Fw: A picture or two from Finland (INTERESTING COMMENT/PHOTOS FROM JYRI) [3 Attachments]

I didn't learn anything first-hand about Finnish saunas until I got into the Duluth Minnesota/Superior Wisconsin setting for my first year of college teaching, 1960-61.  I'd met some Finnish-Americans at a few points in the Far West but didn't then pick up on saunas. I did and do know about Native sweat-lodge ceremonies.

Duluth, (lots of Finnish Americans in that setting), with its steep hills and Lake Superior waterfront, has always reminded me pleasantly of Tacoma, Washington. When I was in that North Country, Wobblies and Socialists could assemble a meeting of 200 or so in an old Duluth hall.  The IWW Finnish daily, Industrialisti, was still published. I spoke at length on labor defense and Native rights at one of those gatherings, everything translated into Finnish since some folks didn't know English -- and, while many more did speak it, they wouldn't admit such to an ethnic "outsider." But the winters of that region are a whole lot colder than the Puget Sound country.  In that winter of 1960-61, I discovered and frequented the steam-heated saunas of Duluth at least once a week -- which, although lacking the explicit spiritual connotations of Native sweat lodges, were and are certainly conducive to deep and reflective thought. 

After maybe an hour in a sauna, I didn't pop into cold lake water as sauna traditionalists frequently do.  I didn't have to do so.  The super cold winds coming off Lake Superior took care of that finale very well indeed.

(And, of course, in that setting, I found and married part-Finnish Eldri. We then went off to Mississippi.  No saunas there but the summer heat served that purpose pretty well.)

Hunter Bear -- and here's Jyri of Finland:

Hunter,
Here’s a picture or two from our country place, or more precisely the sauna by the lakeshore and the view from it.
The sunset scene was taken a couple of days ago – a “window of opportunity” when the low rays of the setting sun  hit the  shore of the island opposite us for a few minutes. It’s a sight that can occasionally remind me of the bigger scheme of things. The  name of the island translates as “Ox Island” – back in the 19th century the local farmers used to keep oxen as draught animals (rare in Finland) and they would take them to pasture on the island, making the animals swim across the lake.
The sauna’s at least 40 years old if not more. My father originally bought it from a friend of his to save it from being demolished. The friend (a sauna fanatic) had two saunas in his back yard in the suburbs plus one inside the house and official permission for only one and was ordered to get rid of the other two.  We reassembled it here about 30 years ago and later added a new roof. We got a new stove for it a few years ago.  With proper firewood in the warm months of the  year, it will heat the “sweat room”  to 90 C (around 190 F) in about an hour. In winter it takes a bit longer. 
BEsts,
Jyri

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq / 
St. Francis Abenaki / St. Regis Mohawk 
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO

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