World Sweat Lodges

THE LODGE • WORLD The claims of origin of the sweat lodge are as many as there are tribal cultures. One general version is that the Creator gave the lodge to the people as a way to directly pray or talk with the Creator. The lodge is often seen as a womb, that gives birth and life, and it provides important teachings to the people. Entering the lodge is a sacred happening that involves important rituals and memories. The lodge provides a cleansing of the body, spirit, heart, and mind. Utmost respect is given to the Creator, the lodge, the fire, the medicines, the animals, the four directions, the elders, the participants, and the ceremonies. Thanks is given for the fire's warmth, the importance of the grandfather rocks, the animals for their skins, and the plants for their medicines. Thanks is given for all the necessary elements of nature that provide us with life and survival. The lodge is a natural way to bring fire, earth, rocks, water, air, human life  together into one, or close association and contact.

SWEATLODGE • AMERICAS In one form or another, the sweat bath pervaded cultures from the Alaskan Eskimo south into the land of the Mayans. The purpose, in most cases, went beyond getting the body clean. The sweat bath provided a remedy for illness, revitalization for aching muscles, and a sense of racial identity. A Navajo who fought in World War II once said he came back for a sweat bath "to rid himself of evil accumulated during war." Use of the sweat lodge was chronicled by the earliest settlers in America. In 1665, David DeVries of New York observed Indians "entirely clean and more attractive than before" while sweat bathing. Roger Williams of Rhode Island wrote in 1643: "They use sweating for two ends: first to cleanse their skin; secondly to purge their bodies, which doubtless is a great means of preserving them, especially from the French disease (probably influenza) which by sweating and some potions, they perfectly and speedily cure." "When in the sweat lodge, behave as you would in the white man's church." -Hoskie, a Navajo

SAUNA • FINNISH Most researchers agree that Finns always had some form of sweat bath, as did most peoples around the world. It was the simplest and most efficient way to satisfy people's innate need to keep clean. When the Finns were nomadic, they probably used a portable sweat lodge similar to those carried by the American Indian and still seen among nomadic tribes in central Asia. Once the Finns settled, they may have erected underground sweat houses, forerunners of the savusauna as seen above. After centuries of temporal use, the Finnish sauna acquired spiritual significance. The sanctity of the sauna was supported by ritual and strict propriety. "These stubborn people," wrote an astonished Swedish economist in 1776, "even connect the sauna with their theology and think the sauna building is some kind of shrine." An old saying, still heard in Finland today, says, Jokaisen on kayttaydyttava saunaaa samalla tavalla kuin kirkossa." ("In the sauna one must conduct himself as one would with God.")

HAMMAM • ISLAMIC Muhammad believed that the heat of the hammam (which in Arabic means "spreader of warmth") enhanced fertility, and the followers of the faith should multiply. Until the hammam caught Muhammad's fancy, the Arabs used only cold water and never bathed in tubs, which was considered as bathing in one's own filth. But when the conquering Arabs encountered Roman and Greek baths in Syria, holy men immediately adopted the pleasure of hot air bathing (perhaps to compensate for the joys of alcohol forbidden by their faith). Like the Roman baths, the hammam became a place to socialize. "Your town is only a perfect town when there is a bath in it," said Abu Sir, an early Arab historian. To promote the local hammam, entrance fees were so low everyone could enjoy them. "I leave it to the bather," said a caliph in A Thousand and One Nights, "to pay according to his rank." In an effort to keep tellaks honest, they were given the privilege of being tax exempt.

HAN ZAO • CHINESE  A Tai Chi master tells of a gathering of the oldest men in his province. The youngest were in their seventies and some were well into their nineties.  They sought to determine the secret of  their longevity. One by one, they described their various diets, exercise programs, herbal remedies, ways of living; but they came to no general agreement about any one of these things. Finally, they realized that the one practice they all had in common and that was that each them, in one way or another, managed to make himself sweat every day. This was their secret. Bathing in fresh or salt water, steam baths (zheng qi zao) or sweat baths (han zao), whether for spiritual or physical cleansing, are and have been common practices among Chinese peoples. Ritual baths were originated by ancient Buddhists and the practice spread from India to Tibet to Turkestan to Japan and to China. The tradition of these ritual baths mingled with the native customs of each region to produce bathing practices that are specific to each locale.

