Estonia's smoke sauna national registry could stretch into the thousands
Hundreds, if not thousands, of smoke saunas dot Estonia, and more and more are being added to a national register as old garden steam rooms are rediscovered and preserved.
A smoke sauna, "Savvusann" in Estonian, is a traditional wood-burning sauna which lacks a chimney, allowing the smoke to fill the room as it heats and before use. This smoke is vented, leaving behind a residual heat which is said to have curative properties.
While primarily a South Estonian phenomenon, smoke saunas can be found across the country.
Eda Veeroja, one of the leaders of the nationwide smoke sauna "census," said that "smoke saunas are doing very well in Estonia. Whereas Tamara Habicht's research in the 1960s showed that smoke saunas were mainly seen in Southern Estonia, now there are many in Central Estonia, Northern Estonia, and Lääne County. These are new saunas, old saunas, renovated and relocated ones. It seems sauna culture is very lively right now."
The state Land Board (Maa-amet) has even compiled a smoke sauna map app, with around 560 such facilities included at around the halfway stage of counting.
The smoke sauna "craze" has encouraged some people to tentatively include their own, often partly neglected, smoke sauna at home.
One owner, Erki Hein, who lives in the village of Tsiaküla in Võru County said "Everyone, everywhere is saying that the smoke sauna is now very fashionable, so I put mine up as well and checked whether someone would come to see it or not. They did come."
The total of smoke saunas nationwide might even stretch into the thousands once the count is done, Veeroja went on.
"We even made bets on how many there might be. I am an optimist. I think we have about 4,000 smoke saunas, which means there's still a lot of work to do," she said.
Since some owners might not be aware of the documentation drive or not modern tech-savvy, there is no harm in doing a bit of evangelizing for the project, Veeroja added. "Go to your neighbor's place, talk to them, take some photos and let us know if your neighbor isn't an internet person."
Back in Tsiaküla, Erki said his smoke sauna is about a century old, and when times were good was sometimes used for multiple purposes including smoking meat and acting as a center of personal hygiene for the whole village.
With the advent of modern conveniences like showers and indoor electric saunas, the smoke sauna gradually fell dormant, however: Erki estimates the family has not heated up the smoke sauna for a decade now.
"A proper sauna was built in the new house. In the Finnish style, of course, because the youngsters all want a Finnish sauna, but now the plan is, and my daughter also says this, that the smoke sauna should be fixed up, so they could try it too," Hein went on.
Smoke saunas can be registered on the savvusann website here (link in Estonian and Võru languages).
Smoke saunas naturally accumulated soot on their walls, but this all added to the distinct and, in some connoisseurs' opinion, superior experience, to the extent that the cultural artifact is now UNESCO-listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage, for instance in Võru County, in southeastern Estonia.
They are considered by those in the know as places of healing, connection, and relaxation, providing a deep connection to tradition and nature; an award-winning 2023 docu-movie "Smoke Sauna Sisterhood" placed the practice at the heart of events.
Saun (Estonian) or the more commonly known Sauna (Finnish) is practically the only Finnic word to find its way into the English language.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera,' reporter Mirjam Mõttus.
