration. He himself is organising a four-hour sauna session in his home, two turns for men and women and two others for women only.
“Only four people at a time fit in my sauna and each of the turns are already full. We’ve got a couple non-Finns signed up to join us. I am looking forward to enjoying sauna, sitting out on the balcony and chatting,” he says.
Blomberg emphasizes how important it is to have encounters with people you don’t know.
“Finns can be pretty asocial, and yet at the same time we have a terrible urge to meet new people. Enjoying sauna together is a great way to meet new people in a relaxing environment. I don’t think it is necessary to feel as if you have to do a lot of talking, but I suspect the situation itself would give rise to some kind of discussion.”
World interest in Finnish sauna culture
Helsinki Sauna Day has attracted plenty of international attention. Several newspapers, including the British Independent did stories in anticipation of Saturday’s event. A few foreign journalists are taking part in the first-ever event, some of which will be Blomberg’s guests.
“There is great potential here to market Finland and the Finnish sauna culture to the world. There is a lot of interest abroad,” he says.
Visit Helsinki’s Saksala admits that the sauna experience is an important element of any tourism in Finland, whether the travellers are foreign or domestic.
“Sauna is still so exotic and special for foreigners. It may be a part of our everyday life here in Finland, but foreigners may not necessarily find it easy to access. This is a good opportunity for us to showcase our culture and customs,” she says.
In case you are one of the foreigners that has been brought to Finland for the first time by this event, the Helsinki Sauna Day website includes a special section for sauna novices in English: 10 sauna tips for beginners.
Tip number one: Saunas are good for just about everyone. According to an old Finnish proverb, “If sauna, liquor and tar don’t help, the disease is probably fatal.”
