The history of the bath: varieties and the most interesting facts of their origin. The first baths, where and when they appeared
The first written references to baths in Russian lands were found in the records of Herodotus. This Hellene traveled quite a lot and even visited the Northern Black Sea region, visited the mouth of the Dnieper-Bug estuary. Here he heard a legend, which he remembered and subsequently wrote down.
According to legend, the Greek hero Hercules had three sons. One day, the father invited Agathirs, Gelon and Scythus to test their strength by drawing a bow that only he could handle. Two older offspring failed, and only the youngest - Skiff managed to cope with his father's bow. For this, he gave him the possession of the Black Sea steppes. Of course, this is only a legend, but a silver vase found in a Scythian burial mound near Nikopol depicts people of a powerful, heroic appearance, driving around wild steppe stallions.
Scythian baths
Further, in his notes, Herodotus moves from legends to describing the life of the Scythian descendants. So he tells in detail about the structures that the steppe nomads used for purification. They set up three long sticks, tilting their upper ends towards each other. Next, the poles were covered with felt, and a vat with hot stones was placed in the center. This, of course, is very vaguely reminiscent of the modern construction of turnkey baths, but the principle of using hot stones has been preserved to this day.
Further, the historian describes that the Scythians sat around the vat and threw hemp seeds on the stones. According to Herodotus, a very strong steam rose from the stones, and the nomads enjoyed themselves and at the same time made loud sounds of pleasure. According to the historian, none of those that he happened to visit in Hellas can compare with the effect of the Scythian bath.
Herodotus left mention of some bathing rituals of the Scythians. So they always cleansed themselves with steam after the burial of the dead. But the Scythian women used for cleansing a composition prepared by rubbing on a stone with a deepening of pieces of cypress, incense, cedar with a small amount of water. They were smeared with the resulting "test" from head to toe, washing it off only the next day. From this, the skin became clean and acquired a pleasant aroma.
Baths in the Slavic chronicles
The Russian bath is often mentioned in chronicles of the 10th-13th centuries. True, they called her then movnya, movnitsa, mov, soap, vlaznya. Its popularity in Ancient Rus' is evidenced by the fact that the defeated tribes often paid tribute ... with birch brooms.
A lot of interesting things about the bathing traditions of the Slavs can be learned from the Tale of Bygone Years, created by the chronicler Nestor, who lived in the XI - early. XII century. He mentions the Apostle Andrew, who visited Veliky Novgorod during his wanderings. Here he saw wooden baths, in which naked people whipped themselves with brooms, and then doused cold water.
Noteworthy is also the mention of the deeds of the granddaughter of Prince Vladimir Monomakh - Eupraxia, who lived in the first half of the 12th century. She has been fond of traditional medicine since childhood. Contemporaries describe that the princess, with the help of medicinal herbs and a bath, treated not only the nobility, but also ordinary people. She was nicknamed Dobrodeya, because she "did good things to people with leks."
At the age of fifteen, Eupraxia was betrothed to a prince from Byzantium. Having moved to Constantinople, she learned the Greek language and became interested in reading the works of the famous Hippocrates, Galen, Asklepiada. Over time, she became an outstanding healer, skillfully combining the knowledge of Greek scientists and Slavic traditions. She always cared for the purity of the body, arguing that a good bath protects against diseases, strengthening the body.
Baths under Peter I
Russian Tsar Peter I was a big fan of Russian bathing traditions. Even while in Paris (1718), he ordered to equip a bath for grenadiers in one of the houses on the banks of the Seine. The Parisians were quite surprised to see how the excited soldiers rushed into the river, where they swam and dived. According to the French, it was deadly to health. However, Peter I responded to the fears of the royal chamberlain Verton: "The soldiers from the Parisian air have weakened somewhat, so they harden themselves with a Russian bath."
And here is how someone Berholz describes the bathing traditions at the court of Peter I:
- hay is laid on the shelf, and on top - a clean sheet;
- water of the necessary "warmth" is poured on hot stones;
- then the body is soared with birch brooms, which open the pores and increase perspiration;
- then they vigorously scrape the skin with their fingers, separating the “impurities”;
- after that they rub the whole body with soap so that not a trace of dirt remains;
- doused with warm or cold water.
According to Berholz, who left this description, washing in the bath is very pleasant. After it, "you feel as if reborn."
It is worth noting that the tsar not only honored the traditions of the Russian bath, but also became the founder of hydrotherapy resorts in Russia. Peter I ordered to look for "healing waters" throughout the country. So in Karelia, the "hammer worker" Ivan Ryaboev discovered a source near Olonets. It turned out that its water contains a large amount of ferrous compounds, so it was called "martial" in honor of the god of war (and hence iron) Mars.
Since ancient culture was revered in the time of Peter the Great, the tsar ordered the construction of thermal baths along with Russian baths. By his decree, in the Grand Palace, which was located in Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkino), cold bath. It was a copy of the Roman terms and was made "in the ancient style of the times of Augustus and Cicero."
In Rus', baths were used not only to cleanse the body, but also for medicinal and health purposes. Thus, a record dated May 11, 1733 was preserved in the archives that the medical office issued permission "to establish a medical bath in Moscow." Its owner was ordered to take a moderate fee, and it was also forbidden to sell wine, vodka and other strong drinks.
World recognition
After the defeat of Napoleon and the victorious march of the Russian army across Europe, bathhouses according to our model began to be built in Switzerland, France, and Germany. Residents of London and the New World were also able to appreciate Russian steam rooms in the 18th century.
The popularity of Russian baths is gradually growing due to the special organization of space in them. So we can do in one room what the Turks and other inhabitants of the East do in four or even five rooms. Also, the method of supplying steam is radically different. In Roman and Turkish baths, it is formed by pouring water on the floor, under which hot pipes run. This greatly complicates the regulation of humidity and temperature. Russian baths are devoid of this shortcoming. Here, steam is formed as a result of the evaporation of liquid from hot stones. So that the bather can easily and quickly create for himself right conditions by simply splashing water or opening the door.
It is noteworthy that all teaching aids in physiotherapy, the Russian bath is recognized as a classic method of heat treatment. And if you add massage with a birch or oak broom to the heat, healing steam from decoctions of medicinal plants, dousing with cold water, then you get an ideal procedure for healing. That is why millions of people around the world use the original Russian bath as a means to achieve vivacity, health and well-being.
22.01.2016
I think that it will be very interesting for every person living in Russia to listen to the history of the Russian bath. After all, we go to it, but we don’t know where this tradition came from, who brought it to us. In this article, we will try to tell you about it.
The Russian banya originated from very ancient times. Even Herodotus himself narrated that the Scythians who lived in Ukraine used the bathhouse. They set up three sticks inclined towards each other, and wrapped this "building" with felt. Then, they installed a vat in the middle of the formed “room” and threw hot stones into it. Climbing into this bath, they threw hemp seed into the vat, from which a strong heat rose.
For all peoples, the bath was considered a special, sacred place. The saying that after washing in the bath it is as if reborn, originates from ancient, ancient times. Below we consider which peoples and countries began to introduce a bath into their culture.
