The benefits of a bath for the representatives of the beautiful half of humanity have been proven not only by a centuries-old tradition, but also by the conclusions of scientists. But in order to achieve maximum success from this procedure, you should know what it is for and how to properly carry it out.
The beauty of the Russian bath lies in the fact that, thanks to its special ritual, it gently affects the body. So, it is in the Russian bath, where the temperature, as a rule, should not rise above 80 degrees, and the humidity is 100%, it is theoretically impossible to thermally damage both the skin and the delicate respiratory organs. However, there are truly feminine advantages of the Russian bath.
What are the benefits of a bath female body? The first and main thing is gynecological health, or rather, the prevention of colds of the reproductive system.
The second significant factor justifying the benefits of a bath for the health of a beautiful lady is the strengthening of blood vessels and, of course, the cardiac system.
The third, although in most cases it is indicated first, is a cosmetic factor. After a single visit to the Russian bath, the skin is noticeably transformed, and with subsequent ones, subject to the correct procedure in the steam room and after it, a slow, stable weight loss.
And last, but not least, the fourth factor is the calming effect on the psychosomatic system. Even simply relaxing on a shelf in a steam room guarantees the same effect that sedative pharmaceuticals can provide, with the only exception that the bath, provided that the procedures in it are performed correctly, do not have side effects.
How is the maximum benefit for the woman's body achieved?
In order for the bath to bring only benefits, you should visit your attending physician before visiting it in order to exclude the following contraindications:
- pressure anomalies, especially high ones - with them, going to the bathhouse can turn into a faint at best;
- the presence of heart disease;
- detection or treatment of gynecological diseases, including sexually transmitted diseases;
- the presence of tumors of any type;
- viral diseases of the respiratory system in the stage of origin or peak. Here it should be noted that the Russian bath, the health benefits of which have been proven in terms of an additional method of treating acute respiratory viral infections, is allowed only in the recovery stage and only under the supervision of a doctor.
If the supervising doctor has approved a visit to the bathhouse, then you should first purchase a personal set of things. These include a bathrobe, a towel, a cloth cap, rubber slippers and a rug, your own broom and tub for soaking it, massage brushes. Of course, they can provide this set in the bathhouse, but in order to receive maximum benefit For women's health It's better to buy your own kit.
The procedure itself goes as follows. Before starting bath manipulations, it is worth taking a warm shower. Then beautiful lady can afford to go into a warm dressing room heated to 40 degrees for 5 minutes. Then, in visits for 8 minutes, they visit the main room with a temperature of about 80 degrees. Then you can carry out the massage procedure with a broom or just steam. At the end, you should take a cool shower and be sure to drink natural, unreconstituted juices or warm green tea.
After the procedure, the result is almost immediately noticeable, which is guaranteed by the advocates of the theory of the benefits of the bath: the skin relief is evened out, and it itself takes on a healthier appearance, muscle tension is relieved, and the silhouette of the body itself looks much more attractive than before the procedure. Yes, and the mood is significantly improved, which is an excellent remedy for the effects of stress.
Read also: How to protect your eyes in a solarium?
About the benefits of a bath for weight loss
Particularly ardent adherents of the bath as an excellent means of losing weight argue that only one trip can ensure the loss of almost two kilograms. The statement is controversial, because weight loss in this case is due to partial dehydration of the body, which means that in the coming days the lost kilograms will return.
But to get a stable, albeit very slow result, you should be patient and visit the bath regularly. Why do it? There are plenty of evidence. It is worth starting with the fact that while in the steam room, harmful pollutants are removed from the pores along with sweat, and, consequently, the skin begins to receive more oxygen. The latter, entering the bloodstream, provides active blood circulation, and, therefore, the activation of all body systems, including metabolism. As a result, a one-time visit to the Russian bath can replace one visit to the gym, at least according to scientists.
As you can see, the benefits of a bath for women in terms of weight loss are very significant. It's just worth mentioning that it is not recommended to additionally use folk remedies to "dry" the body, as is often done in women's communities. Yes, the result in this case will not be a loss of a kilogram or two, but much more. But is it worth it if, at the same time, the vital organs are simultaneously deprived of most of the fluid necessary for their activity?
In very ancient times baths were heated in black”, i.e. there was no chimney in them. In more later times baths " in black"were replaced by baths with a stove-heater, the so-called baths" in white". If the source of heat in the bath " in black"There was a hearth located directly in the steam room, and steam was obtained by pouring water on the red-hot stones of the hearth, then in the bath" in white» The source of heat was a stove-heater, which was loaded with firewood from another room and had a chimney. Only the heating surface of the stove went into the steam room, on which a pile of cobblestones was piled for better heat transfer and vaporization (hence the name - stove-heater). Pouring hot stones with water, steam was obtained. Smoke, soot, carbon monoxide, ash did not enter the steam room. Baths " in black" were gradually superseded by more advanced baths with a stove-heater, although in some areas " in black» steamed up late XIX century. Some wealthy peasants set up two baths: one, heated " in black", away from housing, the other -" white" - in the courtyard .
No bath anywhere
Since ancient times, not a single celebration could do without a bath in Rus'. On the eve of the wedding, after matinee", the bride invited her friends to go with her to" frying a bathhouse", which has already been heated. The groom and his friends also took a steam bath before the wedding. The newlyweds went to the bathhouse the next day after the wedding - such was the rite. In further life together, in order to avoid disharmony in marriage, the spouses were obliged to take a steam bath before going to bed together.
