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Sauna

© Juuso Westerlund

Sauna along with the Santa Claus is the Finnish cliché number one. But when there's five million Finns and 3 million saunas in Finland, it's hard to argue that it isn't a rather big part of a Finnish culture and everyday life. Practically every Finn goes to the sauna about once a week. And when on a vacation, every day. Many nations practice sweat bathing but Finnish sauna goes on a way different level when it comes to temperature, it varies between 70 and 100 °C. The way of Finnish sauna is pretty straightforward: always naked, no swimsuits or towels in the sauna. It's the most democratic place you can find in the world. When sitting in Sauna, it doesn't matter what your status in a society is, you are all equal and for a Finn it's quite normal to have conversations with complete strangers. And yes, of course the photographer (Juuso Westerlund) has his own sauna.


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