Separate tribes of America use the "ancient" bath to this day. That is, a cone-shaped hut was built, in the middle of which a small depression was dug. Stones heated on a fire were placed in this hole and water was sprinkled on them. Now tourists, freight forwarders, geologists and others use this method.
Procopius of Caesarea, a historian who lived in the 5th century AD, wrote that the bath was an integral part of the life of the ancient Slavs. In the baths, they celebrated all the celebrations, washed the child that had just been born, and in the same way escorted the deceased to another world. At that time, the bathhouse was “built” like this: in the corner (in the house) a hearth was built of stones, and somewhere a milestone was opened a window for smoke to escape, there was also a container with water, which was sprinkled on hot stones. Each person took a broom in his hands and waving it around attracted heat. Thus, people cleansed their body and soul. Bath is a combination of four elements (as the ancestors believed) - fire, water, earth and air. A person who took a steam bath became stronger and healthier. There was even an opinion that if the patient was not cured after the bath, then nothing would help him. In East Slavic myths, it is mentioned that the Gods themselves used the bath.
In Russia, a steam bath in the 5th century was called soap or vlaznya. Already at that time, people enjoyed this grace. Regardless of whether a person is rich or poor, he could afford to cleanse himself in the bath. The bath was a consolation from problems, evil eye and adversity. A little later, inviting a person to the bath became the basis of hospitality. To begin with, the guest was called to “cleanse” and only then they were treated to drinks and food.
For the first time, one could read about the bath in the descriptions of the brilliant man monk Nestor the Chronicler. His "Tale of Bygone Years" says that the bath was first mentioned in the 1st century AD. This happened when the Holy Apostle Andrew, after preaching the gospel doctrine in Kyiv, went to Novgorod, a “real miracle” appeared before his eyes. People went into the bathhouse naked and "warmed up" there until the color of boiled crayfish, after which they poured water over themselves and beat each other with brooms to exhaustion. This ceremony took place daily. For the Holy Apostle Andrew, this was savagery, he commented on it like this: “people joyfully torture themselves.” Also, based on the description of Nestor, you can learn that in 906 an agreement was concluded between Russia and Byzantium, which dealt with ... a bath. It was indicated there that upon the arrival of the Byzantine merchants they should be given drink, food and allowed to bathe in the bath as much as they like. There is an interesting fact that happened in 945. After the death of Prince Igor, Princess Olga took revenge on the Drevlyans three times, and when the Drevlyan ambassadors arrived for negotiations with the princess, she ordered a bathhouse to be heated for them. Unsuspecting ambassadors were calmly washing their way out of the way when Olga's servants closed them from the outside and they were burned alive.
The first baths were built exclusively from logs, but in 1090 a brick bath was built in the city of Pereslavl.
At that time, visitors from other countries (Germans, French), having tried on "their own skin" what a Russian bath is, began to rebuild the same ones in their countries. But these baths were very different from real Russians. Few travelers could withstand such a high temperature (in some bathhouses it could reach up to 100 degrees), and they could not imagine how the Russian people accepted such hot air masses. Clever foreign doctors knew that steaming in a bathhouse is very useful, as a diaphoretic for the body, but since Russians steam up, it’s not only not useful, but even dangerous. They argued that the brain and muscle tissue from this relax and function worse, and for women's skin and youth it was extremely detrimental. But even foreigners knew that Russians have such a day - "bathing", it was a Saturday day, on which it was customary to take a steam bath.
Those who did not have a bath could take a steam bath right in the oven. They swept the floor clean, covered it with straw, and as foreigners said about this, “they steamed so that the spirit flew out of them.” Nevertheless, this method is still used to this day, albeit rarely.
At that time, using the healing methods of Hippocrates, Russian healers (having learned about the benefits of the bath) began to help people's ailments. In the charter of the Prince Red Sun (so the people called Vladimir) there were baths for the "incapacitated". These were the first in Rus', a kind of hospital. At the beginning of the 12th century, the granddaughter of Vladimir Monomakh, the famous healer and healer Eupraxia, lived in Rus'. She, one might say, preached visiting the bathhouse. Already at the age of 15, she was betrothed to the Tsarevich of Constantinople and moved to live with him. Having quickly learned the Greek language, Eupraxia read the ancient recipes of powerful healers - Hippocrates, Asclepiades and Galen. Becoming, over time, a healer, thanks to a large number of studied recipes, she preached personal hygiene. Eupraxia said about baths that they strengthen the body and spirit of a person.
The history of the Russian bath is associated with many interesting events that, like history, it would not hurt to know contemporaries.
Regardless of who it was a king or a commoner, but the custom of “wandering” at that time had to be observed by everyone. After a night spent together, people had to go to the bathhouse in the morning, and then bow before the images. Pious people were afraid to go to church even a few days after spending a night together. Such people succumbed to light ridicule and jokes (after all, it is rather strange when several people stand in front of the church, and do not go inside). Until the beginning of the 18th century, only everyone underwent the following rite. Before the wedding, the groom had to take a steam bath, and after the night the couple went there together. The mother of the bride, on the eve of the wedding, baked bread, which was called "bannik", thus blessing the young on happy life. She wrapped this bread, two fried birds (most often chicken) and two dinner sets in a tablecloth, sewed them up and gave them to the matchmaker. This was done so that after the young people left the bath, the matchmaker would treat them to this blessed dinner. People firmly believed that the bath would wash away all their sins.
The bath was in the house of every rich and poor person, as for the very poor, there were common baths for them.
Banya - this was the place without which not a single Russian person could imagine himself. She gave peace, pleasure, relaxation, cured diseases, rejuvenated the soul. It was a rite that could not be ignored. Before entering the bath itself, a person was given a radish, and in case of thirst, there was always cool kvass in the dressing room. Mint and other aromatic herbs played a very important role. Mint was put in kvass, benches were covered with mint, dominique and other fragrant herbs. used mainly birch.
After the Russian bath became inherent in virtually any country, different peoples made their own adjustments to it. For example, Islam compared cleansing in the bath to religious thoughts, exclusively in this way.
Now no one can reliably say where the Russian bath originated from. Some say it was brought by the Spartans, others think that it was brought by the Arabs, but it is quite likely that the Russian bath was invented by the Slavs. Why not? This assumption confirms several interesting points. Since the Russians washed in the baths, no one washed yet, that is, the ancestors had their own “style” in this matter. The fact that foreigners praised the Russian heritage and the fact that only after contemplating it in Rus' they began to build the same in their own country. Who knows, maybe the forefathers of the Slavs really are the initiators of this beautiful rite.
In general, a bathhouse could be built by any person who had land for it. And in the middle of the 17th century, a decree was even issued on how far from a residential building a bathhouse should be built. This was done solely for safety. In home baths, both women and men washed together, without any hesitation, but the common ones were divided into male and female halves. And only since 1734 there was a ban on the entry of men into the women's baths, and women into the men's baths.
In 1733, a permit was issued for the construction of medicinal baths. They were forbidden to keep alcoholic beverages. As a rule, such baths were built from logs. The art of construction was passed down from generation to generation, while people did not use any drawings or charts. Very important and scrupulously the ancestors approached the question of where to place the building. This was no less important than establishing a site for the construction of the church. There were no rooms in the Russian bath with different temperatures, as in Roman thorns, but they had a room with lavas of different heights, that is, the higher, the hotter.
