Finnish Sauna Culture

Finnish Sauna Culture

Intangible Heritage

Finnish sauna culture is an intangible cultural heritage inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020. As told by UNESCO, the sauna is an inseparable part of Finnish culture, present in songs, mythology, as well as everyday life and customs. A telling sign of the prominence and importance of the sauna for Finns is that there are around 3.3 million saunas and only 5.5 million inhabitants in Finland. In practice this means most homes have their own sauna, and some families may have multiple. The sauna has traditionally been a place to clean oneself, but also to relax and find inner peace. As UNESCO puts it, the sauna has traditionally been considered as a sacred space – a ‘church of nature’. The act of enjoying the sauna involves something called ‘löyly’ in Finnish. Löyly is the act of throwing water onto a pile of hot stones placed on top of the stove. Many different kinds of saunas exist, including electric, smoke, and infra-red. The most traditional version is however one heated by wood. Depending on one’s liking, a traditional sauna is heated to anywhere from 70°C to even 120°C.

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English

Intangible

525

09/05/2022

09/05/2022

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_sauna

https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/sauna-culture-in-finland-01596

current,62.8992232034877,26.156247854232788;find,62.8992232034877,26.156247854232788;

https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/sauna-culture-in-finland-01596

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