Saunas, steam baths, sweat lodges, and sweat houses have been around for thousands of years. Modern versions of these ancient structures varies with their place of origin, with native Mexicans referring to a traditional sauna as a "temazcal ," native cultures north of Mexico cultures calling it an "inipi " or "kiva," Europeans calling it a "savusauna" or "sudatory," the Chinese calling it "桑拿浴," and the Russians naming it "banya" or "banja." The Mesoamerican Temazcal Many PreColombian Mesoamericans celebrated at least a portion of their spiritual belief system in the steam bath, or "temazcal" (sometimes anglicized to read, "temascal"). The word comes from Nahuatl, a language family of the ancient Mesoamericans. They called it, "temāzcalli," which translates loosely to the "house of heat." Some sources, like Aaland (1997) attribute its origin to the Aztec ...
Here, now, and temazcal.