During the time of Peter the Great, the chamber junker Berholz lived in St. Petersburg, who in his notes about Russia described the beauty of the Russian bath and the degree of service in them. Russian women knew how to do it right desired temperature how hard to “depart” with a broom, and at what point douse with cold water.
Peter I then lived the life of a simple carpenter, and he, like the rest of the Russian people, had a bathhouse, without which he could not imagine his life. It was he, as a result, who became the first organizer of medical resorts in Russia, built on the basis of a bath. Having visited many foreign resorts - hydropathic centers, Peter I ordered to find these healing waters in Russia. Thus, “martial waters” were discovered for the first time. They got this name due to the fact that the water turned out to be ferruginous, and therefore they named it in honor of the god of war - Mars. Peter I contributed to the fact that Russian baths became more common in Western Europe. He ordered the construction of baths in Paris and Amsterdam for his soldiers. And after the battle with Napoleon, baths were built in all the liberated countries.
The Russian bath - its history is quite interesting, and it begins to change a little with the coming to power of Peter I. At that time, "fashion" and inclinations towards ancient culture begin. They began to build structures in the style of Roman houses. A copy of the Roman thorns was built in the premises of the Grand Palace in Tsarskoye Selo.
How can you find out from the sources that many people liked to visit Russian baths famous people. Suvorov arranged for his soldiers to "wash" in whatever city they were (the main thing was that there was a Russian bath). The de general himself withstood a very intense heat, after which he took on about 10 buckets of cold water. Denis Davydov often came, as well as the singer and actress Sanduna. It is important that after the arrival of the singer, the type of baths “Sandunovsky baths” was named in her honor. They differed from the rest in a buffet and a large number of drinks, up to champagne.
For the period 1874 in St. Petersburg alone, there were about 312 baths. All of them were supplied with Neva water. These baths were divided into "trade" and "numbered". A visit to the trading bath cost from 50 kopecks to 10 rubles, which was quite expensive, and not everyone could afford it. In the "numbered" baths, prices were more moderate, that is, made for poor people. They were divided into 3 classes: 1st class - 15-40 kopecks, 2nd class - 8-15 kopecks, 3rd class - 3-5 kopecks, which was, in general, accessible to everyone.
In order to make the process more pleasant for the "soul and body", the Russians furnished the bathhouse with various attributes. But still, each family bath differed from each other in its design, temperature regime and approach to the treatment of diseases.
Video about the history of the Russian bath:
The bath has always been and is for a Russian person not just a place where you can take hygiene procedures and cleanse your body of pollution, but a special, almost sacred structure, where cleansing takes place not only on the physical, but also on spiritual level. After all, it is not for nothing that those who visited the bathhouse, describing their own feelings, say: “ How he was born again into the world, rejuvenated by 10 years and cleansed his body and soul».
The concept of the Russian bath and its appearance
The Russian bath is a specially equipped room, which is designed for taking water hygiene and thermal procedures in order to prevent and improve the whole body.
Today it is difficult to judge what prompted ancient man on the idea of creating a bath. Perhaps these were random drops that fell on a red-hot domestic hearth and created small puffs of steam. Perhaps this discovery was made intentionally, and the person immediately appreciated the power of steam. But the fact that the culture of steam baths has been known to mankind for a very long time is confirmed by numerous archaeological excavations and written sources.
So, according to the ancient Greek historian-chronicler Herodotus The first bath appeared in the era of tribal communities. And having visited in the 5th century. BC. the territory of the tribes that inhabited the Northern Black Sea region, he described in detail the bathhouse, which resembled a hut-hut, with a vat installed in it, where they threw red-hot stones.
Unwashed Europe
Already later sources indicate that the bathing culture also existed in Ancient Rome, whose rulers spread it to the conquered territories of Western Europe. However, after the fall of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, both the bath and the ablution as such were forgotten. A ban was established on bathing culture, which was explained, among other things, by wholesale deforestation, and, as a result, a lack of firewood. After all, in order to build a solid bath and heat it well, you need to cut down a lot of trees. A certain role was played by medieval Catholic ethics, which taught that the exposure of the body, even for washing, is a sinful act.
The fall in hygienic requirements led to the fact that for many centuries Europe was mired not only in its own sewage, but also in diseases. Monstrous epidemics of cholera and plague only for the period from 1347 to 1350. claimed the lives of more than 25,000,000 Europeans!
Bath culture in Western European countries was completely forgotten, as evidenced by numerous written sources. So, according to the recognition of the Queen of Spain, Isabella of Castile, she washed herself only twice in her life: when she was born and when she got married. No less sad fate befell the King of Spain, Philip II, who died in terrible agony, consumed by scabies and gout. Scabies completely tortured and brought Pope Clement VII to the grave, while his predecessor Clement V died of dysentery, which he contracted because he never washed his hands. It is no coincidence, by the way, already in the 19th and 20th centuries, dysentery began to be called the "disease of dirty hands".
Around the same period, Russian ambassadors regularly reported to Moscow that the king of France stinks unbearably, and one of the French princesses was simply eaten lice, which Catholic Church called God's pearls, thereby justifying its senseless ban on baths and the culture of accepting elementary hygiene procedures.
No less curious and at the same time repulsive are the archaeological finds of medieval Europe, which today can be seen in museums around the world. Eloquently testifying to the ubiquitous filth, stench and uncleanliness, exhibits are on display for visitors - combs, flea traps and saucers for crushing fleas, which were placed directly on the dining table.
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Flea traps - devices for catching and neutralizing fleas, in the old days an integral element of the wardrobe
Today, it is already proven that French perfumers invented perfumes not to smell better, but to simply hide the smell of a body unwashed for years under the fragrance of floral aromas. And it remains only to sympathize daughter of Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise Anna, who, after marriage to the French King Henry I, wrote to the priest at home, they say:
Why did I anger you so much, and why do you hate me so much that you sent me to this dirty France, where I can’t even wash my face properly.
But what about in Rus'?
A in Rus', the bath has always existed, at least according to the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea who are still in the 500s. wrote that the culture of ablution accompanies the ancient Slavs throughout their lives.
According to ancient descriptions, the bath was a log building with a hearth, on the hot coals of which water was poured from time to time, which turned into steam. According to folk beliefs, the keeper of the bathhouse and its soul is a bannik - an absolutely naked old man, whose body is covered with leaves from a broom. Bannik was supposed to be appeased from time to time, treating him with bread and salt, which once again emphasizes the respectful attitude of the Slavs to the bath itself and its “essence”, which they literally idolized.
Having appeared on the territory of Rus' back in the days of paganism, when people worshiped the cult of fire and water, both the bathhouse and the hearth were deeply revered by the Slavs, which is noted in their works by researchers of Russian life I. Zabelin And A. Afanasiev. The bath was not just a place where you could cleanse your body of dirt and take hygiene procedures, but also a kind of medical institution where people of the ancient medical specialty could put any sick person on their feet.
In turn, the chronicles of the X-XIII centuries. point to the widespread distribution of the bath among the Eastern Slavs, starting from the 5th-6th centuries, when it was affectionately called movnitsa, mov, soap and vlaznya.
