Old and new sauna peace
Heikki K. Lyytinen
Long tradition of sauna peace
An enormous amount of information about European sauna culture has been preserved since the 13th century. Thus, the sauna is by no means without history. Legislation on saunas is also very old-time. Already the Germanic law in Latin Lex Bavariorum (Bavaria = Bayern) from 511-535 includes the record of saunas. The oldest Scandinavian legal texts include provisions on saunas as well. The sauna appears in the texts as a pacified place and in a legally special position. The fire safety of the sauna required special status.
The older Västgöta law, compiled between 1219-1225 and applied before 1350, considers wounding or killing someone in a sauna to be an evil deed punishable by double punishment.
Even in later mediaeval laws, violence in a sauna was considered a violation of the oath and was punished as severely as if the violence had taken place in the assizes, church, or home.
The severity of the punishment was due to the principle of mediaeval law that the weak are protected by law. A naked person in the sauna was also unarmed and thus defenseless. The same principle was applied in Visby law, which also mentions sauna peace, also in the case of a toilet: anyone who injures or kills a person “sitting in his comfort” will be imposed the same punishment as if the act had been carried out in the sauna.
In 1349, Magnus IV of Sweden confirmed the provisions concerning sauna peace, which were considered age-old in his city law. A Swedish law of 1538 stipulates that a man who has violated sauna peace shall not be sworn in and not be able to take an oathIn the Middle Ages, the turbulence of sauna habits requires sauna peace
Regarding the German sauna facility in the Middle Ages, eminent persons arrived at the saunas well-dressed, together with their servants. Common people, on the other hand, undressed already at home for fear of stealing clothes, running naked or half-naked along the alleys to the sauna. However, there were wardens in the sauna facilities to prevent theft. Often the sauna users handed over their weapons, which were guarded by a janitor. Wardens were also needed to maintain sauna peace. Immediately after the first steams, the sauna users began to drink beer and wine senselessly. During cooling down, the sheets were wrapped around and then the celebration was continued. The mediaeval sauna mentality is well illustrated by the following German sauna shout:
“Wine gives me a lot of joy, followed by harp playing, violin music, dancing and using a sauna”
The German sauna facility also included a brothel - a form of unwinding and recreation attached to the steams. Therefore, it was by no means unusual that sauna peace guards were also needed to resolve disputes. In connection of using a sauna, disputes were often settled by using wrists and fists.
Sauna peace is also known in Finnish folk poetry
Peace is also known in the old poetry of the Finnish people in connection with the sauna. Elias Lönnrot's Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja contains a well-known sauna spell in the following form, which also refers to sauna peace:
“Come, dear God, to the steam,
Come, Holy Father, to the sauna heat,
To create health and build peace;"
Sacredness of the sauna as the starting point for sauna peace
The sacredness that requires peace has also been associated with the Finnish sauna and using a sauna. It obliged the sauna user to adopt a calm and restrained conduct. It was not appropriate in the sauna to quarrel, revel or curse, not to whistle, not to bawl or mention the name of God. And if anything could not be released from the mouth, even the wordless body discharges were not allowed. So the benches remain silent, and thoughts are woven into words only at the cooling stage. The night sauna and undue steam were also out of the question. The “sauna property holder” (cf. Swedish Tomtegubbe), or sauna elf took care of it. Mikael Agricola states the elf's role in the preface to Dauidin Psalttari (Psalm of David): ”Tontu honen menon hallitzi quin Piru monda villitsi.” (“The elf mastered the way in the room where many were excited by the Demon”). If the people of the house did not keep up in this respect, the consequences were very serious or even fatal. Thus, peace in everything in the sauna.
Without sauna peace, the sauna is not a place for relaxation
Behind the sacredness of the sauna is a shamanistic worldview. According to it, the sacred sauna facility had its own patron, which was greeted when entering the sauna. It served as a link between the spirit world and the human community. The father of the sauna steam was known as Auterinen. Stepping over the threshold, one went into the sacred space naked and unprotected. People crawled there as to a bear's nest for rebirth. The event was delicate and sensitive. It was entered stripped, with respect and alert mind - only the sacredness of nakedness without ranks and other formalities.
Here and today, the situation is different among the sauna people, but the idea of sauna peace has not changed. The central principle of the Finnish Sauna Society's activities is sauna peace as well. Part of sauna peace is bath peace, especially in connection with using a sauna. It means following good sauna practices, regardful and peaceful use, and the opportunity for privacy.
Regardful and peaceful behavior means silence or moderate use of sound. The sauna is a place for relaxation, no criticisms or reprimands, and work issues or conflicts are not resolved in front of others. Bath peace takes the form of regardful steam behavior. Those who enter or leave the sauna ask other sauna users if they want more steam.
The sauna is a place of calming introspection, silence of the mind and a kind of “clearing the head” and preferably in the open, maybe sometimes a safe refuge in the middle of everything that is escalating. The focus of consciousness drops from the head and thoughts to the body, which at the same time seems to lose its gravity. The feeling is feathery and detached from ceremoniousness.
Conscious bodily presence is then a state in which spiritual encounters can be achieved, perhaps also experiencing a sense of sacredness that interrupts everyday life. Presence in the body is a multi-sensory, balanced, and healthy state in which a person is by nature when the mind is not stressed. There is then more tolerance and self-acceptance in the mind world than usual. It can only be experienced in a place where there is peace in the true sense of the word sauna peace, where a Finn can be what he or she truly is.
The International Chimneyless Sauna Club has revived this old sauna tradition and, since 1995, has declared sauna peace for all on the day of the Finnish sauna, the second Saturday in June. The text was prepared by Eero Välikangas, the founder of the International Chimneyless Sauna Club. The manifesto of sauna peace is thus a new wording that has no historical equivalent. The manifesto embodies the leisureliness, benevolence, joy, silence, respect for each other, and peace that interrupts everyday life.
Declaration for sauna Peace presupposes that
Everyone may have the right to bathe in his or
in her favorite sauna.
All sauna bathers may come into the sauna
friendly-minded.
Disagreements, quarrels and mobile phones
shall be left outside ear-shot.
Any impure thought, envy or vengefulness may not
enter the sauna; tolerance and open mind are welcome.
HKL 30.05.2022