BANIA • RUSSIAN One of the earliest descriptions of the bania comes from the Russian Primary Chronicle of 1113, in describing the missionary work of the apostle, Andreas: 'l saw the land of the Slavs, and while I was among them, I noticed their wooden bath-houses. They warm them to extreme heat, then undress, and after anointing themselves with tallow, take young reeds and lash their bodies. They actually lash themselves without mercy. Then they drench themselves with cold water, and thus are revived. They think nothing of doing this every day and actually inflict such voluntary torture upon themselves. They make of the act not a mere washing but a veritable torment in the interest of health and longevity.' No sweat bath in the world has been as well documented as the Russian bath. Finnish sauna information is meager in comparison. Early Russian chronicles commonly mention the bania, and when European journalists swarmed to Russia in the centuries following the Reformation, the Russian bath made exciting feature material to send home. The Russians became renown for their sauna practices.

DUNGAI FU • AFRICAN Heat and sweating is one of the basic remedies for all kinds of ailments in tribal Africa south of the Sahara. Writing of the Tanzanian Bantu in 1927, Henri Junod reported, "A kind of Turkish vapor bath is administered for certain complaints and ailments. A circular enclosure is made with a screen of matting in the middle of which the patient is placed. Close by him, on live embers, a pot containing leaves supposed to possess medicinal properties. A second mat is then spread over the top of the enclosure, thus shutting the patient in a small hut (dungai fu)." Junod refers to this bathing as the phungule, "administered in most cases where ritual defilement is feared or is believed to have caused the disease." In east Africa, a tribal doctor will instruct his assistants to dig a hole about the size of a grave. A fire is built in the hole and after it has almost burnt down, it is smothered with large green leaves. The patient is then laid on poles over until he is thoroughly smoked.

MUSHI-BURO • JAPANESE In Kyoto, 40th emperor of Japan, Temmu, received a stray arrow in his back during a riot 1300 years ago. He healed his wound in the mushi-buro. Although the Emperor's bath no longer exists, a new, hundred-year-old mushi-buro displays a plaque describing  the healing and the use of the bath itself: "To heat the mushi-buro, attendants place green pine wood in the center of the floor. The wood is ignited and allowed to burn as long as the bather desires. The fire is extinguished and rubble is raked out. Then, with the smoke purged, a straw mat is sprinkled with salt water and placed on the floor as a place to sit. After sitting for a while, the whole body becomes warm and jewel-like, as the sweat seeps out. It is a kind of steam bath. The mushi-buro has a beneficial effect on injury and skin diseases, stomach problems, arthritis and rheumatism." "The power of this kiln bath equals hundreds of medicines." -Yosai Atani, 19th century poet.

TEMESCAL • MEXICAN When the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century, they found spirited use of the sweat house among scattered Mayan tribes and their new rulers, the Aztecs. The most common name for the sweat house is temescal, an Aztec name from teme, to bathe, and calli, house. The largest Mayan dictionary, compiled shortly after the Conquest, gives the word for sweat bath as Zumpul-che, "a bath used to cast out disease in their bodies." In the first written history of Mexico, Brother Duran wrote in 1567: The temescal is a small hut heated with fire into which at most ten people will fit. The door is very low so only one person can go in at a time. In the far corner is an oven heated to such an extreme temperature that it is difficult to bear. After sweating thoroughly in the temescal, they emerge naked and wash themselves with ten to twelve jugs of ice cold water without fear of harmful effects. Although this seems terribly brutal, it is my opinion this is not so. When the body becomes used to this, it becomes quite natural. Yet if a Spaniard is to try this, he would surely lose his senses!

