The Ritual of Banya or What Americans Call a Sauna

Is this the place where grown men sit naked, wear a strange hat, drink vodka, beat each other with sticks and run out of a nice warm building into the cold frigid snow or into a lake of freezing water? Yes it most certainly is. Sounds just a little more on the strange side than I’d like to admit…

First you shower to improve your sweating, then drink hot tea to warm your insides and then bend over the parilka bench where someone hits you with a venik, a bunch of birch or oak twigs.

A Venik

This Russian tradition is credited for Russians’ longevity and resistance to disease. Banya’s received official approval from Lenin’s government. So, there’s nothing more traditional in Russia than going to a Banya (or so I am told).

Russian Banya

In the modern Russian tradition the banya has become a place for business, often replacing informal meetings and even business dinners. As well, friends get together and go to banya (drink lots of vodka too) and women like to go for the health and beauty benefits of it also.

From what I have read, the sauna originally came from Finland. It slowly migrated through Russia and Europe over the years and is now very popular all over the world.

Interesting quote I found at this web site:

When Batu-Khan (Grandson of Genghiz Khan) saw the crazy Russians in the winter of 1237 jumping out of wooden huts, red and hot, into the cold water, his aides explained to him that the secret of Russian strength is in this “excercise.” Indeed this tradition with dramatic change in temperatures, hitherto alive, was proven to be extremely healthy.

Typical banya inside

There is a famous Russian movie about Banya called “Irony of Fate”, by Eldar Ryazanov. Most Russians love this movie and must watch in every New Year.
It is about a guy, who goes to Banya every New Year’s Eve in Moscow and celebrates New Year with his friends. They all get very drunk, and two of them, including the main character, Zhenya, pass out. One of them is supposed to be catching a plane to Leningrad, and so Zhenya is put on the plane by accident instead of his friend because the others forget which of their unconscious friends is supposed to go. He wakes up at Leningrad airport, believing he is still in Moscow. He gets into a taxi and gives the driver his address. It turns out that in Leningrad, there is a street and address with the same name, and a building which looks exactly like Zhenya’s. The key fits in the door of the apartment, and even the layout of the apartment is the same. Zhenya is too drunk to notice the differences, and goes to sleep. Later, Nadya, who lives in the apartment, comes home and finds a man she has never met before asleep in her bed. To make things worse, Nadya’s fiance, Ippolit, arrives before Nadya can convince Zhenya to wake up and leave. Zhenya desperately tries to get back to Moscow in time to spend New Year’s Eve with his own fiancee, and Nadya wants to get him out as fast as possible, but unfortunately there are no flights to Moscow for some time. The plot starts out as a comedy, but later becomes more dramatic as it explores the developing relationship between Nadya and Zhenya, as well as their relationships with their fiancees. Initially, Nadya and Zhenya dislike each other intensely, but they eventually fall in love during the course of the movie.

So when you go to Russia, you have to go to banya at least once and experience it the Russian way.