Rome:
Bathing was certainly a very important leisure activity for many Romans, as it was part of the daily regimen for men of all classes, and many women. In Rome, bathing was a communal activity conducted for the most part in public facilities that in some ways resemble modern spas or health clubs. In our culture, bathing is a much more private activity performed in the home.
Japan:
Japanese bathing traditions began with communal sessions in the naturally occurring hot spring pools called “onsens”. Eventually, public bathhouses were built across the country. At these unisex bathhouses, people gathered to gossip and exchange news in addition to washing. It wasn’t until the 19th century that the sexes were ultimately separated.
Turkey and Morocco:
Rooted in the ancient concept of Roman baths, the traditional Hammam ritual cleanses, detoxifies, replenishes and relaxes. The “hammam,” Arabic for “spreader of warmth,” is a widely practiced steambathing ritual throughout the Middle East and Morocco. Much more than just a place to cleanse the skin, the hammam played an important role... serving as places of social gathering and ritual cleansing before prayer.
Russia:
Few steam baths in the world have been as well documented as the Russian bath. Going to the “banya” is a very old Russian custom… in medieval times it was commonly seen as a national institution. For someone not to bathe in one at least three times a week was practically taken as proof of foreign origins. Studies have shown that the high-heat method of producing steam in a Russian banya vaporizes the water into small particles, which provides a more pervasive heating environment than may be achieved with more conventional methods of steambathing.
Spanish Spas:
Spain’s bathing culture has been heavily influenced by the country’s two historical occupiers: the Romans and the Moors. It may even be traced back to the influx of Jews from the Great Diaspora, who brought their ritual bathing traditions with them from the Holy Land.
Native American Sweat Lodge:
In one form or another, the sweat bath has pervaded cultures from the Alaskan Eskimos all the way south into the land of the Mayans. The purpose in most cases went beyond cleansing the body; it was seen as a cure for illness, revitalization for aching muscles, and a sense of identity.
Mexico:
“Temazcal,” the traditional Mexican sweat bath, developed as a therapeutic instrument, an arm of the medical practices developed in what anthropologists like to call, Mesoamerica, that vast area that now includes Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. Aztec homes usually had two separate buildings one was the main home and the other was the steam bath, a small round stone or mud structure that looked like an old fashioned bee-hive. The steam bath was heated by a fire in a chimney located next to the steam bath area. The heated walls of the stove would heat the walls of the steam room. The steambather would then pour water on the heated walls to create steam.