CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS IN FINLAND...

Finland has a long tradition of Christmas celebrations...Many families cooks, bakes and makes decorations weeks in advance. The 24th of the December starts our celebration at 12.00 a.m. by the declaration of the Christmas Peace...Most of the shops are closed by 12.00a.m.  Everybody has put their gifts under the Christmas tree...In the evening after the dinner we will open all the gifts... And one of the very important tradition is to take a Christmas Sauna, we went to the sauna in the morning...

BRAKING ICE

This week was really cold, so the sea got frozen quickly and it was thick enough to walk on the ice... Here our friend is making a large hole in the ice and we will use it for getting a quick dip in to the ice water while taking a sauna...The hot and cold that invigorates the circulation in the whole body and afterwards you feel so good...

... ONE SUMMER DAY BY THE SEA...

...The morning starts with this view and a swim in frisky Baltic sea...

...The morning coffee is served on the upper terrace where we can catch the warm morning sun... for my morning breakfast smoothie I picked blueberries in the forest at the back of the chalet...

... A quick trip to the local shop for locally produced food; small summer potatoes, smoked salmon,

strawberries, traditional island bread...

...We start the lunch preparing while having the aperitif for that we have made a special drink:

bottle of white wine, Basil leaves, sugar and few slices of lemon... after three hours all these ingredient in the jar, we will enjoy this nice summer "apero"...

...the lunch on the pier... and I even enjoy the dish washing at the summer kitchen by the sauna...

...After lunch a boat drive to meet some Belgium friends spending their holiday in their island and visit their new "mökki" a Finnish summer cottage that was built last year. On the way we pass hundreds of island...

...Back to the chalet in the beginning of the evening we light the fire in the sauna stove and the barbecue...

...It is the time for a second aperitif of the day a glass of champagne and some small toast of the island bread with cold smoke salmon. This will satisfy our hunger and later after the sauna we will grill some typical Finnish sausage on the fire...

...The sauna can be taken even late at this time of the year and we can still enjoy the sun shine...

...The wind has calm down and we can see the reflection of the coast line on the sea...

"VIHTA"

One of the traditional sauna rituals in summer time is the "vihta" or called "vasta" as well.

The "vihta" is a whisk made of a bunch of birch twigs. It is used to pamper the skin gently or friskily swatting the body from head to toes. it is very healthy, it helps the dirt to come out of the open pores and stimulates the circulation. The birch leaves gives a nice perfume in the hot sauna. In the water which is thrown on the top of the stones one can use few drops of essential oil, like eucalyptus or mint. In Finland one can also by different sauna oils and many other accessories for the sauna.

THE SAUNA ROOM

Our sauna room has the stove called "Iki kiuas" which has about 250 kg of stone around it. That gives us very nice soft steam and the sauna air never feels dry.
One start the sauna by sitting in the sauna room, water is thrown on the hot stones topping the kiuas which produce the steam. This is called "löyly" in Finnish. The heat and the steam will help the muscles to relax and it opens the pores on your skin. When the heat begins to feel uncomfortable, it is a customary to jump in to the sea or lake or just step out and cool down on the terrace or in the dressing room. In winter time we swim in the sea after the hole has been cut in to the ice, an other way to cool down in winter is rolling in the soft snow.
Then one usually sits down and has a cool drink or beer. After cooling one goes back to the hot room and begins the cycle again. Usually we do that three times or even more. The time spent in the hot room is up to everybody. In Summer nights it is lovely to spent long time with this sauna ritual with the midnight sun. Before leaving the sauna it is good to take a shower and wash the body with nice sauna soap and soft brush . After that the skin will feel smooth and soft.

THE SAUNA BY THE SEA

Taking a sauna begins by heating the sauna room to 60-100 degrees Celsius. It will take about an hour depending the sauna. In Finland people prefers wood heated stoves called "kiuas" than electrical ones. The heat feels nicer in the wood heated sauna.