A Finn getting used to the German sauna

In Finland there are over 3 million saunas for 5,5 million people. I am a Finn, but about 7 years ago I moved to Berlin. In Finland I used to live in a 35 square meter studio apartment – with a sauna. In Germany one doesn’t usually find saunas in studio apartments (or for all that I know, in any sized apartments). However, Germany has a very rich public sauna culture, and more sauna-goers than there are people in Finland. It took me a while before I had the courage to visit a public sauna in Berlin, and it was a bit of a shock as I learned the differences in the sauna cultures between the two countries. Since then I’ve gotten used to the German way of enjoying hot steam, and I have visited almost 30 different public saunas.

(Before I continue, I want to say a few words to the German readers: it’s hard for a Finn to be objective about sauna culture. After all, sauna means a lot to (most of) us, and we’ve used to do things our way since forever. So, please forgive me if I sound critical.)

The German sauna offers some concepts that are not known in Finland, for example Aufguss and the Saunameister. Well, in a way everybody knows Aufguss in Finland, as it is the very essence of the Finnish sauna experience: throwing water on hot stones to produce large amounts of hot, wet steam (löyly in Finnish). The difference is, that while in Finland anybody sitting in the sauna can throw löyly at any time, in Germany it is done in a separate ritual (Aufguss) by a dedicated person (Saunameister). In addition to this, the Saunameister is going around the room fanning the air with a towel (which is another thing that Finns are unfamiliar with). The Aufguss usually happens once per hour, which might be a bit frustrating for Finns, as we’re used to getting our löyly whenever we feel like it. But as said, I have gotten used to the German way already.

One of the side effects of the German Aufguss is, that the saunas are usually very full (or even overcrowded) during the Aufguss, and almost empty in between. Therefore one needs to be aware of the Aufguss schedule and pay attention to the time, to not arrive too late. In the worst case, the sauna is already full and a very annoyed Finn needs to wait another hour to finally get to the precious löyly. In Finland you can really just forget about the current time when visiting a sauna, because there are no schedules. But again, a Finn can get used to them too.

When in Finland we use plain water, Germans love to add different scents into their Aufguss (for example eucalyptus, mint, or as in the last sauna we visited, Czech brandy). I have gotten very much used to this habit, and some of the scents actually feel pretty nice (while some of them make my eyes burn). The only scent I ever used in Finland was beer. Try it! Smells like bread.

“Kein Schweiß aufs Holz” is one of the first sentences that a Finnish sauna-goer learns in Germany. It means “no sweat on wood”. When you enter the sauna, you need to bring a big towel, and sit on it (even your feet or back are not allowed to touch the sauna bench). This is of course a matter of hygiene, and a Finn can also agree that it’s a good practice to keep things clean. In a Finnish sauna, however, nobody really cares whether you’re sitting on top of something or not. It’s completely up to you. The only thing that Finns might use is a thing called pefletti, which is usually a small sheet of some soft material that is put under the butt. So, the German cleanliness might come as a surprise at first. But, I’ve gotten used to this part as well (even though a Finn might not fully understand how a towel, soaking with sweat after a couple of Aufgusses, is supposed to keep the wood dry and clean).

There are many other differences between the German and Finnish sauna cultures, but I’m not going to dig into everything in this blog post, especially since I have gotten used to those as well. Finally, I want to emphasize that I really enjoy and appreciate the German sauna, and I’m happy that I’ve moved to such a sauna loving country. It really means a lot to a Finn.

Kalle