Photo: Notice from Kadrina Saunaklubi's Facebook page
The Kadrina Sauna/klubi (club) in Lääne-Viru county, northern Estonia announced that their
saun (Estonians drop the A from the end of the Finnish word) is temporarily closed. But they will open
esimesel võimalusel, the first chance they get. This is the unfortunate case with
kogukondlikud (communal, (plural))
saunad. The club's motto is "
Vihaga, kuid vihata", meaning "With a sauna whisk, but without anger". Anger as in
vihtlemine (beating yourself with the whisk of twigs) in too intense a manner? It's actually a play on words. The switch of birch branches is
vihta (or
vasta) in Finnish and
viht in Estonian with the posessive or genitive case being
viha (the whisk's / switch's). E.g.
Värske viha lõhn oli imeline – the smell of the fresh whisk was heavenly. But
viha is also the word for the emotion known as anger, its nominative and genitive case.
You should never enter a saun in an angry mood (
vihaga), but you should have a
kosutav (invigorating) experience with a whisk of branches (
vihaga) that has soaked in warm water in a
kapp. No, not a cupboard, more like a cup, but bigger, a small wooden bucket. Without a doubt, you will leave the
leili/ruum (steam room) or
sauna/lava ("platform")
vihata – void of any feelings of anger. Nor will you take the
viht with you; you will leave without the whisk (
vihata).
One way to help distinguish which
viha is being spoken of, is to add the prefix
sauna/viha(ta)...
Leil is the steam that rises from the
sauna/ahju keris (stove's rocks) when you throw water on them. Put that idea on hold for now, just in case, unless you are fortunate enough to have your own private, family "
karantiini/saun", so to speak. But remember, this sacrifice and all the other
eba/mugavused (inconveniences) are "
me ühise tervise nimel", in the name of our collective health!
Olge terved – "Be healthy", stay healthy!
P.S. Wikipedia also has the entry of "bath broom" for
viht and there is a
saunalise (sauna user's) manual of sorts which is also entitled "
Vihaga, kuid vihata. Eesti rahva esimene sauna-aabits" (With a
viht, but without
viha (anger). Estonians' first sauna primer) by Rein Sikk, 2015, Tammerraamat, hardcover, 176 pgs. The surname Sikk, by the way, is not like sick (with the virus), but is the name for a male goat or deer (both
sikk and
sokk) and also the name of an insect, the longhorn beetle, or one of the family thereof, the
siklased, of which many are serious pests. Not the given author / journalist from Kadrina of course;
vastupidi, au contraire!
Riina Kindlam
