Family Sweat Bathing Day

The Association of Professional Bath Masters and the Lithuanian Bath Academy have declared the first Saturday after the Autumn Equinox as Family Steam Bathing Day.

This day was chosen for a reason, because after the summer and its work is over, you want to feel cosy. According to our ancestors, it was customary to go to the sauna before each holiday after finishing a big job. The sauna was usually set up on a Saturday evening and all family members and stragglers were invited.

The main task of the bath was then to take a bath, cleansing both body and soul. Before the bath, it was customary to make peace, to forget old wrongs and mistakes, and to remember those who had already left. Nowadays, the sauna is seen more as a means of entertainment, socialising and relaxation. However, sauna experts encourage people to remember the old traditions and to make a point of being in the sauna with their families.

On this day, everyone is encouraged to build a sauna (whether private or rented) and invite their family and loved ones to share the warmth of the sauna and create their own traditions, rituals and procedures.

The tradition of visiting the sauna is included in the national list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2020. This inventory encourages us to draw inspiration from our ancient traditions, taking what is meaningful and relevant to our times, changing them in our own way and preserving the tradition for the future.

Invitation to celebrate Family Sweat Bathing Day

We invite all families who have a sauna to heat it this day and share their family moments with Bath.academy by sending 3 photos of the sauna and a short description of your family sauna tradition. In the description, we suggest a short answer to the following questions:

• What kind of sauna do you have?
• How often do you go?
• What kind of treatments do you have?
• Do your children go to the sauna? Older family members?
• Does your family have its own sauna traditions?

Family Sweat Bathing Day 2023

This year, Family Sweat Bathing Day will take place on 23 September. We are pleased that more and more organisations, especially the Association of Professional Sauna Masters, sauna hobby clubs, public and private saunas, are supporting the idea of the Lithuanian Bath Academy and spreading it. In order to encourage more people to get involved in this fun celebration, we have decided to announce a different theme each year.

Theme of the year - "First time in a sauna"

Asiociative photo by R. Kavaliauskas

More and more people are enjoying and going to the sweat bath - sauna, pirtis and other kind of traditional steam bathing. But there are also people who don't go. The reasons for this can range from simply not having a sauna and not knowing where to find one, or if you do know where to find one and are too shy to start, to unpleasant past experiences, beliefs or fears about, for example, how hot it will be, how it will harm your health, etc. This day is a good opportunity to encourage and invite your family, friends or acquaintances to try a healthy sauna together. Maybe you have your own sauna or a favourite rental sauna that you visit, but you are still not ready to invite your loved ones to it? Invite them! Or if all your friends and acquaintances have been invited for a long time, we just encourage you to try something new and untried on this day - for new impressions and experiences!

Ideas for Family Sauna Day

- No home without smoke... Before the bath it was customary to make peace, to forget old wrongs and mistakes. This is the perfect opportunity to do it!
- Remember those loved ones who have passed away by wishing them peace in a way that suits you.
- Decorate the sauna area - after all, this time it will be filled with the people you hold most dear.
- If possible, try to use what you have grown, gathered and made yourself for the sauna feasts and treatments.
- It is customary to dress in clean clothes after the sauna, but it is a good idea to try to make sure that even a small item is new and worn for the first time (e.g. a new pair of socks or a new hairpin).
- After the sauna, make time to spend time together and have dinner.

By taking part in the campaign you will contribute to the continuation of the family steam bathing tradition!