It was customary for the Russian people to treat guests not only with plentiful refreshments, but also with a good steam room. bathhouse". Professor P. I. Strakhov notes that the Russian tsars, meeting foreign ambassadors and guests, first invited them to the bathhouse.
In a doctoral dissertation V. V. Godlevsky it is shown that the steam bath is an indispensable hygienic tool for the people to maintain the cleanliness of the body, and in a number of diseases " bath can achieve better results than other therapeutic means» .
Hardening by alternate application hot water and a couple cold water and even snow, a kind of massage using a broom, the treatment of a number of diseases in the bath, in particular, by increased sweating - these and many other features of the Russian bath characterize it as the strongest means of physiological effects on the human body. To enhance sweating in Rus', the following technique has long been used: in the steam room, the body was rubbed with one of the following substances - salt, beer, milk, honey, grated radish, tar, turpentine, pepper, etc.
It can be said that in Rus' the baths served as the prototype of the modern dressing room and maternity room, where antiseptic measures were observed. In the bath they carried out their treatment " medicine doctors", specialists in gout and salt deposits, balia " used» wounds, bone fractures, skin and venereal diseases, treated various gynecological diseases, including female infertility by « reduction of the navel”, in the bath, childbirth was taken and the postpartum period was conducted in women.
If you don't like a bath, then you're not Russian
Many historical facts, literary works and works of scientists testify to the love of the Russian people for a steam bath. A well-known Russian historian, an expert on the life of the Russian people in XVI-XVII centuries N. I. Kostomarov writes: " Russians generally went to the banya very often; she was the first need in domestic life, both for cleanliness and for some kind of enjoyment» . According to him, almost every wealthy house had its own bathhouse - a soap room, and for common people and for visitors in the cities there were public or, as they were then called, “ royal»soap, where money was paid for entry, which was one of the branches of the income of the royal court. These were one-story buildings, usually on the banks of the river, they were heated with firewood and had three rooms: a dressing room, a soap room and a steam room. In the cold season, the soapboxes were heated once or twice a week. In the summer heat, in order to avoid fires, it was forbidden to heat the baths. There were only exceptions for the sick and puerperas at the will of the governor ..."However, notes N.I. Kostomarov, -" The bath for the Russian people was such a necessity that, regarding the prohibition to drown them, the inhabitants threatened the government to scatter apart from their homes» . Adherence to the bath was, one might say, a characteristic national feature of the Russian people. A remarkable fact was cited in his historical research famous Russian historian and writer N. M. Karamzin, author of capital work "History of Russian Goverment": « Dmitry the Pretender never went to the bathhouse: the inhabitants of Moscow concluded from the fact that he was not Russian!»
Some idea of the bathing customs and customs of those times can be obtained from the historical essays of N. I. Kostomarov: “ They usually went to the soap-house after dinner, without fear of harmful consequences. The heat was unbearable. On the benches and shelves lay hay, which was covered with a cloth. The Russian lay down on him and called upon himself to be beaten to exhaustion, then ran out into the air and threw himself in the summer into a lake or river, near which soapboxes were usually built, and in the winter he rolled in the snow or doused himself with cold water in the cold. Whoever went to the soap room, he also steamed: this was a universal custom. There were two sections in public soapboxes, men's and women's; they were separated from one another by partitions, but the entrance to both was one; both men and women, entering and leaving the same door, met each other naked, covered themselves with brooms and talked among themselves without much confusion, and sometimes ran out of the soap house at once and rolled together in the snow».
« In more distant antiquity, continues the historian, it was customary for both men and women to wash in the same soap dish, and even blacks and blues (monks and nuns - ed.) washed and steamed together» . It should be noted that in XVIII century the Charter was issued, where it was strictly forbidden " male gender older than seven years to enter a female trading bath and female gender- in the male trading bath, when the other sex is steamed in them". The owners of the baths acted simply - the stove was moved to the middle of the bath building, and the building itself was divided in two, making two exits. You can supplement the picture painted by N. I. Kostomarov with the following small touch to feel the atmosphere of that time: on the day when the bathhouse was heated, the attendant walked the streets and called out to the people: “ To the bath! To the bath!»
Collector of Russian customs and rituals M. Zabelin writes: " The custom of washing, in many cases, gave pleasure and delight, and it could not be otherwise due to many prejudices, as well as many domestic superstitions, closely related to religious rules.» .
Foreigners who visited Russia, with constant surprise and, as a rule, respectfully noted the Russian custom to bathe and bathe a lot and often, repeating that they had never seen anything like it in their homeland.
German scientist and traveler Adam Olearius(1603-1671), secretary of the Schleswig-Holstein embassy in Russia in the 30s XVII century, in his work "Description of Muscovy" reports that in Russia there is not a single city, not a single village in which there would be no steam baths, public or private. He writes that " ... if a Russian person feels sick, he drinks a good glass of wine, after pouring a charge of gunpowder into it or mixing the drink with crushed garlic, and immediately then goes to the bathhouse, where he sweats for two or three hours in unbearable heat". The scientist concludes: Such energetic therapy was not without some practical sense » .
