On Sauna

Miia's parents used to have an article on their fridge back in Scarborough. It was by Anne Landers. She was advising a woman to dump her boyfriend because the boyfriend was apparently enjoying too much naked time with his son, which Anne thought was unforgivably weird. Miia's parents, being Finns, thought this was hi-lar-ious because being naked with your kids is part of Finnish life, particularly by way of the sauna.

I have had several saunas now with the men of Miia's family. This is not a sexual thing, in case anyone was thinking otherwise. It's just the best way to enjoy a sauna, and it's why in large groups having a sauna is usually segregated by gender.

In the sauna is also the best place to get to know someone, have a deep conversation, share jokes, or hash out a political or business deal. (Apparently when Finland elected its first female President a lot of high-placed men started to wonder how any business would get done.)

I personally credit the sauna for getting to know Miia's uncles, brother and father better. It was in the sauna where I also learned all about how the church in Finland differs from that in Canada. (The Lutheran and Orthodox churches here receive income tax levies paid to the state by their members and redistributed according to membership numbers. No other faith group receives such levies, however, and their members can opt out of this tax along with atheists, agnostics, and people who feel that weekends are best spent away from institutional life.)