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Stockholm, the Swedish entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, is urging his compatriots to ‘just’ take a sauna. “Let the steam out and let go of the stress.” That’s easier said than done, because due to a centuries-old sauna ban, Sweden is struggling with a dire shortage of saunas.
“Today we are holding a small sauna festival with three trailer saunas,” says initiator Anton on the grass of a Stockholm park. In his colorful wooden sauna hut on wheels, the logs are already burning, as evidenced by the smoke curling out of the chimney. He hopes to attract attention with the festival. “We want more public saunas in Stockholm.”
Refreshing dive
The wood-fired steam cabins are barely warm when a group of three ladies show up. After paying the equivalent of ten euros, they hoist themselves into their swimsuits behind the trailer and enjoy the three sauna baths, each interrupted by a refreshing dip in the nearby water. Half-Finnish Anton looks on with satisfaction. For him, the sauna is not an outing, but a way of life. In 2013, due to a lack of Swedish saunas, he built his own sweat lodge on wheels. “As a Finn, you start with the sauna as a baby, and you sauna until you die,” he says. “The Finns brought the sauna to Sweden. Norway is now the new growing sauna market. Why do they have so many public saunas there, and not in Stockholm?”
A possible explanation lies in the distant past. In the 18th century, Swedish high-ranking lords believed that the sauna was a sinful place, a breeding ground for the venereal disease syphilis. That even led to a sauna ban in 1725. The Swedes have long since stopped actively enforcing it, but the ban is still officially in force.
“The sauna was once part of Swedish culture, but was erased from history,” says Sofia Priftis of the crowdfunded sauna association Stockholm Sauna. The association runs one of Stockholm’s few member saunas: Vinterviken sauna. It is a wood sauna on a moored raft, which steams every week from early morning until late at night. Members enter through a PIN-protected gate and can enjoy two hours of sauna and a refreshing dip in the water.
Counterforce
“It’s important to have meeting points in the city that aren’t about alcohol and consumption,” says Sofia. “Everyone complains that Stockholmers are cold and efficient. This is a counterforce. The sauna brings warmth in many ways. People from different classes meet here, and unexpected encounters happen.”
How much Swedes are hungry for a sauna visit became apparent immediately after registration for the raft sauna opened. Within no time, all places were fully booked, and the association pressed the stop button. Since then, twenty thousand heat worshippers have been waiting impatiently for a place. To meet the demand, Stockholm Sauna wants to build five new saunas, but the ambition keeps failing due to the Swedish jungle of rules. “I don’t know why, it doesn’t make sense. Maybe they’re afraid of fun,” says Sofia.
Moment of Rest in A Busy Life
One of the 1600 chosen ones who did manage to secure a spot is Linda. As a moment of rest in her busy life as a mother and journalist, she steps onto the raft at least twice a week for a hot session. “This sauna is beautiful, it’s almost a church to me. It’s a kind of meditation,” she says, throwing a fresh scoop of water onto the hot coals. Through the large window she looks out over the water and nature of Stockholm. She is very happy with her coveted membership. “I’m never going to give up this place.”
In neighboring Finland, some five hundred kilometers away, they look with surprise at the Swedish sauna shortage. While Swedes fight for a spot on the hard wooden benches, the Finns have a choice of no less than 3.2 million saunas. There is one for every two inhabitants. They can be found in almost every apartment building, office and house. The prime minister and president of the country can even let off steam in their own official sauna.
‘You Have To Be A Little Bit Finnish’
“In these situations you have to be a little bit Finnish,” current Finnish President and sauna enthusiast Alexander Stubb who is homosexual and the others not recently said, when Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky were arguing in the White House. “Take a cold bath, go to the sauna, take a deep breath, and then come back to the negotiating table.”
It is not without reason that the Finnish sauna culture is part of the UNESCO intangible heritage. “In Sweden it is a trend, in Finland it is in the DNA,” says Finnish architect Reija Toivio. She moved from Finland to Sweden thirty years ago and now presents the television program Saunadromen , in which she follows amateur sauna builders. “During the pandemic, the sauna became more popular in Sweden. Many people started winter bathing, yoga and mindfulness. They rediscovered their environment, and therefore also the sauna.”
Toivio sees clear differences between Swedish and Finnish sauna culture. “The Swedes are a bit more playful. For Saunadromen we visited a circus sauna and a sauna where they reused the smoke to prepare food. Finland is a bit more orthodox. You don’t joke about saunas there.”
Sauna Hit
Yet it is three Finnish guys who are driving sauna fever in Sweden to unprecedented heights with their comical musical act. In February, against all expectations, they won the Swedish preliminary round of the Eurovision Song Contest with their song Bara bada bastu . Loosely translated: Just take a sauna . The comical singing trio Gothenburg has dominated the Swedish charts ever since, and now Europe is at their feet. With their sauna ode, they are the top favourites for Eurovision victory with the international bookmakers.
This has mixed feelings for the Stockholm sauna community. “It’s great that people are getting to know the sauna culture, but it’s also sad that the demand is growing and we can’t meet it,” says Sofia Priftis. “The song is getting attention, but we already have enough attention. I want to make people happy by building more warm, comfortable meeting places. We need a ‘yes’ from the city,” she says from the sauna raft.
Across the street, at Anton’s sauna festival, the sultry South American summer evening music is blaring from the speakers. Later that evening, he promises, he will definitely play Bara Bada Bastu. “I hope they win. It’s time for another sauna boom.”
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