And even with the baptism of Rus', when the church began an active fight against folk healers and all sorts of superstitions, the bathhouse did not cease to exist, but only strengthened its influence, as it became a place for obligatory visits before performing the most important church rituals - baptism, weddings, communion and other .
“Heat me a bathhouse in white!”
The bath in white, as V. Vysotsky sings about in his song, appeared in Rus' much later than the bath in black, gradually replacing the latter.
At first, the Slavs built baths without a chimney, in a black way, and a periodically opening door was used as natural ventilation. In a black sauna, smoke does not go into the chimney, but into the sauna room itself, from where it exits through open door, as well as through a special hole in the ceiling or wall (the so-called "pipe"). After the firebox is finished and the coals are completely burned out, the door closes, the pipe is stopped up, and the shelves, benches and floor are washed with plenty of water from soot and the bath is kept for about 15 minutes before use, so that it dries and gains heat. Then the remains of the coals are raked out, and the first steam is released so that it takes the soot from the stones with it. After that, you can steam. A black bath is more difficult to heat and cannot be heated during washing (like a white bath), but due to the fact that the smoke eats up all the old smells, the black bath has its own charm, unattainable in a white bath.
Later, they began to build baths in white, where a stove-heater with a chimney acted as a source of heat and steam.
In addition, at that time there was another interesting and unusual way take a steam bath right in the Russian oven. To do this, it was carefully heated, and the bottom was covered with straw. Then a person climbed inside the oven, taking with him water, beer or kvass, with which he poured over the red-hot walls of the hearth and took a steam bath, after which he went out and doused himself with cold water. Even the infirm and the elderly did not deny themselves such an unusual pleasure, who were simply pushed into the oven on a special board, and then climbed healthy man to wash and steam the weak, as it should be.
Bath for a Russian is more than love!
Bath accompanied every Russian person from birth to death. In no other culture of the world did she become as widespread as in Rus', where her visit was elevated to an obligatory cult and had to take place regularly.
Not a single celebration could do without it, and, meeting even a random guest, the owner first of all offered him to visit the bathhouse, and then taste the treat and spend the night. It is no coincidence that in Russian fairy tales, in addition to shelter and dinner, travelers are always offered a bathhouse.
Bachelorette and bachelor parties, as they would say today, necessarily ended with a visit to the bathhouse, and the young themselves, having become spouses, were obliged to take it regularly, each time after marital intimacy, if they went to church the next morning. It was supposed to go to the bath with almost any ailment, especially if it was a cold, runny nose, cough and joint diseases.
The therapeutic effect of this simple and pleasant procedure is comparable to the strongest effect on the entire human body. When every cell of the body receives an unimaginable charge of energy, forcing it to work in a new way, thereby restarting the natural processes of regeneration and self-renewal. And the alternation of high temperatures with cold, when after visiting the bath it is customary to jump into the snow, an ice hole, into a river, or simply douse yourself with ice water - this is the most The best way hardening and strengthening immunity.
As for the special love of Russians for the bath, it found its embodiment not only in folklore but also reflected in historical documents. So, the Russian historian and researcher of the customs and life of the Russian people N.I. Kostomarov repeatedly notes in his works that people went to the bathhouse very often in order to wash, heal and just for fun. According to him, for a Russian person, visiting a bath is a natural need and a kind of ritual, which neither adults, nor children, nor the rich, nor the poor can violate.
In turn, foreigners who visited Rus' were surprised to note the habit of the Russian people very often and for a long time to wash, which they did not meet either in their homeland or in other countries. In fact, as a rule, they bathed once a week, on Saturdays. But for foreigners who almost never bathed, it seemed "very often." So, for example, the German traveler Adam Olearius once wrote that in Russia it is impossible to find a single city or even a poor village where there would be no bathhouse. They are here just at every step, and they are visited at every opportunity, especially during periods of illness. And as if summarizing, in his writings he noted that, perhaps, such a love for the bath is not devoid of practical meaning, and the Russian people themselves are so strong in spirit and healthy.
As for Europe, for the revival of the custom of bathing and bathing regularly, she should be grateful to Peter I and the Russian soldiers, who, terrifying the same French and Dutch, steamed in a hastily built bathhouse, and then jumped into the icy water, despite to the frost outside. And the order given in 1718 by Peter I to build a bathhouse on the banks of the Seine completely horrified the Parisians, and the construction process itself gathered onlookers from all over Paris.
Instead of a conclusion
According to many researchers of the culture and life of the Russian people, the secret of the Russian bath is simple: it cleanses and heals at the same time. And the architectural solution of the building itself is uncomplicated and is an ordinary room with a stove-heater, which allows a person of any income and position to have it.
As for the special love for the bath and the popularity of the bath ritual throughout history, this once again emphasizes the desire of every Russian person for cleanliness, neatness, health, clarity of thought and decency. The bathing tradition, despite the fact that outwardly remains an everyday phenomenon, is important element culture, which is reverently preserved, passed down from generation to generation, and remains an important sign of belonging to the Russian people. Thus, as long as the Russian people exist, so long will the banya exist.
The Russian bath is inextricably linked with the history and culture of the Russian people, or rather, it is even older than the ancient Slavic tribes from which the nationality was formed. Historians argue that the bath appeared long before the Slavs and cite as an example the statement of Herodotus, who claimed that the ancient Scythians, who lived in ancient times (approximately V-I centuries BC), already used the bath. They organized a kind camping bath, which was a hygienic, medical and cosmetic procedure and just a form of relaxation and relaxation. They fastened several poles together, covered them with felt, and inside this hut they brought a metal vessel with red-hot stones. The Scythians poured water on the stones, threw herbs, from which fragrant steam immediately began to rise. Being inside the hut, the person not only sweated profusely, but also inhaled the air saturated with healing vapors. Herodotus wrote: "No Hellenic bath can be compared with the Scythian bath. While enjoying it, the Scythians scream with pleasure." Scythian women, in addition, before the bath, rubbed pieces of bark and needles of cedar, cypress, and other aromatic plants on a rough stone. Water was added to this mixture so that a thick paste with a very pleasant smell formed. According to Herodotus, the whole body was rubbed with this mixture. When they washed it off, it became clean and shiny.
The first mention of the bath in Rus' is considered to be the documentary agreement of 906 between Prince Oleg and Tsargrad on the construction of baths for Russian merchants on the territory of the conquered city of Byzantium. Another mention of the revenge of Princess Olga Drevlyany in 945, when she avenged the murder of her husband by burning ambassadors in the bathhouse. A little later, in the "Tale of Bygone Years" dated 1113, compiled by the chronicler Nestor, a monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery. Nestor describes the journey of the Apostle Andrew to the land of the Slavs. According to legend, Saint Andrew preached the Word of God in the Kievan and Novgorod lands, where Andrew witnessed a picture that struck him: people were steaming in wooden huts, whipped themselves with brooms and ran out naked into the frost: “I saw the ancient baths ... And how they roast them ruddy, they shrug off their clothes, and, taking a young rod, they flog themselves so much that they go out almost lifeless, and cool their exhausted body with water. And they will come to life again. There are sources from other countries, for example: Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, who lived in the 5th century AD, writes that the bath accompanied the ancient Slavs all their lives: they were washed here on their birthday, before the wedding and ... after death. “And they don’t have baths, but they build a house made of wood and caulk its cracks with greenish moss. water, which is poured over a red-hot hearth, and then hot steam rises. And in the hands of each is a bunch of dry branches, which, waving around the body, set the air in motion, attracting it to itself ... And then the pores on their body open and flow with rivers of sweat, and on their faces - joy and a smile. An excellent description of soaring in a black sauna.