Having visited one of the baths of Astrakhan, Adam Olearius described his impressions as follows: “ Russians can endure extreme heat and in the bath, lying on the shelves, they order themselves to be beaten and rubbed with hot birch brooms, which I could not bear, then, when from such heat they turn all red and exhausted to the point that they can no longer able to stay in the bath, they run out of it naked, both men and women, and douse themselves with cold water, and in winter, jumping out of the bath, they wallow in the snow, rub their body with it, as if with soap, and then, having cooled down in this way, enter again in a hot bath». « Such a change of opposite agents favors their health."- concludes the scientist.
And I whip with a birch broom ...
In notes Airamana, who walked from Koenigsberg to Narva, says: “ I also want to briefly recall the Muscovite baths or their washing habits, because we don’t know about it ... But they don’t use, like we do, a scraper to clean impurities from the body, and they have a so-called broom ... In general, not one you will not find in almost a country that people value washing as much as in this Moscow. Women find their highest pleasure in this ...»
One of the foreign travelers in Russia in his diary dated November 13, 1709, published in the collection “Russian life according to the memoirs of contemporaries of the 18th century”, noted: “ ... outside the city, I happened to see how the Russians use their baths. Despite hard frost, they ran out of the bathhouse into the yard completely naked, red, like boiled crayfish, and jumped into the river flowing nearby. Then, cool enough, they ran back to the bathhouse, but before getting dressed, they jumped out for a long time, playing, running naked through the frost and wind. Russians bring birch brooms in leaves to the bathhouse and scrape and scratch their body so that warmth penetrates into it better and the pores open wider.».
Chamber Juncker Berholz, who was at the court of Peter I for some time, wrote in his diary that he had been in a Russian bath: “ I found that it is very useful and decided in advance to resort to it more often.". Further, Berholz says that the Russian people are able to give the water, which is poured onto red-hot stove stones, the degree of warmth that is necessary. He described his experience this way: At first, you lie quietly on a shelf covered with straw, covered with a clean sheet on top. Then they begin to soar with birch brooms. It is extremely pleasant, because it opens the pores and increases perspiration. Then they vigorously scrape with their fingers all over the body in order to separate impurity from it, which is also very pleasant. Then they take soap and rub it all over the body so that not the slightest trace of dirt remains anywhere ... They pour it over, if desired, with warm or cold water. You feel like you've been reborn...»
English envoy to Russia Count Carlyle, returning to his homeland, he wrote about Russian baths like this: Their benefits have been proven by experience, they can be considered a remedy and protection against diseases.» .
During the reign of Peter I, the steam bath and the bath itself in the Russian state received a new impetus to development. Himself a great lover of the bath, Tsar Peter understood its therapeutic and prophylactic significance, took every possible care of the construction of new “ healing baths". When Petersburg was founded in 1703, it was allowed to build bathhouses for everyone, and no fees were charged for this. In one of the Decrees relating to 1704, it is said “ on the construction of baths in Novgorod and Pskov and on the return of these as rent».
It would be wrong to say that the Europeans were not familiar with the Russian bath custom. N. I. Kostomarov, describing the life of the Muscovite state in the XVI-XVII centuries, noted: The Germans living in Moscow borrowed their soaps from the Russians, but gave them more comfort.» . But, nevertheless, as a result of Peter's reforms in the field foreign policy aimed at expanding the cultural, scientific and economic ties of Russia with the countries of Western Europe, a Russian steam bath, as one of the attributes national culture And folk traditions began to spread widely throughout European countries. This process intensified especially after the defeat of Napoleon I in 1812-1814 and the entry of Russian troops into the countries of Western Europe. Baths similar to Russian ones began to be built in France, Germany, England, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and other countries. Even in New York, a bathhouse was built in the Russian style.
In the book "A New Method of Healing", a German physician M. Platen wrote that in the Middle Ages and subsequent centuries, diseases raged in Germany due to non-observance of the simplest hygiene rules, while in neighboring Russia, even in the smallest village, there were always steam baths - an excellent hygiene and health remedy. Further, M. Platen draws attention to the fact that at the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian bath began to spread in many European countries, especially in Germany. " But we Germans- the doctor admits, - p using the Russian bath, we very rarely remember that this step forward in cultural development owe to our eastern neighbor» .
To a certain extent, Russian soldiers contributed to the revival of the custom of bathing in a bath in European countries. Accompanying Peter I during his stay in Amsterdam and Paris, they amazed the Dutch and French by the fact that after a steam bath, despite the frost, they swam in the river. This was told by the magazine “Son of the Fatherland” for 1819, which published a story recorded from the words of a contemporary of Peter: “ In 1718, when Peter the Great was in Paris, he ordered to make a bathhouse on the banks of the Seine in one house for the grenadiers, in which they bathed after the heat. Such an unusual for the Parisians, in their opinion, death adventurous action produced a crowded gathering of spectators. They watched in amazement as the soldiers, running out, heated by the bath steam, rushed into the river, swam and dived. The royal chamberlain Verton, who is in the servants of the emperor, seeing this bathing himself, reported to Peter the Great (not knowing that it was being done by order of the sovereign) that he forbade the soldiers to swim, because they would all die. Peter, laughing, answered: “Do not be afraid, Mr. Verton. The soldiers are somewhat weakened by the Parisian air, as they harden themselves with a Russian bath. We have this in winter too: habit is second nature».
