During my several-day stay in Ulyanovsk, Russia, (named for Vladimir Lenin’s birth name Vladimir Ulyanov) I stayed at the “Christian Missionary Center” just outside of the city. It serves as the office of the “Light of the Gospel” association of churches in that region and also houses a small college similar to DCU. Fortunately for me they have a Russian banya built on to the main building and it was in use three of the four nights that I stayed there.
The Russian banya is winter tradition in much of the former Soviet Union. It is cleansing and relaxing and probably helps some people survive winter in some of the colder regions. When in the company of other foreigners; we have visited several (and their Finnish counterparts) during our time here. However, as one of MCC’s partners in Ulyanovsk put it, “we had never had the real experience.” There is a certain protocol that apparently must be followed to qualify for this. I will attempt to describe.
In Ulyanovsk I only participated in the experience one night. The banya consists of a small, wood-paneled room (similar to sauna’s in some hotels in N. America) where a woodstove heats it to the temperature of 100C (boiling). Right outside the door is a shower or cold pool, and adjacent to that is a sitting room. Participants strip down (in the sitting room) and go sit in the banya until they "feel uncomfortable.” For me this would have been the point when everyone stripped down, but it is supposed to mean the point when a person has a good sweat going, yet hasn’t started to feel light-headed. The person exits and goes to the sitting room, to rehydrate by drinking some water and resalinate by eating some salty fish. They sit there until all their sweat has dried, then go in for round two.
Upon entering the second time, someone pours a significant amount of water on the stove, dropping the temperature to around 85C but raising the humidity to an almost unbearable level. People take bundles of small branches (traditionally birch, but we used oak) and either beat themselves or each other. This seemed a bit strange to me, but I laid down, face first as directed, and got the typical lashing, although it seemed like more like a form of punishment then of relaxation. The wind from the branches was like a wall of even hotter air and the beating was not especially fun, but I was determined to get the full "experience." Just before the person gets light-headed (which seems like a strange indicator to me) they exit and take a cold shower. This process is repeated, usually 2-6 times.
I participated in this experience with a group of men but, back in Donetsk; when I tell of the adventure I have been told several times that it wasn’t the “real experience”… to get that there must be “girls and vodka.” I’ll take their word for it.
Dave