The mention of the bath in the annals before the 10th-12th centuries in Rus' was more often foreign, since in those days it was called: mov, movnya, movnitsa, soap, vlaznya, etc. In the charter of Prince Vladimir of Novgorod and Kiev, who introduced Christianity in Russia and is named was among the people the Red Sun, the baths were called institutions for the infirm. These were a kind of folk hospitals, in all likelihood, the first in Rus'. The chronicles of the 11th-12th centuries mention a water pipe built for Yaroslav's court. Moscow princes took water for a bath from the Moscow River or from the Neglinnaya River. Later, in early XVI century, on the orders of Ivan Kalita, an oak pipe was laid from the river behind the walls of the Kremlin and water was supplied to a deep well-hiding place, from which it was then scooped up in buckets and taken to homes.
Foreign historians and travelers tried to describe the Russian bath in detail, considering it to be a sight that gives color and individuality to the Russian people. At the beginning of the 17th century, the German scientist Adamus Alearius (Olearius) visited Russia and experienced the features of the Russian bath himself: “There is not a single city, not a single village in Russia that does not have steam baths. Russians can endure extreme heat. Lying down on the benches of the bathhouses, they order themselves to be beaten and rubbed with hot birch brooms, which I could not bear. , and then enter the hot bath again. Such a change of opposite actions favors their health. He was even more surprised and amazed by what he wrote about in "Tales of a Persian Journey" that when he looked incognito into one of public baths in Astrakhan: “Men and women were in the bath together and only some of them covered themselves with brooms. Most felt completely free.
In those days, everyone steamed in public baths together, regardless of gender and age. The first attempts to separate the male and female part of the bath visitors according to different rooms were undertaken under Ivan the Terrible. Having visited Pskov, the tsar became extremely angry and convened a church council. The fact is that an unpleasant picture appeared before his eyes: in the Pskov public bathhouse, not only city residents, men and women of all ages, but also monks and nuns, steamed and ran naked into the street. As a result, the latter were forbidden to enter the bathhouse together with members of the opposite sex. As for the rest, everything continued as before. Periodically, attempts were made to ban joint washing, but they were not very successful. Only Catherine II by a special decree ordered that a separate room for women be built at the public bathhouse, where boys over seven years old were not allowed to enter. However, in home baths, whole families washed, while men and women were together. However, in public (commercial) baths, people of all ages and sex also steamed together, however, women on one half, and men on the other.
Public baths began to be built in Rus' in ancient times. Due to the fact that there was nowhere to put family baths in the cities, and the authorities were afraid of epidemics, in addition to ordinary washing baths, medical and health baths were built, but more often at monasteries. In 1091, Bishop Ephraim, later the Metropolitan of Kiev, ordered "to start a building - a bathhouse for doctors - and to heal all those who come free of charge." In the same years, the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Agapius, who became famous as a skilled healer, healed the sick with herbs and a bath. According to the monastic charter, patients were supposed to be washed in a bath three times a month. The monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra studied the ancient Greek treatises that appeared in Rus' after Byzantine campaigns. They tried to use healing properties water and steam, described by Greek doctors, for the treatment of various ailments. However, the baths were built at the same time not according to the model of the Greek laconicum, but according to the model of the Russian folk hut. There was certainly a bathhouse in every village, and besides, almost all houses had their own separate bathhouse. Its construction was allowed to anyone who had enough land. The decree of 1649 ordered "soap houses to be built in vegetable gardens and in hollow places not close to the mansion." Home baths were heated only once a week, on Saturdays, and therefore Saturdays were considered bathing days and even government offices did not work on them.
During the construction of St. Petersburg, Peter I allowed everyone to build baths in the new city without any restrictions, in particular, there was no need to pay a fee for the construction of a bath in St. Petersburg, as in other places in Russia. Later, Peter established a special bath office, which was in charge of the baths of St. Petersburg. However, he himself repeatedly introduced a tax on baths, experiencing great difficulties in maintaining Northern war and wars with the Turks. Although he was not the first king to call tribute from private baths.
The cost of entry to the public bath was low, so that everyone, even the poorest, could visit the bathhouse without damaging their wallet. An interesting record has been preserved in the state archives that on May 11, 1733, permission was received from the medical office to establish a medical bath in Moscow, the owner of which was strictly obliged "... to use only external diseases and difficult operations in that bath without the knowledge and advice of a doctor not to repair And for your work, take a real price and no frills, so that there are no complaints about it. In these medicinal baths, which were called Bader, it was forbidden to sell strong drinks.
In Russia, the most common bath was a black bath ". Its peculiarity was that it consisted of one or two rooms and there was no stove in it - instead of it there was a hearth with a large number of stones heated by a direct flame. Such a bath was smoking because it was heated on black with a free exit of smoke through a doorway, or a special window. When the stones heated up, the hearth was cleared of ash, the bath from soot, after which the bath stood and warmed up evenly. And only after that it was ready for debate. With the use of brick and clay in bathhouses began to install a stove and arrange a chimney, and such a bathhouse was already called a white bathhouse.However, the blackbathhouse existed for a long time due to the fact that a tax on "smoke" was periodically introduced, that is, a tax was taken from buildings with a chimney.This was the main reason slow development of baths on white.
The bath on black is still considered the standard of bathing steam conditions, the secret is that the stones heated by direct fire gave amazing fine steam called light, its quality was unsurpassed, and the action is unforgettable, which is why Russians always wish each other "light steam".
By the beginning of the 20th century, there were more than 300,000 bathhouses in Russia. Public baths began to be called commercial. In addition, there were also noble baths - establishments more relaxing than hygienic. In the post-revolutionary years, the Soviet government began to eradicate the historical past, because of which typhus, consumption, even the plague swept over Russia, the authorities again began to restore baths, only not a family bath, but a public bath and not a steam bath, but simply a washing one, or as they were later called bath-laundry plants. The concept of a bath began to be replaced by a simple washing procedure. Traditions began to be forgotten. The bath business is almost dead. But with destruction Soviet power and the abolition of the common fund, baths and bathing began to revive again. Of course, it is too early to talk about mass character, but gradually the consciousness of society is unfolding in the direction of understanding the need to use natural factors to maintain a healthy lifestyle. For people of the past, the bathhouse was not only a place for physical cleansing and washing, but also a place for relaxation, relaxation, and healing. In the bath they gave birth, treated, fortune-telled, had conversations and meetings, retired. Bath was the cultural center of every family. A modern family often lacks such a core that connects and unites everyone, there is no place for purification and relaxation, hardening, restoration. Most medicine tries to correct neglected diseases that could have been prevented with simple and effective bathing procedures, applied consistently and with knowledge of technology.
