For people leading a healthy lifestyle, going to the bathhouse is one of the most important components of keeping the body in great shape. But not many people know that the Russian bath is very different from the same institutions in other nations of the world. Foreigners who have been in the steam room cannot tolerate the increased humidity and beating with a birch broom. “Overseas” guests are often interested: when did baths appear in Russia? And what makes people torture themselves so barbarously in a small, hot room?
From nomadic tribes to the princes of Kiev
Even delving into the study of historical annals, it is impossible to say exactly when the first bathhouse in Russia appeared. After all, even the nomadic Scythian tribes used special tents made of wooden poles, covered with animal skins and with a center in the middle, for ritual cleansing, and just washing in the hikes.
Before purification, white stones were heated on the fire, which were then watered with water or decoctions of herbs. And Scythian women rubbed sprigs of cypress and cedar with water on heated stones. The resulting slurry was applied to the skin and kept for a day. Washed off such a mask with warm water the next day. This procedure contributed not only to cleansing the skin of dirt and inflammatory diseases, but also gave it an incredibly fresh scent.
Wooden blockhouse or stone mansions
Studying the works of Nestor the Chronicler, scientists found data on in which century baths appeared in Russia. The monk writes that already in the 5-6 centuries. tribes of the Slavs used soap for washing with hot steam and brooms.
The pagan beliefs of that time identified washing in the steam room with the purification of the soul and body from filth and unity with the forces of nature: with the spirits of water, earth, air and fire. All important events in the life of a person of that time, from birth to death, were closely related to the heat of the black moab.
For a long time, the bathhouse was called black due to smoke accumulating in the room during a flood. Only after baths with a chimney appeared in Russia, they became just soap dishes. The building itself was a wooden house with a stove, with the help of which the room was heated to the required temperature.
Due to the fact that such a “flimsy” structure was easily flammable, Prince Vladimir also issued a decree that ordered the construction of baths by rivers to avoid massive fires. When stone baths appeared in Russia, it is not known exactly, but already in the middle of the 17th century there were public steam rooms in large cities.
Women and men
Until the reign of Catherine the Great, the pair rooms were common for both women and men. In such institutions it was possible not only to wash, but also to chat with other people, to hear the latest news. In a large room, members of several families with children of different ages could be located, and such behavior was considered normal.
In what year did baths appear in Russia, divided by gender? In 1743, the Senate decree divided the bathhouse into two parts: male and female. From that moment on, the territory of the male bath allowed individuals of the other sex under the age of seven years, the same was with the female half.
Luxury or necessity
In Russia, paired were in almost every yard, if its size allowed. Once a week, most often on Saturday, home baths were heated and washed by the whole family. Those who did not have a large farmstead and soap houses had the opportunity to visit common steam rooms.
Such institutions worked for a small fee, anyone could take a steam bath. Even during the reign of Vladimir Krasno Sunny, baths were used to treat various ailments. A century later, the famous monk-healer Agapiy healed the sick only with a bath and healing herbs. Following the charter of the holy place, all the afflicted visited the baths three times a month.
"Ours" abroad
When baths appeared in Russia, it is more or less clear. But over time, Russian doubles became fashionable in other countries. It all started with the trip of Peter the Great to France. The guards accompanying the tsar began to lose health due to prolonged "idleness". So that the service people did not lose their shape, Peter ordered to build a real Russian steam room on the banks of the Seine.
Europeans were horrified to see men on the river bank flushing red from a couple rushing into cold water. What the great king told about the health benefits of such procedures.
The emigration of Russians during the revolution also yielded results: America, England and Africa learned about the existence of such healthy procedures.
Health and Longevity
When baths appeared in Russia, our ancestors immediately noticed their healing properties. After warming up, the body easily tolerated various loads, it was easier to recover after serious illnesses.
For a long time Tatars, French and other nations believed that thanks to just such a “wild” way of healing, Russian men had good health and incredible stamina, and women were famous for their beauty, youth and pleasant skin color.
Bath procedures have a beneficial effect on all organs and systems of the body:
- nervous system (soothe and relax);
- cardiovascular (accelerate blood circulation, resulting in improved brain function);
- respiratory;
- endocrine.
Fashionable place
Until the beginning of the 19th century, “trading” soap was a place for washing and collecting gossip. But after the construction of large stone buildings in the center of big cities - with separate rooms, cozy buffets - baths became the main place where representatives of noble families preferred to gather.
Aristocrats gathered in a narrow circle to solve important problems, read literature and just relax. Following the Russians, foreigners also began to visit such doubles.
The most famous "secular" baths can rightfully be called the Sandunovskie baths, which at one time collected the entire color of the aristocracy. And today this object is an architectural monument.
New time, new baths
The story of the appearance of baths in Russia is long and exciting. Today, after several centuries, a real steam room is difficult to find in big cities. Increasingly, residents of megacities prefer foreign counterparts that do not require the use of a broom, and in terms of temperature they differ significantly from a real Russian steam room.
Finnish sauna, Turkish hammam, Roman baths captivated the minds of people of the twenty-first century. New-fashioned trends, instilled in the Slavs in pursuit of a healthy lifestyle, run counter to the concepts of proper existence in harmony with nature. No wonder the pagans of the 5-6 centuries considered it the norm to clean their bodies with the help of brooms in the hot and humid room of the bathhouse and to drink a large amount of herbal infusions in the process.
When you see the sign “Russian Bath” in the city, you can be sure that you will not find anything in common with the old original. Such establishments, equipped in apartments or shopping centers, are more like saunas.
But getting an offer to visit a suburban steam room, do not refuse. It is there that you can experience real oneness with nature. A bathhouse heated by a wood-burning stove, standing on the bank of the river, will give pleasure and a charge of health, energy for a long time, will make an indelible impression.
The history of the Slavic peoples hides many secrets and mysteries. But thanks to the chronicles, scientists have already solved many secrets. Perhaps the Mongols were right, and it was the bathhouse that was the means to maintain the health of the body and spirit of the Russian squads several centuries ago.