Therapeutic purpose of the bath
Baths in Rus' have always been given a healing, health-improving meaning. The archives preserved a record that on May 11, 1733, permission was received from the medical office " start a medical bath in Moscow". The owner of this establishment was obliged to " take the price of excesses so that there are no complaints about him". In addition, "s it is forbidden to keep hot wines, vodkas and any reserved drink". Another archival record reports the opening on November 11, 1763 in St. Petersburg at the Malaya Sea Medical Bath " for sweating and treatment of fluxes and other bodily seizures on doctor's recommendation».
The Europeans themselves also contributed to the spread of Russian bathing traditions. The Portuguese (1699-1783) served twenty years as a physician at the court of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. At the end of your life path R. Sanchez settled in France and there he wrote several treatises related to Russian baths. His first book was published in Paris in 1764 and was called "On the treatment of smallpox among Russians with the addition of ancient methods also used." It expressed the opinion that the widespread use of the bath in Russian life led to a not very strong spread of smallpox in Russia. It also mentions the treatment of venereal diseases by means of a bath (chapter IX), and diseases, “ called cancer"(Chapter XII), the so-called" baby screamer”, etc. Recognizing R. Sanchez’s statement that a bath can cure smallpox as erroneous, one cannot fail to note his high appreciation of the Russian steam bath as an excellent hygienic and prophylactic tool to prevent infectious diseases and improve health.
But the main work of R. Sanchez, as he himself emphasized, “ respectful essay» about Russian baths, was published in 1774, and then translated into many Western European languages. The book was published in Russian in Moscow in 1779. It was called in the style of that time: "About steam Russian baths, insofar as they help to strengthen, preserve and restore health." In this very thorough treatise, Sanchez, a foreigner imbued big love and respect for Russian traditions and customs, not only described in detail the structure of the Russian steam bath and bath customs of that time, but also with amazing insight conveyed the main essence of the beneficial effects of the Russian bath as a precious blessing that can serve to maintain " strength and health of the body» not only in Russia, but also abroad.
« My sincere desire extends only to showing the superiority of the Russian Baths over those that were in ancient times among the Greeks and Romans and over those currently used by the Turks, both for maintaining health and for curing many diseases ...”- this is how Sanchez defines the goal of his research. He further continues: “ When I think about the multitude of medicines coming out of the pharmacy and from chemical laboratories, prepared with so much dependence and brought from all over the world with indescribable difficulty, then I many times wanted to see that half and three-quarters of these buildings built everywhere at great expense would turn into Russian Baths for benefit to society» .
According to Dr. Sanchez, the superiority of the Russian steam bath lies in the very technology of obtaining steam. In a Russian bath, steam is generated using a stove-heater, on which there are red-hot stones. Humidity, temperature, in a word, the microclimate of the steam room is easily regulated - one has only to splash a ladle of water on hot stones, as these parameters change dramatically. " This resumption of steam is repaired every five minutes, Sanchez says. Cool the bath and reduce its humidity, you can easily freshen the air by ventilating the steam room».
« ... In Roman, Turkish baths, steam comes from pouring hot floors, under which pipes run. But as they are not changed by fresh air, it is easy to conclude that these baths have shortcomings, which are completely disgusted in Russian baths.». « new steam, Sanchez concludes. gives birth to new air».
As a doctor and scientist, Sanchez could not ignore the physical impact of the Russian bath on the human body. Here are some lines from his treatise. " The steam produced in this way does not relax the solid parts of the body, like the steam of ancient Roman and modern Turkish baths: for this steam in Russian baths, being left by the elemental particles of fire and air and renewed at will, softens and does not relax it; it expands the instruments of inhalation, fighting and other veins, revitalizes and restores these parts to the state in which they were before the disease».
... The action of the bath is to remove the finest macros from our body by means of thermal steam ... In medical science there is no such medicine that would be equal to strength, reality and healing for strengthening and revitalizing the human body ... This is so real, so penetrating and hot steam touching the body of a lying a naked person who inhales the same warm air that his body itself feeds on, loosens the skin, increases the circulation of vital juices without hindrance, promotes breathing and makes the blood flow in the back and other veins free ... Then the patient begins to sweat and in all his senses he feels a pleasant calm that inconspicuously bows to the sweetest sleep, which lasts half an hour, and sometimes more ...
« Those who feel tired, who have swollen and heavy eyes, who have become tired from the strong exploits of the military, or from agriculture, or from work at ore-digging plants and salt pans, factories, the best medicine for themselves will find a bath ...» . Petrov B. D. Essays on the history of domestic medicine. — M.: 1962, p. 143-144.
. Galitsky A. V. Generous heat. Essays on the Russian bath and its close and distant relatives. - M .: physical culture and sport, 1986, 96 p.
Many peoples have their own bathing traditions, which may seem strange to others, and sometimes indecent. Not in every country, going to the local bath, the Russian will feel at home.
Three in a Japanese barrel
Traditional Japanese baths may seem the most “shameless” to a Russian person. A furaco bath is a large wooden barrel filled with water. Often this water was taken from hot thermal springs. In order not to change the water every time after washing one person, washing with soap and a washcloth is done in advance.
The whole family or just a few people can sit in the furaco, if the barrel is located in a public bath, for this there are benches on the sides of the barrel.