But much more than the simplicity of morals, foreigners were struck by the unprecedented hardiness and bodily health of Russians.
As early as 1779, the physician William Took, a member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, wrote: “Among Russians, only a few diseases are common, and most of them are able to treat with simple home remedies and diet. Women here give birth easily, and very often childbirth takes place in a bathhouse. there are exceptionally few stillborn children here compared to other countries ... In general, Russians know only a few medical potions. At the same time, very often, instead of them, Russians use a steam bath, which affects the entire human body. Without a doubt, that exceptional health and longevity , which we observe among the Russians, they owe a lot to the bath."
An English physician, Edward Kentish, also pointed out that many fatal diseases for Russians are not as fatal as for other peoples. He attributed this resistance to disease only to frequent visits to the steam bath. The same opinion was shared by many other foreign doctors of that time. So, for example, the Spaniard Sanchez, the doctor of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, claimed that the bath helps Russians from smallpox, diseases internal organs, from colds, chronic diseases caused by excessive drinking and eating. “I do not hope that such a doctor would be found who would not recognize a steam bath as useful. Everyone clearly sees how happy society would be if it had an easy, harmless and so effective way so that they could not only maintain health, but heal or tame the diseases that so often happen. For my part, I consider only one Russian bath, properly prepared, to be capable of bringing such a great benefit to a person. When I think about the multitude of medicines from pharmacies and from chemical laboratories, coming out and brought from all over the world, how many times I wanted to see that half or three-quarters of these buildings, built everywhere at great expense, would turn into Russian baths, for the benefit of society. At the end of his life, having left Russia, Sanchez contributed to the opening of Russian steam baths in all the capitals of Europe, but they began to actively build Russian baths only after the defeat of Napoleon in Russia, when Russian troops reached Paris, setting up not only camping, but also stationary baths along the way. .
Alexey Bely
Accompanied by illusory visions.
It is believed that comfortable baths were built in the countries of the Ancient East - India, China, Egypt. In 17th century China there were “trade stone soaps with warm waters, and doctors are in them. Scientists say that in ancient Greece, the doctor Hippocrates prescribed bath procedures for half of the patients. After the conquests of Alexander the Great in Ancient Greece, and then in Ancient Rome, oriental-type baths with hot floors spread.
Roman baths
In the Roman bath (therme) there were several rooms: the apoditerium, the pre-bath room, served for undressing. in the tepidarium warm room with a temperature of 37-40 °, there was the first pool. In the laconium (hot room) and callidarium (steam room), the temperature reached 60-85 °C. After the steam room was the frigidarium, a cooling-aromatic room with a cold pool. Massage procedures, rubbing with oils, dousing were carried out in the lavarium.
In large public baths there was a system central heating with floor and wall heating - hypocaust ( hypocaustum). Baths contained not only massage rooms and common pools. In large baths there were also libraries and gymnasiums, since they were considered original centers of social life.
Bath and hygiene in medieval Europe
Due to the general decline in the material culture of huge luxurious baths, as in ancient Rome, among Europeans early medieval did not have. So, the terms of the city of Rome came to an end, when in the VI century. while besieging Rome, the Goths destroyed the Roman aqueducts, although a number of ancient Roman baths continued to operate in medieval Italy, such as those at Pozzuoli and Salerno. Large ancient baths were also preserved in Constantinople and other large cities of Byzantium. In some cities, for example, in the former Roman resort of Bath in Britain, the famous baths at natural springs continued to operate:
Britain is an island in the middle of the ocean, formerly called Albion. ... There are salty springs in this land, there are also hot ones, the water of which is used in hot baths, where they wash separately, according to sex and age [ ] ,
Written by a historian of the 8th century. At the beginning of the XII century, on the site of these terms John of Tours built public baths with church money.
In this kind of institution, they bathed in an individual wooden bath or in a common pool, but there were also special steam rooms, where the air was heated by hot stones, and the customers lay not in the water, but simply on the benches. From the ancient doctors, the medieval people inherited the idea of the health benefits of the steam room; for example, Saint Hildegard of Bingen, who wrote in the XII century. works on medicine, advised in case of illness to drink decoctions of medicinal plants (parsley, thyme, chamomile, tansy, mint, lavender, rosemary, etc.) in the bath and at the same time apply them to hot stones and breathe this steam.
Massage brushes, natural sea sponges could be used as special bath accessories, even bath brooms are visible in some illustrations.
Home steam room: tub of hot water covered with sheets
And as for the rich houses, they had "soaps" in the basement; there was a steam room and tubs - usually wooden, with hoops stuffed like on barrels. An individual impromptu steam room was created at home by covering a half-filled bathtub or a barrel of hot water with several sheets on top.
Laws forbade the joint washing of men and women, and the premises of public baths were strictly divided into men's and women's, or special men's or women's days were introduced:
Let the men go to the bath together on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday; women go on Monday and Wednesday. … if a man enters a bathhouse or one of the bathhouses on a women’s day, he pays ten maravedis [ ] .
Like all medieval artisans, bathhouse attendants, who were engaged in massage, shaving, bloodletting and other procedures in the bathhouse, were united in a special workshop of bath attendants (barbers) with their own rules of work and a strict price list for services [ ] . The signs of the baths, as a rule, were large and bright, customers were invited to the bathhouse with loud shouts [ ] . Interestingly, medieval European bathhouse attendants also worked as firefighters, as they always had large stock water and buckets. Also, city public baths were used not only for their intended purpose, they could turn into entertainment venues with music and booze, where they went to relax. big company, or even sometimes in "saunas" with prostitutes and rooms for dates, despite all the legislative and church prohibitions and the existence of officially registered brothels. References to this are not uncommon in medieval fiction:
Ricciardo loves Filipello's wife Figinoli; having learned that she is jealous, he, having told her that Filippello made an appointment the next day in the bathhouse for his wife, arranges for the lady herself to go there ... .
Since the 16th century, public hot baths in the cities of Europe have become much smaller and the culture of public baths has declined [ ] . So, the English king Henry VIII ordered the London baths to be closed in Southwark in 1546, in Paris by the 17th century. only a few common baths remain. Among the reasons are the spread of venereal diseases (primarily syphilis), the activities of Protestant and Catholic preachers who denounced common baths as a hotbed of shamelessness, as well as an increase in wood prices in cities caused by a price revolution and the reduction of forests to charcoal in Europe due to development of metallurgy.
Baths in the Muslim world
Baths were also known among many other peoples, in particular in Muslim cities there were places of special ritual ablutions prescribed by Sharia, and simply hot baths as places of rest. These baths had steam rooms, places for massages and bathing in running water, but Islamic traditions forbade bathing (long popular among Europeans) and swimming in pools, since stagnant, not running, water was considered unclean.
Bathhouse in Kievan Rus and Russia
Story
A two-chamber stone building in Pereyaslavl-Khmelnitsky (Kyiv region) with slate floors inlaid with mosaics, smalt cubes from wall mosaics, fragments of ceramic water pipes and a complete absence of fresco painting, is identified with the annalistic “bath building” of the episcopal palace mentioned under 1089 (1090). A building similar in purpose was found by archaeologists in Kyiv, on the territory of the Sophia Kyiv reserve. There were few stone baths in Rus', while wooden baths were called "stokers".
