Vitha

Finnish saunas are the most popular models among sauna bathers. Regular sauna baths improve blood circulation, ameliorate muscular pain and provide improved immunity to colds and flu. The heat inside a sauna helps your pores to open, thus eliminating all toxins through perspiration.

Besides these health benefits, Finnish saunas also represent an introduction to Finnish vocabulary. The word “sauna” comes from Finnish language and has become a very used term in the English vocabulary. There is no other word that could describe better a sauna than “sauna” itself.

There are also other Finnish words used to describe certain elements of a sauna, but they haven’t been accepted by the English vocabulary yet. For example, the word kiuas refers to the heather or the stove of a traditional Finnish sauna. The word loyly is used to describe the steam that water produces when it comes in contact with the hot sauna rocks. The wooden benches inside a traditional Finnish sauna are known as benches lauteet. The words vasta or vitha make reference to a bunch of leafy birch twigs used to improve and stimulate blood circulation and clean the skin. The bather has to slap himself with these twigs gently without causing any pain. This process is also described by a Finnish word – vihtoa. If birch twigs are not available in certain areas, they can be replaced by cedar or poplar twigs.

You have been introduced to Finnish vocabulary in one of the most pleasantly ways.

Finnish sauna, Finnish vocabulary introduction, health benefits, lauteet, loyly, sauna, vasta, vihtoa, vitha, wooden benches