In the public Japanese baths in the old days there were servant girls who provided visitors and intimate services. Some places of entertainment in Japan continue this tradition today. Are they called "soap country"? and clients are washed in them, and then they are “entertained”.
However, not all bathhouse attendants are lung girls behavior. Sometimes girls are preferred to be hired because it would be uncomfortable for women to use the services of male bath attendants. At the same time, there may not be an intimate component - the attendants will show how to use the bath, make sure that in the barrel with hot water visitors did not feel bad, they will add aromatic oils to the water, they will give a massage.
Now most of the public baths in Japan (sento) are divided into men's and female half, although this was not always the case: over the centuries, the relevant laws were either approved or repealed again. Sento may have large heated pools.
Many sento baths are forbidden to people with tattoos, as they may be suspected of belonging to the mafia. There are also separate establishments where foreigners are not welcome.
bath equality
In many European baths there is no division into male and female zones - everyone sits in the same room or splashes in the same pool.
In Germany, many baths are located in areas with thermal waters. Usually they are divided into two halves: one contains pools and water attractions, the other contains saunas and steam rooms. Swimwear and swimming trunks are only allowed in the pool area. And to come to the bath in a bathing suit is nonsense. On the doors of the room where it is customary to sit naked, the letters FFK - Freikörperkultur - "Free Body Culture" are usually written.
The most shy can wrap themselves in a cotton towel - the Germans do not approve of synthetics, believing that it negates the healing effect of the bath. But usually no one looks at anyone - everyone is equal in the bathhouse. Rather, they will look at the guest wrapped in a towel.
The whole family goes to the German baths, so teenagers, their parents, and very young children can be in the same steam room. Sometimes, however, they arrange " women's days”, when men are not allowed into the bath complex.
You can’t make noise in German baths - this prevents other guests from relaxing.
It is worth saying that in the XV-XVII centuries. in Rus', baths also practiced joint washing of men and women, and the imperial decree forbidding everyone to wash together was issued only under Catherine II in 1782. Prior to this, the decree of the Governing Senate of 1741 was not successful. Finally, this custom came to naught only in the era of Alexander I.
To the bath - for important contracts
In Finland, it is not customary to refuse an invitation to a sauna. There, as in Germany, they sit “in what the mother gave birth to”, and the status of a neighbor is not taken into account. There is even a sauna in the parliament building. It is said that until the 1980s, parliamentary meetings were held there on Thursdays. All consulates and embassies of Finland abroad have their own saunas.
So if there is a goal to sign an important contract with a Finn or discuss any problem, you will have to go to the sauna with him. It is there that the Finns, usually closed and not very fond of making contact, are liberated and willingly conduct complex negotiations. Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari liked to discuss the most serious issues with foreign politicians in the sauna. All ministers and presidents sat at the same time, as expected, naked. And Nikita Khrushchev in 1960 had to steam in the sauna of the Finnish embassy for five hours until he and President Urho Kekkonen came to an agreement on important issues.
Families go to the sauna together, and in public saunas, men and women bathe separately. Many Finns are offended when they talk about intimate relationships in saunas, believing that this opinion came in the 70s from Germany.
There are even floating saunas in Finland, which are not recommended for people who are sensitive to rocking.
Gay saunas
In Sweden for a long time there were special sauna clubs for people with gay. In 1987 they were banned by the government, citing the spread of HIV infection, but in 2001 the ban was lifted. The authorities considered that during the ban there was neither a sharp increase in incidence rates, nor a sharp decrease in them. Another argument in favor of the permit was that promiscuity in random places carries a much greater risk.
In the USA, similar baths also existed and were banned in the mid-80s in New York (1985) and San Francisco (1984). In the UK, gay saunas are still functioning: the largest network is located in London and is called Chariots. They have swimming pools, steam rooms, massage rooms. Saunas of this network are open around the clock.
Similar establishments exist in many countries around the world. A few years ago, the BBC reported that in Rome, a famous gay sauna and a department of the Vatican side by side in a historic palazzo.
Russian baths haunted foreigners for a long time. So what are the Russians doing there anyway? Wash or debauch? And what does such simplicity of morals contribute to: the corruption of the people or, on the contrary, their chastity? Opinions were divided.
Casanova, the world famous conqueror of women, whose name has become a household name, spoke as follows.
“On Saturdays, I went with her (with my mistress - K-K) to Russian baths in order to wash in the company of another 40 people, men and women, completely naked, who did not look at anyone and believed that no one was looking at them. Such shamelessness stemmed from the purity of morals.
G. Casanova "Memories"
J. Delabarte View of the Silver Baths in Moscow (or “Silver Baths on the Bank of the Yauza River with the Image of a Russian Wedding Rite”) 1796. Russian Museum.
The Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda, who visited Russia in 1786-1787, did not seem to be very enthusiastic about what he saw and was shocked by what was happening. Although, judging by the frequent mention in the memoirs of trips to ladies of easy virtue, the traveler did not suffer from special chastity.
"From there we went to the Big baths, men's and women's, on the Moscow River. We went first to the men's, where we saw a great many naked people who splashed in the water without any hesitation. Through a door in a wooden partition, they proceeded to the women's section, where completely naked women walked around, went from the dressing room to the steam room or to the yard, soaped themselves, etc. We watched them for more than an hour, and they continued their manipulations as if nothing had happened, spreading their legs, washing their shameful places, etc. ...