Other names of the bath: mov, soap, soap, movnitsa. In the Tale of Bygone Years (1110s) there is a story about a bath, put into the mouth of the Apostle Andrew:
“When Andrei taught in Sinop and arrived in Korsun, he learned that the mouth of the Dnieper was not far from Korsun, and he wanted to go to Rome, and sailed to the mouth of the Dnieper, and from there he went up the Dnieper. And it so happened that he came and stood under the mountains on the shore. And in the morning he got up and said to the disciples who were with him: “Do you see these mountains? On these mountains the grace of God will shine, there will be a great city, and God will raise up many churches.” And having ascended these mountains, he blessed them, and put up a cross, and prayed to God, and descended from this mountain, where Kyiv would later be, and went up the Dnieper. And he came to the Slavs, where Novgorod now stands, and saw the people living there - what is their custom and how they wash and whip, and was surprised at them. And he went to the country of the Varangians, and came to Rome, and told about how he taught and what he saw, and said:
“I saw a miracle in the Slavic land (approx. referring to Novgorod) on my way here. I saw wooden bathhouses, and they would heat them up strongly, and they would undress and be naked, and they would cover themselves with leather kvass, and the young would lift the rods on themselves and beat themselves, and they would finish themselves off so much that they would barely get out, barely alive, and douse themselves with icy water, and that's the only way they'll come alive. And they do this all the time, they are not tormented by anyone, but they torment themselves, and then they make ablution for themselves, and not torment.
Those, hearing about it, were surprised; Andrey, having been in Rome, came to Sinop.
Also, Slavic baths are mentioned in the Persian manuscript "Collection of stories":
(Slavs) make dwellings underground, so that the cold that happens above does not get them. And he (Slav) ordered that they bring a lot of firewood, stones and coal, and these stones were thrown into the fire, and water was poured on them until steam went out and it became warm under the ground. And now they do the same in winter
Persian manuscript "Collection of stories"
The abundance of private and public (commercial) baths and bathing in the river or snow after the bath in Rus' was mentioned by many European travelers of the 16th-17th centuries. People: Giles Fletcher, Charles Carlyle, Johann-Georg Korb, Samuel Collins, Stanislav Nemoevsky and others. . For the Europeans of that era, Russian common baths gave the impression of obscenity and savagery due to the washing of men along with women:
There is evidence that in the era of Peter I, shy foreigners set up their own bathhouse in the German Quarter in Moscow, where men and women washed strictly separately. Another attempt to separate men and women in common baths was undertaken by Catherine II in the Charter of the Deanery of 1782: only boys under 7 years old, bath attendants and doctors were allowed to enter the women's bath, but there is evidence that this ban was not always respected.
The most famous Russian baths are the Sandunovsky baths. Founded in 1808 as public baths, they continue to operate to this day. The buildings of the Sanduny baths are cultural monuments. In the pool of the highest male category, shots from the film "Battleship Potemkin" by Sergei Eisenstein were filmed. According to legend, they were worn by Napoleon, who entered the burning Moscow.
Black bath
Black-heated bathhouses are cut according to the five-wall principle, that is, they have a bathhouse and a dressing room separated by a chopped wall. The door to the bath itself, as a rule, is small and has a high threshold, which slows down the flow of cold air from the dressing room. All baths have an open hearth, which warms up not only the stones, but also the walls of the bath. The smoke from the hearth exits through a partially open door and an vent ("side" as it is a board pushed aside, and yet it is not an vent) in the ceiling. Usually it has a heater made of boulder pellets and a cauldron for hot water. It is heated with firewood, preferably hardwood (for example, birch). Such a bath, as they say, is “bitter”, that is, the air of the bath room has a bitter taste, and the mucous membrane of the eyes sometimes experiences quite strong irritation. The wood of the interior decoration of the bath is noticeably smoked from smoke, darkens in places to almost black. This is due to the fact that birch firewood, which is used for heating it, contains tar with hydrocarbons and phytoncides. Therefore, the atmosphere of such a bath has a pronounced bactericidal character. [ ]
Rural or country log cabin baths
High concentrations of tar volatiles can lead to irritation of the mucous surfaces, manifested in the appearance of a cough, and the eyes begin, as they say, to pinch. Therefore, in order to reduce this side effect reduce the concentration of volatile bactericidal substances in the atmosphere of the steam room. “Before use, it is necessary to ventilate from smoke and wash the shelves from soot.” There is a concept, “the bath must stand”, that is, after the end of the firebox, some time must pass. After the end of the firebox, boiling water is thrown onto the stones with a ladle, the door is opened and the “first steam” is released. Steam briefly increases the air pressure inside the steam room and brings out the excess of volatile bactericidal substances that irritate the eyes and breath. Sometimes the ceiling is swept with a broom, but with good firewood, soot practically does not settle on the walls. Also, fine river sand is used everywhere to clean the wooden surfaces of the bath in black (mainly the shelf). With the help of a rag and sand, soot is removed from the shelves, benches and walls, as well as a small layer of wood. After this procedure, the wooden surfaces are not only cleaned, but also smoothed, which protects the visitors of the bath from splinters, scratches, etc.
White bath
Baths heated "in white" are various designs. In such a bath there is a stone, brick or metal incandescent furnace with stones laid in it (on it) to produce steam and with a tank (register) for heating water. Such a bath is easier and more pleasant to use. Modern individual baths also have this design.
Camping bath
Camping bath
Among modern tourists, a method of obtaining a bath is common, in many respects similar to the baths of the Scythians and the baths of the North American Indians. It is built during parking from poles, cutting down young trees, and on top they are covered with pre-prepared polyethylene. At the same time, the framework of the future camping bath erected over masonry of large boulders, under which a fire is lit. The heating of the stones to the required condition takes several hours. When the stones are warm enough, the fire under them is carefully extinguished with water and only after that the frame is covered with polyethylene, usually fixing it with pieces of wire. After that, water is poured on hot stones and steam is obtained.
A significant disadvantage of this method of organizing a camping bath is the need for prolonged heating of the stones, which, moreover, are eventually covered with a layer of soot. When water is supplied to them, soot, together with steam, is sublimated into the air. At the same time, people inside can get quite dirty with it. Since the stones do not have a permanent heat source that would compensate for the loss of thermal energy used to produce steam, with this method, the heat of the stones is enough for a limited period of time. Usually it's only 3-4 calls. [ ]
Types of bath
Finnish bath
Russian and Finnish baths have common roots and, despite the common misconception about the “dry steam room”, they do not fundamentally differ from each other. [ ] The traditional Finnish sauna, like the Russian bath, allows hot phytomassage with the help of birch brooms.
dry sauna
Dry (dry-air) sauna is not a traditional Finnish sauna (bath) that could be called a Finnish sauna with historical roots. This phenomenon arose relatively recently with the advent of electric heaters, where the heating of the stone laying occurs under the influence of electric heating elements. Dry air sauna is aimed at saving time during the bath procedure. [ ] As well as infrared cabins, electric saunas provide the user with the opportunity to quickly warm up the room without the use of flame sources, which require a chimney and appropriate fire protection measures for its installation, which is far from always feasible in urban multi-storey buildings. Electric dry-air saunas are convenient because they can be mounted in almost any room where there is the necessary electrical network.
