Five nights till Christmas Eve

This weekend is dedicated for Christmas cleaning, me and Emma washed the sauna. Washing sauna thoroughly for Christmas is a common Christmas tradition, and Christmas sauna is an important part of Christmas celebrations in Finland. 

Finnish sauna culture was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Heritage List this week. The sauna tradition is the first aspect of Finnish culture to make the list. "Traditionally, the sauna has been considered as a sacred space – a 'church of nature'. At the heart of the experience lies löyly, the spirit or steam released by casting water onto a stack of heated stones," the UN body said in a statement.

There are estimated 3.2 million saunas in Finland for a population of 5.5 million.


+3°C, cloudy