SiltiCrafts creatrix Kristine<p>Bird cherry and black sauna. </p><p>It's kind of a personal Beltaine ritual, although it's not. Kind of my personal Walpurgis night, although it's not. The exact date doesn't matter, the opening of bird cherry flowers matter. A bird cherry bath is my annual spring ritual.</p><p>Bird cherry (hagberry? how do you call it?) - prunus padus - is a native tree growing here prolifically and seeded everywhere richly by birds, so harvesting almost unlimited amounts of it is not just possible, but also eco-friendly, or it takes over great areas of woods. It's name in Latvian (my native tongue) is Ieva - the same as the biblical sinner Eve. This tree in bloom has a strong, dizzying aroma that causes headache to many people. Luckily, I'm not one of them. Folklore tells not to plant it close to one's home because spirits and fae dwell in this tree that's also associated with witches and devil. On my defense, I didn't plant it by the house, birds did it and I'm choosing not to intervene. It's just that in childhood I had outdoor play-house under a big bird cherry tree and it was gorgeous... The bird cherry tree in my garden isn't a very big one yet, so I gather the blooming tree branches from local woods - there is more than enough. In esoteric lore bird cherry is considered a gentle tree that doesn't allow anything meanspirited in human relationships, but used in sauna it aids not just for physical, but also spiritual cleansing and promoting harmony.</p><p>Bird cherry bath for me means bringing the blooming tree branches into the old black sauna aka pirts, lying on them naked, sweating on them, hitting and rubbing myself with bird cherry, washing my hair in flower infused water and pouring infused water on hot stones to sit in that steam. It's not that weird as it sounds. There is nothing weird, or unique about it over here, except the part of using big amounts of a tree in bloom many avoid because of headache. Black sauna (pirts) is a traditional thing here. It's black because the fire is made right inside the bathing room under a pile of stones. So the walls are covered with black soot. After the water in the room starts boiling, the burning firewood coal is taken out, the room is ventilated, water thrown on hot stones to get the room ready for use, and plants are brought in. The room temperature is somewhere between 60 - 90 degrees (Celsius), it's hot and humid in the room. Today almost nobody builds those black saunas anymore (they are not trendy), sauna lovers prefer the white Finnish type saunas, and they are mostly used to sweat and relax, not to bath in them. </p><p>In the past these bath houses in this corner of the world were important places not just for washing the body, but also healing, giving birth or washing the dead before funeral. Nowadays they are mostly used for ritualistic purposes or for social gatherings - poeople love to meet and sweat naked together. We've got an old, traditional black sauna here by the house we use once a week. And somewhere between the end of April and mid-May I have that one unholly bath with bird cherry, that opens my season of bathing with fresh plants. It's a tradition rooted deeply in the soul of the nation, although a functioning and regularly used black sauna bathhouse is becoming a rarity. The use of black sauna is important part of my life - that's wherr I meet myself, deepen my connection with nature and understanding of plants.</p><p>Do you have any similar practices?</p><p><a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/pirts" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pirts</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/sauna" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sauna</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/traditions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>traditions</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/esoteric" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>esoteric</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/prunuspadus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prunuspadus</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/blacksauna" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>blacksauna</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/plantlore" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>plantlore</span></a> <br> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/birdcherry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>birdcherry</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/folklore" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>folklore</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/traditions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>traditions</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/pagan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pagan</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/paganpractices" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>paganpractices</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/beltaine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>beltaine</span></a> <a href="https://pagan.plus/tags/walpurgis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>walpurgis</span></a></p>