Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

Categories: Europe

Whether it's a Finnish sauna or a dip in an icy lake, Finns seem to love the extreme. Winter is coming and they are returning to their national pastime called "avanto" which means "hole in the ice".

Photographer Markku Lahdesmaki documented the phenomenon of winter swimming while traveling to his hometown of Tampere in southern Finland. His portraits of bathers make me shudder! “Usually, when you go to the lake in January, you don’t expect to see people swimming there,” says the photographer. “But Finland is an unusual place.”

There were a lot of bathers on Lake Rahaniemi - despite the sub-zero temperature. The avanto ritual goes hand in hand with another Finnish pastime, the sauna. The temperatures in this traditional bath range between 60 and 100 degrees Celsius. Walruses go to the sauna before or after swimming in an icy lake.

The photographer himself also plunged into the cold water of the lake - six times! “It was an amazing experience: spiritual, exciting, life-giving and, of course, COLD!” Markku says.

(Total 10 photos)

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland Source: cnn.com

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

1. A walrus woman in Tampere.

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

2. Lake Rahaniemi.

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

3. Avanto and sauna.

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

4. Bathers plunge into ice water before or after the sauna.

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

5. The photographer soon joined the walruses.

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

6.

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

7. Some wear hats.

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

8. Winter swimming is a popular entertainment in the New Year and on the days of Epiphany frosts.

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

9. There are about two million saunas for 5.5 million people in Finland.

Ice Baptism: Winter Swimming in Finland

10. The photographer himself ended up dipping into the icy water of the lake six times!

Keywords: Swimming | Ice | Winter swimming | Walruses | Finland

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