Russian banya

[Slumba]

I sometimes watch old Russian films.  I can think of 2 banya scenes

1. The Dawns Here Are Quiet - the soldier-girls take a banya as allowed by offical Army regulations!

2. Irony of Fate - the men start drinking in a banya, a large tiled one (sort of looks like the YMCA style places) and this provides the locus of the screw-up that results in the wrong person getting on the plane ...

[AvHdB]

Seriously though - the Nordic versions of Saunas almost always include a ice chilled dip in either fresh or salt water afterwards - curious if same with Russian banyas?

My expierence near Kiev was a sort of health center run by retired gulag employees ~ and yes we took a plunge in a cold bath. As well had water that was filled with ice cubes dumped over us. Thanks allot my nuts were near my kidneys.

But after getting scrubbed with very rough sea salt and having lemon juice from several lemons squeezed over you. (Note here the guy just squeezed the lemon, more like mashed it in his paw) Being smeared with honey felt good at the end as well as the last time in.

I really thought I was made of elastic when I left.

[andrewfi]

The felt hat is very useful for men or for women. It enables the wearer to enjoy significantly higher temperatures for significantly longer periods. The idea being to use it to cool the wearer down - that is why it is made of a pressed, felt type material.

One does not get beaten with the leaves (if there are no leaves then your host is either tight or does not like you) one is brushed with them. This is not a sado-maso exercise but rather one designed to increase blood flow to the outer part of the body, again aiding cooling and also to increase the flow of toxins from the body and out of the body in sweat. By the way sweat is very similar in composition to fresh piss, so enjoy, it is all good.

Russian banya is somewhat different to Finnish sauna in that there is more steam visible than in Finnish sauna which tends to mean that the temperature is kept lower.

The old-style black banya was not designed to get folks more dirty, by the time one gets in it should be smoke free. I am sure they are as rare in Russia now as they are in Finland. I have only ever used one once.

The icy cold dip after the sauna is, in truth, more a test for silly foreigners than it is general custom and practice. Yes, I have done it - both snow angel stylee and through the chopped ice in a lake. A cold shower is more usual and probably less likely to cause sudden death -the physical shock is intense.

Lastly, if when you go for banya (or sauna) if your compatriots are wearing bathing costume they are probably doing so out of deference to their understanding of your likely body exposure issues.

[AvHdB]

There was no sado-masochsitic element.

But I would in no way want to argue with the two guys who spent three hours with us.

It was interesting to feel the effect of the birch and oak leaves as they were brushed and lightly slapped against our skin.

Except for the showers and the pool we had a robe on, that we peeled back. In fact this is to preserve  the wood of the banya as much as for decency.

My guess there is a big difference between a so-called "couple's banya": which we visited, a family banya, and a sauna that caters to sexually oriented meetings. I also remember visiting a large sauna complex near Odessa? that was for families. Tiled and semi elegant, everyone wore bathing suits.

I had a feeling that this was based on the 19th complex in Budapest (Pest)

[nicknick]

I sometimes watch old Russian films.  I can think of 2 banya scenes

1. The Dawns Here Are Quiet - the soldier-girls take a banya as allowed by offical Army regulations!

2. Irony of Fate - the men start drinking in a banya, a large tiled one (sort of looks like the YMCA style places) and this provides the locus of the screw-up that results in the wrong person getting on the plane ...

In the Peculiarities of National Hunting there is a scene that starts about 18 minutes in where they are in a banya at somebodies dacha and then get attacked by a rather tipsy baby bear.

[Rasputin]

Andrew, when you are in a village with the water coming from a well, you won't have a shower after the banya 

[Slumba]

In the Peculiarities of National Hunting there is a scene that starts about 18 minutes in where they are in a banya at somebodies dacha and then get attacked by a rather tipsy baby bear.

Yes! I saw that movie but forgot about that part ... "the Soviet elephant is best friends with the Finnish elephant" ...!

[Rasputin]

I (hopefully) have figured out how to upload photos using my iPad.

[JayH]

I have memories of leaving a banya outside Kiev after an afternoon of abuse. Thinking OK I am jello but I am alive, sort of.

Nicknick I got whipped with both Birch and Oak twiga by some former gulag prison guard who was laughing.

This thread really should be in 51!

You worried we will all see your preferences? !!!!!

[cufflinks]

I (hopefully) have figured out how to upload photos using my iPad.

Talk about tipsy I got woozy just looking at those off kiltered photos - photos by wodka?

Great Log Cabin banya to keep out the bears

[Rasputin]

I (hopefully) have figured out how to upload photos using my iPad.

Talk about tipsy I got woozy just looking at those off kiltered photos - photos by wodka?

Great Log Cabin banya to keep out the bears

Nah, just the style of photo that I like 

[Larry]

If you would like to see video of a Russian banya experience, complete with birch-twigs, you can look at Ryan's Russia, showing now on Bloomberg TV.