Sauna expert Eda Viroja shares tips for incorporating sauna rituals into the holidays to bring joy into the New Year. She believes that a few steps can make a sauna experience truly special.
“Today we are having a festive sauna, and this is the best time to start the celebrations because the daylight hours are the shortest, the sun has set, and we are washing away everything that has happened over the past year,” Eda Veeroja told Terevisioon in a sauna on Tartu Town Hall Square earlier this week.
On holidays, the bathhouse is heated with seven logs. “When you put each log in the stove, you can make a wish. For example, I wish peace in everyone’s heart,” Verokha explained.
“First, we need to clear away everything that needs to be cleared away at the end of the year. To do this, take some salt and mix it with mugwort, which is traditionally known as a cleanser. As you rub your body with salt, chant: “Let everything that goes, go!” (“Kõik, mis minekul, see mindu!”) – instructs Veeroja.
When cleansing the soles of your feet, Veroha recommends taking a deep breath and releasing everything you wanted to leave behind this year. “Mother Earth will transform everything we throw into the soil into flowers in the spring,” she adds.
Then focus on your heart for a moment: “As you exhale, open your heart, as if you were opening a closet door or a store door during the holidays.”
In the sauna, talk less. “The only words you should utter are chants of seven or eight syllables,” explains Viroja. “When you lie down in the sauna, always face the door. Start with your feet and let everything go out of your head.”
Verokha placed spruce branches and wormwood under her face. “The goal is to plan the best for the new era.”
The whistle begins with the thought of spring, symbolizing renewal, growth and creation, and moves from the feet to the head. “For every season there is a tree to whip.”
“Summer represents energy, strength, great joy and productivity – all the things that drive us forward. Autumn is the time of harvesting and cleaning. Winter is the time of balance and peace,” she explains, offering tips on what to think about during the churning process.
After each sauna session, I expressed my gratitude to her. “A sauna session always ends with gratitude. We thank Mother Earth for planting trees, for providing wood for the sauna, for chopping wood, for tying the brooms,” Viroja said. “I thank all my ancestors and all those who came before me. I thank my descendants and all who will come after me. I wish you all the best.”
Veroja noted that the smoke sauna tradition in Old Võrumaa County has been included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
“If you don’t have access to a sauna, you can use a steam room. You can light candles, sprinkle salt, and with a little effort, you can even get juniper berries,” Verroga said, urging those who can’t get to a sauna to try these rituals at home.
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