In the end, passing through a crowd of naked women, none of whom thought to hide behind, I went out into the street and reached another entrance to the same bathhouse, from where everything was clearly visible, and then I went inside again, and the bath attendants, who were charging fee at the entrance, did not even think to stop me. The bodies of pregnant women, due to their huge belly, resembled a shapeless mass. Indeed, looking at all these naked women, of all ages and with the most diverse forms, I could not find in them much resemblance to the "Venus" from the Medici collection ... In this bath there are more than 2 thousand visitors, mainly on Saturdays, and from each take only two kopecks; however, I was assured that the owner was earning a large income. From there we went outside and proceeded to the river to look at the women who, after the bath, go there to bathe. There were a lot of them, and they went down to the water without the slightest shame. And those who were on the shore and were still washing, shouted to us in Russian: “Look, look, don’t come near!” Men there bathe with women almost intermingled, because, except for the pole, nothing separates them in the river ... In the villages, the custom is still preserved for men and women to bathe together, and the current empress was the first to take care that decency was observed and bathing was separate . "
Engraving by Eichler after a painting by Delabarte. 1799.
Our compatriot A.N. Radishchev also contributed his five kopecks.
“Baths have been and are now places of love celebrations. The traveler, having agreed on his stay with an obliging old woman or
a guy, stands in the yard, where he intends to make a sacrifice to the all-adored Lada. The night has come. The bath is ready for him. The traveler undresses, goes to the bathhouse, where he is met by either the hostess, if she is young, or her daughter, or her relatives, or a neighbor. Wipe his weary limbs; wash its dirt. This is done by stripping off their clothes, kindling a lustful fire in him, and he spends the night here, losing money, health and precious travel time. It used to be, they say, that a traveler blundered and weighed down by love exploits and wine was put to death by these lustful monsters in order to use his estate. I do not know if this is true, but it is true that the impudence of the Valdai girls has decreased. And although they will not refuse even now to satisfy the desires of the traveler, the former impudence is not visible in them.
Sh.Masson also expressed his opinion on this matter.
“Although Russian baths have been described many times, I still consider it useful to talk about them here, since they greatly influence the character and morals of women from the common people. Arriving in Russia, I decided to personally verify the idea that I had formed on the basis of the stories of travelers and which I did not really trust ... So, one day with one of my friends I went to the banks of the Nevka to public baths; I didn’t have to go far to make sure that Russian beauties were used to displaying their charms in front of passers-by. A crowd of women of all ages, attracted by the June heat, did not even consider it necessary to go to the fence of the bath. Having undressed on the shore, they immediately swam and frolicked ...
Since then, I have been to the bathhouses many times and have seen the same as on the banks of the Neva Islands. But after the picture sketched above, great details would be too obscene. True, the chaste Catherine issued a decree ordering the entrepreneurs of public baths to build them for both sexes separately and let only those men who are necessary for their service, and even artists and doctors who come there to study their art, into women's baths; in order to penetrate there, hunters simply assign themselves one of these titles. So, in Petersburg, baths and baths are separated for both sexes by a partition, but many old women always prefer to intervene in a crowd of men; and besides, after washing in the bath, both men and women run out naked and run together to plunge into the river flowing behind the bath. Here the most chaste women cover themselves with a birch broom, with which they bathed in a bath. When a man wants to wash himself separately, he is often washed and steamed by a woman: she carefully and with complete indifference performs these duties. In the village, the arrangement of baths is ancient, that is, there all sexes and ages wash together, and the family, consisting of a forty-year-old father, a thirty-five-year-old mother, a twenty-year-old son and a fifteen-year-old daughter, goes to the bathhouse, and its members mutually wash and soar each other in a state of innocence of the first people.
These customs not only seem offensive to us, but they are indeed offensive in a non-savage people already wearing clothes, but, in fact, they are not at all the result of depravity and do not testify to debauchery. I will say more, it is not these baths that lead the people to debauchery, on the contrary, they are undoubtedly very useful for them. The heart of a Russian youth does not tremble and the blood does not boil at the thought of a breast being formed. He has nothing to sigh about secret, unknown delights - since childhood he has seen everything and knows everything. A young Russian girl never blushes from curiosity or from an immodest thought; from her husband she will not learn anything new for herself ... "
P.S. The post reflects the state of affairs during the time of Catherine II.
The history of the bath began in ancient times, and among all peoples the bath was not only a place for washing, but also a special, almost sacred place. It was believed that the bath unites 4 main natural elements: fire, water, air and earth. Therefore, a person who visited the bath, as it were, absorbed the power of all these elements and became stronger, stronger and healthier. Not without reason in Rus' there was a saying "Washed - as if born again!".Baths have always enjoyed special honor in Russia. In Rus', all the most important events were associated with the bath: birth, marriage, recovery after a serious illness. So, there was such a tradition: it was necessary to visit the bathhouse before the wedding and the next day after the wedding. Our ancestors believed that the purpose of the bath is not so much to cleanse the body, but to cleanse the soul. It was even believed that if the bath did not help the patient, then nothing would help him.
