Rocks of ages

April — the (unofficial) Month of Sauna Stones

My dad, Ben Rajala, told me the legend that opened Chapter 15 (Sauna Stones: Rocks of Ages) in my book, Some Like It Hot: The Sauna, Its Lore and Stories. It goes like this:

To be used in a Finnish sauna stove, he said, stones had to withstand eons of being rolled in the icy northern waters and further shaping by the ups and downs of temperature changes.

Then, the final touch (and his favorite part) — every thousand years, great birds would wake from their sleep and flock to those northern shores, seeking stones on which to sharpen their beaks. After their intensive “rasping,” the rocks became rounded.

For their sauna stones, early immigrants to northern Minnesota used roundish ones, found on lake shores or riverbanks. Or maybe, when their farmland “sprouted” its spring crop of rocks, the family picked the biggest ones for their sauna.

For some, sauna rocks have special meaning. A couple I met chose stones that fit in their luggage when traveling around the world — in Alaska, Spain, France, Turkey, Egypt and Antarctica.

How did the stones in your sauna come to be there?

Stay tuned for — a lesson in geology.

Nikki