ALLUS BOTHAN • IRISH  In Ireland, a primitive kind of sweat bath (allus bothan) that resembled a casual mound of sod and stone, unlike bath houses on the continent, quietly cleansed the wearers of green. We can only speculate on how they began. Since the Romans had no contact with the Irish while they reigned in England, perhaps the Irish sweat bath was inspired by raiding Vikings in the eighth century. It is more likely that the Irish conceived their own, as did other cultures in cold climates. Patrick Shields, Esq. of Tyrone County wrote to historian Seaton F. Milligan in 1890: Sweat houses were common in Ireland until 50 years ago. It was heated by fires of turf; when sufficiently hot the coals and ashes were removed, and some cool thing such as sods, rushes or stones put in for the person to stand upon. As many as six or eight men stripped off and went in, then all openings were closed except what afforded a little ventilation. When they could suffer the heat no longer they came out and plunged into a pool of water within a yard or two of the sweat house.

HOT HUT • HAWAII The oldest know medical document, the Ayurveda, appeared in Sanskrit in 568 BC and considered sweating so important to health that it prescribed the sweat bath and thirteen other methods of inducing sweat. Throughout history physicians have extolled the medicinal value of the sweat bath in its various forms such as the Finnish Sauna, Russian Bania, Islamic Hammam, the Native American Sweatlodge or indigenous Hawaiian Hot Hut. Today, enthusiasts claim that beyond being relaxing the sauna gives relief from the common cold, arthritis, headaches, hangovers and "just about anything that ails you." Even if these claims are somewhat exaggerated, medical evidence shows that bathing in temperatures of 9O degrees C (192 degrees F) has a beneficial effect on a healthy body. Sitting in a sweat bath could be the most vigorous activity you've had all day. The heat produces an artificial "fever" and urges every organ of the body into action. While outwardly relaxed, your inner organs are as active as though you were jogging.

FIRE LODGE • HINDU A bather absorbing the heat of a sweat bath was seen as re-enacting Creation, merging body and fire. Hindu mythology has several stories regarding the human absorption of heat. Pajapati created the world by heating himself to an extreme temperature through asceticism. Consequently, Hindu ascetics meditate near fire to achieve inner heat. Those who reach a communion with the Spirit are said to "burn." Those who perform miracles are called sahib-jocks, which means to "boil" from inner heat. Because of its indirect association with fire, sweat was connected with the creation of humankind. A Bengali tale indicates a Hindu culture believed that sweat carries the seeds of life: "Siva (a Hindu god) sweat and he washed the sweat away with a piece of cloth. He threw the cloth away. Out of this a girl was born." Looked on in a spiritual light, sweat's importance to many primitive societies becomes clear.

VAPOR LODGE • OMAHA  Many cultures discovered that rocks could absorb the power of fire, and thereby acquired spiritual significance. The Omaha Indians referred to the rocks as Grandfather, symbol of earthly endurance, and moved them from the fire into the revered sweatlodge. When water was splashed over them, the vapor produced became another medium for the transfer of heat and another object of worship. The Finns named this vapor loyly, spirit of life. The Fox, another American Indian tribe, believed that Manitou, a friendly spirit, dwelled inside the rocks and was released through the vapor to penetrate the skins of the bathers and drive out sickness. Whether shining in heaven or burning in hell, fire has always commanded reverence. For stealing fire from the gods and delivering it to humans, Prometheus was credited by the Greeks with the founding of civilization. Early sauna bathers in Finland believed fire was heaven sent and if fueled with choice firewood and tended to with appropriate ritual, diseases and spiritual evils could be driven off.

HILLSIDE SAUNA USA Medicinal and spiritual values of the sweat bath are furthered by its communal character. The sweat bath is a social event like the coffee shop, neighborhood bar or picnic and is probably the healthiest ever offered a group of people.