A steam bath in Rus' was called soap, move or vlazne. According to historians (the history of the Russian bath), as early as the 5th-6th century, such baths were in use in Rus', and they were used by both rich, noble people and ordinary people. Therefore, it is unfair to consider the Russian people as uncivilized, backward and having no idea about personal hygiene. The Russian bath is one of the most ancient, it appeared almost simultaneously with the very emergence of the Slavs. The bath is mentioned orally folk art back when there was no written language. Perhaps the Slavs gave this great importance bath, because at that time they were pagans and attracted the favor of such important elements as water and fire in the bath. One way or another, but baths have always played a huge role in the life of the Russian people.
Our ancestors since ancient times believed in the healing and cleansing power of baths (the emergence of the Russian bath), associated health with cleanliness. The bath has always been considered the most the best way overcome ailment, the evil eye and everything bad in general. Over time, the offer to bathe in the bath became a sign of hospitality. So, the guest was first taken to the bathhouse and only then fed and put to bed.
By the way, it would be wrong to associate the steam bath only with the Slavs. In fact, such baths appeared for the first time among many peoples of the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia - not only among the Slavic tribes (the history of the bath), but also among the Finnish, Ugric and others. For example, in the taiga, hunters' huts built on the principle of baths have been preserved to this day. During the Great Migration, some Finnish peoples brought the black steam bath to Scandinavia and Europe. It is believed that the ancient Indian baths of temaskuali, in which they still bathe with brooms made of corn stalks and medicinal herbs, were brought to America by Siberian tribes.
Baths were so important for our ancestors that even in the agreement with Byzantium in 907 it was specifically stipulated that Russian ambassadors in Constantinople could visit the baths at any time (the emergence of the Russian bath). The description of the bath is also found in The Tale of Bygone Years and foreign chronicles. Russian baths surprised most foreigners. They were especially struck by how the Russians steamed in the bathhouse, dousing themselves with kvass or ice water and, and beat each other with a broom. Foreign travelers even considered soaring in the baths as voluntary torment, torture. They were very afraid of soaring, but after visiting the Russian bath, the strangers felt great. The impressions from the Russian bath were so strong that the rumor about the healing effect of Russian baths spread throughout the world.
Meanwhile, the healing effect of the bath was known to the ancient Greeks. Our monks, having studied many works of the ancient Greeks, decided to check what effect the bath actually produces on the sick. These observations confirmed that the bath procedure is an excellent cure for many diseases. Everywhere at the baths began to appear a kind of hospital.
Many European and Asian travelers wrote about Russian baths (the history of the Russian bath). The foreigners themselves are accustomed to bathing in baths with warm water, therefore, when they saw how the Russians, flushed after the bath, dived into the ice hole or wiped themselves with snow, the foreigners were horrified. After such a spectacle, the Russians seemed to them real heroes.
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In ancient times, Russian baths were a small wooden log house with a single window under the ceiling. The gaps between the logs were usually caulked with tree resin and moss. In the corner stood a large stove-heater, in which a fire is kindled, heating the bath itself and heating the stones laid on top of the stove. There was also a barrel or vat of water in the bathhouse. When the stones became hot, the fire was extinguished, and the red-hot stones were poured with water. At the same time, the doors and the window were tightly closed and steamed, sitting or lying on the shelves. Only hardy and experienced bathers can steam on the top shelf, as the temperature there can reach 100 degrees. As a rule, baths were placed near water bodies. In winter, after the bath, people ran out naked into the street and dived into the hole or wiped themselves with snow, like a washcloth. In the summer, after the bath, they simply doused themselves with cold water or jumped into the pond.
The first baths were built exclusively from logs. Only in one of the annals of 1090 was a brick bath built in Pereslavl mentioned.
Any person who has enough land for this could build a bathhouse. In the middle of the 17th century, even a decree was issued, according to which baths were allowed to be built only at a distance from residential buildings, apparently in order to avoid fire. Traditionally, baths were heated on Saturdays, so Saturdays were called bath days, even government offices did not work. In home baths, the whole family washed, both men and women steamed all together, without any hesitation. Public baths differed only in that women bathed on one side, and men on the other. Only since 1743 it became forbidden in public baths for men over 7 years old to enter the women's bath, and for women to enter the men's bath.
It is worth noting that in ancient times people went to the bathhouse not just to wash themselves, but to warm up the body and sweat. Warming up is good for calming down nervous system in addition, soaring in and warming up in the bath increases mental abilities. The Portuguese doctor of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna Sanchez (1778) wrote about the healing properties of the Russian bath. He believed that the Russian bath could well replace almost all medicines. When Sanchez left Russia, he contributed to the opening of Russian steam baths in major cities Europe.
The spread of Russian baths in Europe was also facilitated by Peter I, who ordered the construction of baths for his soldiers in Paris and Amsterdam during his stay there. And after the war with Napoleon, the soldiers of the Russian army built baths in all the liberated countries and taught the local population to "bath".
An ancient treatise described 10 benefits of a bath: mental clarity, freshness, vigor, health, strength, beauty, youth, purity, pleasant skin color and the attention of beautiful women.
At the beginning of the 19th century, there were already 1,500 private and 70 public baths in Moscow. At the beginning of the 20th century, every hospital and clinic had a steam bath, which was prescribed for patients suffering from rheumatism, gout, dropsy, obesity, etc.
Nowadays, Russian steam baths are very popular outside our country. The healing effect and beneficial properties of the Russian bath are generally recognized today.
