Smoke sauna in building phase
At first, in the medieval ages, they were the main buildings in farms. There were no chimneys at those times as houses were primitive and had a fireplace which heated the whole house. Smoke made the houses very uncomfortable as there were no windows, the house was dark and smoky when heated. Later in the 17th century when glass was invented , then windows were added to the buildings.
Later in 18th century, as the wealthy and property of land owners increased then chimneys were built and primitive smoke houses become less common and comfortable for everyday life. At this time, the smoke saunas got a single purpose and use of their own.
Now, after the 1700's saunas have been built just for weekly bathing even though in some parts of the country they have also had some other uses.
There are also some spiritual traditions, as the old Finnish gods such as the blacksmith Ilmarinen and great god Ukko-Ylijumala are mentioned in Kalevala, the national poetry of Finland, having a sauna bath. Sauna was a means to be in contact with the spirit world, and the atmosphere of sauna bath should make your mind relaxing and quiet to forget a busy week's problems and to be on your own.
Several researches have been done to collect information about sauna traditions and habits around the country. According to them saunas were generally built for bathing in the eastern part of country whereas in the western part they have been used for other purposes as well: Malt was dried, beer was made, and as there were no hospitals at that time, saunas were used to cure the illness and pain. They were also used for childbirth due to the more sterile sanitary conditions.The main use of them, however was bathing after working week.
Therefore, the size of buildings were variable, western style is larger even 5...6 meters in size whereas in the east they are 2.5...3 meters in size. They were build of logs, a pine has usually been used, sometimes even fir was used. Carpenters have used only axe and saw, so that the finishing and outlook was the result of using these simple tools.
The stove was constructed of rocks making a fireplace were the wood is burned to heat the sauna. The size of stove was usually 1meter square and 0.6...1 meter tall. The tiny rocks were skillfully piled to make a solid chamber without any concrete or iron support to make the best warm of steam into the sauna when water is thrown to the hot stones.
The heating took usually several hours and finally the sauna was vented and refreshed of smoke by opening the door and the smoke outlet open for a half an hour or so before having a bath.
Smoke saunas are simple primitive buildings, where decorations have not been used. They have
simply served bathing and washing needs.
This sauna has been built using the measures and outlook of smoke saunas in Satakunta and Häme, south-western Finland. As a sauna the building is quite large; 3.6-4.5 meters eachside. The building is also quite tall 3.3 meter , because the sitting bench is constructed in a special way and wooden ladders are used to climb up there where the best warmth and heat may be achieved.
This sauna is made of pine logs using an axe but the logs were at first cut in a saw-mill for equal wall thickness of 6". In addition some uncut round logs were also used. The corners of logs are a measure of skillness, and various styles have been used in the past, several dozen different corner styles are known. This building has the simple corners without any stylished or skillful outlook..
Traditionally the door was always low, here 1.2 meter and one had to bend down when stepping into sauna. This is part of old tradition where sauna was a holy place, and it had to be respected.
Smoke sauna in building phase
This entry door is made of thick and solid blocks, which are 8-10 inches wide and it is equipped with a primitive wooden grip for opening.
The roofs had several styles, the oldest are of birch bark which is very durable and preserving. Later roofs were made of halved logs, blocks of wood and of thin wooden flips, which are called päre in Finnish. The päre roof was mainly used from 1800...1930 before other materials become available.
This building has a porch roof made of päres and the main roof is made of wide blocks with grooves for rainwater flow. The roof is painted with tar to make it more weather-proof. The porch is not strictly traditional but it was built for a relaxing cooling place outdoors after having the bath.
Water was heated sometimes in pot at same time as the stove heated by the fire. Sometimes there was a separate fireplace with larger pot near the sauna where the water was heated. This sauna has 100 liter black pot to heat the water.
Sauna traditions are part of Finnish culture even though the times have changed, and modern industrial society is developed from medieval agrarian culture.
There are nowadays almost 2 million saunas in Finland and most of them are heated at least once
a week.
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