When the human body is heated, its pulse increases, the vessels in the upper skin are expanding. The human body begins to fight with the external influx of heat in order to maintain a constant internal temperature organs. The biological mechanisms of thermoregulation of the body are switched on, and this is inevitably accompanied by an increase in blood flow and increased respiration. As a result, the release of carbon dioxide, as one of the products of respiration, also increases. This causes the air conditions of a small enclosed space such as a sauna steam room to deteriorate rapidly. The percentage composition of the air mixture changes, which is expressed in the fact that people begin, as they say, to "suffocate". Headaches appear. [ ]
For comparison, baths and saunas equipped with wood-burning stoves that are heated from the steam room do not require the installation of an active supply and exhaust ventilation. When the fuel burns inside the furnace, the flue gases expand as they heat up and, under the influence of the Archimedean force, “float” and are removed through the chimney. In this case, a vacuum is formed inside the combustion chamber, and, as a result, the wood-burning stove automatically draws air from the steam room through the ash drawer. For this reason, a zone of rarefaction of pressure is formed already inside the steam room, and a new portion is drawn into it under the influence of the pressure difference from the outside. Either through the leakiness of the doorway, or for the entry of fresh portions of air below front door a specially made hole. The same opening for fresh air can be provided in the wall or in the floor of the steam room. Wood-burning sauna stoves with a short fuel channel, where the wood is fired inside the steam room, are in demand in Northern Europe, for example in Finland. [ ]
Turkish bath
The active principle in the Turkish bath is the marble of the room itself heated to 45-50 ° C and air with a humidity of up to 100%.
Japanese bath
Irish baths
Irish or Roman-Irish baths are modernized Roman baths. They are divided into three steam rooms. The first is the coldest (25-27 °C), the second is hot (32-35 °C), the third is the hottest (50-60 °C), lined with bricks with holes from which a lot of hot air flows. [ ]
Bath traditions and etiquette
Different peoples of the world have their own etiquette when visiting a bath. For example, in ancient Greece, they went to the bathhouse every other day, accompanied by slaves who carried oil, soda, greasy clay, linen, towels and brushes; a hot bath was taken in a round tub; followed by ablutions in cold water. According to popular beliefs, a bannik lives in the bath - the spirit of the bath. [ ]
Before the wedding, it was a tradition in the villages for the bride and the groom's mother to bathe together (and, possibly, together with other older women of the groom's family). She watched how healthy the future daughter-in-law was. One book mentions the review of the future mother-in-law: “It is wide in the bone. This one will give birth to three - she won’t grunt! [ ]
In the countryside, in the presence of a black hut furnace, the bathhouse was the only, most sterile and suitable place for childbirth. [ ]
Among the Slavic and Finno-Ugric peoples, the bath has traditionally been a place for quackery and witchcraft. Births took place in the baths, women in labor with newborns lived in the baths. In the baths, they tried to treat almost the entire spectrum of diseases with folk and witchcraft remedies. Baths were used as a place of burial or cremation of stillborn or dead babies. Baths also served as a kind of hospice for the seriously ill and dying. In the baths, the "healed" old people were killed and the objectionable or criminals were executed with the help of hot steam. The pagans, before sacrificing a person, “steamed” him to insensibility in the bath.
In art
The theme of the bath and everything connected with it has received wide use in works of art, from painting to folklore, in anecdotes and ditties. In particular, in Russian folk tales, the motif of the hero’s trip to the bathhouse is often found, usually associated with his weakening (Afanasiev, 207), or with the abduction of some vital attribute for him (Afanasiev, 187). Quite often, the motif of bathing in a bath is associated in Russian fairy tales with the motif of roasting and subsequent eating of the hero by his antagonist (Serpent Gorynych, Baba Yaga, sorcerer, etc.): cf. Afanasiev, 202-205. The connection of these motifs probably goes back to the folk practice of steaming in a Russian stove, or to the ritual washing of the victim during the sacrifice.
The setting of the baths is often used by artists to portray nudes: for example, Boris Kustodiev, Zinaida Serebryakova, Anders Zorn.
- One of the plays by Vladimir Mayakovsky is "Bath".
- One of the most famous songs of Vladimir Vysotsky is called “Bathhouse” (“Heat a bathhouse for me, hostess ...”).
- The story of Mikhail Zoshchenko "Bath".
- Vasily Shukshin's story "Alyosha Beskonvoyny" describes the process of heating the Russian bath "in black".
- The episode in the bathhouse, where Yevgeny Lukashin and his friends are drinking alcohol, serves as the plot of the plot in E. Ryazanov's film “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! ". The continuation of the film also uses a bath scene.
- Many works performed by Mikhail Evdokimov are connected with the bath.
- The bath is present as an important scene in the cycle of films by Alexander Rogozhkin "Peculiarities of the National Hunt", "Peculiarities of the National Fishing", "Peculiarities of the National Hunt in Winter".
Modern bath
Baths and saunas are widely used as a place of relaxation in a complex with swimming pools and gyms or as independent enterprises. The structure of a modern bath usually includes a dry-air sauna and a steam room (sometimes with several different conditions), a jacuzzi, a cold bath, often also a solarium, etc.
see also
Notes
- Etymological dictionary Slavic languages, volume 1. - Publishing house "Science". - 1974. - S. 151-152.
- Borys W. Slownik etymologiczny języka polskiego. - Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie. - 2005. - S. 21.
- Herodotus. IV // History in nine books. - M., 1999. - S. 73-76.
- Statement of Chinese Land. - M.: Nauka, 1961. - (Countries and peoples of the East).
- Silvana Barbati. Le Terme Puteolane e Salerno nei codici miniati di Pietro da Eboli. Luoghi ed immagini a confronto. - Napoli, 1995. - ISBN 88-85346-22-7.
- Byzantine Dictionary / Compiled and ed. K.A. Filatov. - St. Petersburg. : Amphora, 2011. - T. 1. - S. 151-153 ..
- Davenport P. Medieval Bath Uncovered. - Stroud: Tempus, 2002.
- Bede The Hon. Book 1. I. Of the location of Britain and Ibernia, and of their original inhabitants// Church history of the people of the Angles = Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum / Per. V.V. Erlikhman. - St. Petersburg. : Aletheia., 2001. - ISBN 5893294297.
- Marie-Anne Polo de Beaulieu. Baths and baths // Medieval France. - M. : Veche, 2014.
- Brodel F. Chapter 4// Material civilization, economics and capitalism, XV-XVIII centuries = Civilization matérielle, économie et capitalisme, XVe-XVIIIe siècle. - M.: Ves Mir, 2007. - T. 1. - 592 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-7777-0332-3.
- Did people in the Middle Ages take baths? - Medievalists.net (English), mediaevalists.net(April 13, 2013). Retrieved 5 July 2017.
- Smith V. The Stews // Clean: A History of Personal Hygiene and Purity. - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. -
