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A ladle resting on an IKI kiuas sauna heater full of dark stones, steam drifting across a window. Photo: Joel Willans

10 Sauna Habits Around the World That Would Hor...

Everywhere the sauna travelled it picked up a local habit that would make a Finn put down the ladle. Ten of them, from the Aufguss to the television.

10 Sauna Habits Around the World That Would Hor...

Everywhere the sauna travelled it picked up a local habit that would make a Finn put down the ladle. Ten of them, from the Aufguss to the television.

The sea fortress of Suomenlinna outside Helsinki, begun under Swedish rule. Photo: Michal Pise, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

15 Things You Should Never Say to a Finn About ...

The rivalry is real, affectionate and absolutely not for outsiders to join in with. Fifteen sentences that will cool a Finnish room, and the history behind each one.

15 Things You Should Never Say to a Finn About ...

The rivalry is real, affectionate and absolutely not for outsiders to join in with. Fifteen sentences that will cool a Finnish room, and the history behind each one.

The fibreglass St. Urho statue in Menahga, Minnesota, holding a pitchfork with a giant grasshopper impaled on it. Photo: Skvader, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

St. Urho: The Finnish Saint America Had to Invent

Invented in a Minnesota department store in 1956, St. Urho drove imaginary grasshoppers out of Finland to save a grape crop that never existed. The true story of Finnish America's...

St. Urho: The Finnish Saint America Had to Invent

Invented in a Minnesota department store in 1956, St. Urho drove imaginary grasshoppers out of Finland to save a grape crop that never existed. The true story of Finnish America's...

A man throwing a ladle of water onto the hot stones of a Finnish sauna, steam rising off the kiuas. Photo: Joel Willans

15 Things You Should Never Do in a Finnish Sauna

Nobody will tell you the rules of the Finnish sauna, because to a Finn they are not rules. Fifteen things you must never do, from swimsuits and small talk to...

3 comments

15 Things You Should Never Do in a Finnish Sauna

Nobody will tell you the rules of the Finnish sauna, because to a Finn they are not rules. Fifteen things you must never do, from swimsuits and small talk to...

3 comments
Woman and a brown dog walking a leaf-covered forest path in full ruska colour in Finland

Ruska: Why Finland Goes Mad for Ten Days of Autumn

Every September Finland's forests catch cold fire and the whole country goes north to watch. What ruska is, why the peak lasts roughly ten days and how to do the...

1 comment

Ruska: Why Finland Goes Mad for Ten Days of Autumn

Every September Finland's forests catch cold fire and the whole country goes north to watch. What ruska is, why the peak lasts roughly ten days and how to do the...

1 comment
Three Finnish memes side by side: penguins spaced far apart at a Finnish bus stop in winter, how different countries relax during a heatwave with Finland in the sauna, and Finland's best selling doormat

The Best Finnish Memes, Explained (So You Actua...

Finland's memes explained by the people who made most of them: kuusi palaa, torille, sauna logic, and the rest of the greatest hits.

The Best Finnish Memes, Explained (So You Actua...

Finland's memes explained by the people who made most of them: kuusi palaa, torille, sauna logic, and the rest of the greatest hits.