Source: http://probany.ru/history/
Why were foreigners afraid of the Russian bath?
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At the end of the 17th century, Hans Airmann visited Russia in the retinue of the Swedish ambassador Count Christian Gorn, who left notes about Muscovy. Here is what struck him in Russian bath washing: “They do not use, like us, a scraper to clean the impurities from the body, but they have a so-called broom, it is made of birch twigs, which they dry. In the summer, while the brooms are still green, they are brought to the cities on countless carts for sale, each owner buys a lot of them and hangs them to dry. With them Muscovites allow themselves to be whipped well by others. This broom is pre-soaked in warm water, which noble people it is boiled with good herbs, and then they stroke and rub them all over the body up and down until all the dirty tricks leave the skin. This they do so many times until they see that they are completely clean. At the same time, Muscovites have a particularly healthy habit in the bathhouse to douse themselves with ice water from head to toe, and only after that they are ready.
For civilized Europe, which preferred to clean dirt from itself with scrapers, mask the smell of an unwashed body with perfume, and hang flea caps under clothes to fight insects, Russian bathing procedures were amazing. The fact that the Europeans with bodily cleanliness was rather poor is not an exaggeration. “Venetian women walked in expensive silks, furs, flaunted jewelry, but did not wash, and their underwear was either terribly dirty, or it was not there at all” - this is the testimony of the traveler Marco Polo. And the Spanish Queen Isabella of Castile stated that she washed herself twice in her entire life - at birth and before the wedding.
Foreigners were amazed that the Russians were also dragging them into the bathhouse, considering it almost an obligatory attribute of communication. Courlander Yakov Reitenfels, who visited Moscow almost at the same time as Airmann, wrote that "Russians consider it impossible to make friendship without inviting them to a bathhouse and then eating at the same table." Z.I. Letunov. Russian baths
At the same time, in Moscow, the Czech traveler Bernhard Tanner and his companions decided to own initiative visit a public bath. There was a confusion. “According to our custom, we came covered, thinking that they wash here the same way as in our area, but from the very first step we noticed the difference; the door, we saw, was open, the windows were not locked, but it was still very hot in the bathhouse. When the Muscovites saw us covered, and they were completely naked without any shame, they burst into laughter. There are no servants here, a bath attendant and a barber, too, who needs water, he had to go down to the river himself. We stayed there a little, and left dry as we came, having looked at their way of washing; how they, instead of rubbing themselves, began to whip themselves with twigs, yell, and douse themselves with cold water. We saw women wash in the same way, and also run naked back and forth without embarrassment.
By the way, foreigners unanimously noted that men and women either wash together in the Russian bath, or the compartments for them are separated only by a small partition, and they all run out together to plunge into the snow or into the river without hesitation. For them, it was a real exotic. In Russia, it was only in 1743 that the Senate, by a special decree, forbade men and women to wash in commercial baths. The decree began to be observed, but only in large cities.
A lot of foreigners were also surprised by the fact that Russian marital duties are associated with washing in a bathhouse. Before the wedding, the bride and groom always washed in the bathhouse, which was a continuation of a kind of "bachelor party" and "bachelorette party", and after the wedding night they already went to the bathhouse together. Russian monarchs followed this custom for a long time. Moreover, if on ordinary days the king "was pleased to sleep with the queen", then in the morning they both went to the bathhouse, where they washed together or separately with their entourage. It is curious that, according to this principle, the boyars immediately figured out that False Dmitry and his wife were clearly “not their own for Rus'”, they didn’t go to the bathhouse together.To the credit of foreigners, many understood that the Russians were far ahead of them in matters of hygiene. The Spaniard Ribero Sanchez, who was a doctor at the court of Elizabeth Petrovna, sincerely admired: “Everyone clearly sees how happy society would be if it had an easy, harmless and so real way that it could not only preserve health, but also heal or tame diseases, that happen so often. 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, prepared by so many dependents, and brought from all over the world, 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. .
He is echoed by the chamberlain Berholz, who got acquainted with the Russian bath in St. Petersburg. In his notes about Russia, he describes in detail the visit to the steam room and all the bathing rituals, noting that “at the end of all these operations, you feel as if you were born again.”
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| E. Korneev. Russian bath. Engraving |
It is worth noting that many foreigners in Russia took root, becoming almost Russian in their habits. Naturally, they got used to the Russian bath. TO XIX century expensive, richly furnished bathhouses with good service and excellent buffets appeared in large cities. They quickly turned into a kind of clubs for wealthy people. In Moscow, the famous Sanduny became such a bath-club, where the entire color of the Russian nobility visited and where foreigners began to go with pleasure.
It is interesting that foreigners who had lived in Russia for a long time, upon returning to their homeland, began to build baths in their homes, which amazed their compatriots a lot. Especially quickly the Russian bath "conquered" Germany. “But we Germans,” wrote the German physician Max Plotten, “using this healing agent, never even mention its name, rarely remember that we owe this step forward in cultural development to our eastern neighbor.” Baths began to appear in other countries, and the Portuguese Antonio Sanches even published the book Respectful Essays on Russian Baths.
In Europe, they like to talk about the mysterious Russian soul and remember the great writers, philosophers, dancers, poets, scientists whom Russia gave to the world. But sometimes they forget that enlightened Europe was also taught elementary washing by Russia.
