The Saunas of Kaleva: Revisiting the Land of the Heroes

by Stewart A. McFerran

Arthur (right) and Alan Hulkonen, of Kaleva, Michigan.
Arthur (left) and Allen A. Hulkonen, of Kaleva, Michigan.

Arthur Hulkonen grew up in Kaleva, Michigan, at a time when saunas stood in most backyards of town and on surrounding farms. At that time, neighborhood and family saunas were entrenched in community life and stoked with wood on a weekly basis. Routinely, sauna baths were taken and enjoyed by all. Not surprisingly, Arthur’s parents and many of their neighbors hailed from Finland, a country known for its saunas.

Shrouded in the mists of long-forgotten times, the Kaleva were a race of giants called Titans occupying a land called Kalevala. Songs of their deeds are still sung on the heaths of Finland. Many of them tell of a Finnish hero, Vainamoinen, who reveled in sauna heat after performing such deeds as riding an eagle or catching a pike as big as a school bus. When wounded from conflicts, he and his brothers would go to the sauna to heal.

The Finnish national saga known as the Kalevala was compiled by Elias Lonnrot in 1849. Containing 22795 lines of poetry, it became the Finnish national epic and a source of pride as Finland became a nation. Considered a world classic, the Kalevala has been translated into many languages. The great Finnish composer Sibelius was inspired by its power and beauty.  

I have a good mind
Take into my head
To start off singing
Begin reciting
Reeling off a tale of kin
And singing a tale of kind.
The words unfreeze in my mouth
And the phrases are tumbling
Upon my tongue they scramble
Along my teeth they scatter.

Sauna Aika, or "Sauna Time" in Finnish. Portrait of Arthur Image courtesy of the author, Fall 2016.
Sauna Aika, or “Sauna Time” in Finnish. Portrait of Arthur Hulkonen. Image courtesy of the author, Fall 2016.

Wednesday and Saturday were the days they fired the saunas of Kaleva, Michigan. Wood-burning stoves were lit, the heat from the large stoves filling the small cedar-lined rooms. Rocks on the top of the stoves sputtered and popped when splashed with water.  Steam enveloped the Hulkonen family and their friends, sitting on high benches and thrashing their skin with birch whisks to improve blood flow.

Many strange beliefs and superstitions are connected with the sauna and with bathing customs. The ancient Finns believed that fire came from heaven, and was sacred. The fireplace and the pile of stone in the sauna were altars, therefore. All diseases and evils of the body were driven out by means of various rites and magic spells. The Finnish word loyly–meaning the steam that rises from the stones–originally signified spirit or even life. In the sauna, one must conduct oneself as one would in church– according to a Finnish saying.

Art Hulkonen met his wife, Mildred, at her family sauna in Kaleva after returning home from World War II, this meeting proving that the family sauna was, indeed, a jolly meeting place. Keeping alive the tradition, Art’s son Allen A. has a sauna in his backyard, now one of the few in Kaleva still in operation. Hulkonen family reunions take place every couple years at the Bear Club.  

The Bear Club of Kaleva. Image courtesy of the author.
The Bear Club of Kaleva. Image courtesy of the author.

The Bear Club is north of Kaleva on Bear Creek, its light blue sauna, just feet from the creek where sauna bathers can take a cool dip. The Club has a long history: Vernor Sarenius bought  the property in 1912, farming the land until returning to his native Finland. In 1930 it was bought by a group of Standard Oil agents and served as a retreat until 1966, when the Hulkonens bought it.

If you walk down Sampo Avenue in Kaleva, you can see where the saunas once stood. Sauna sites can be found in many backyards there.  Once I stopped at a garage sale on Waotski Street and noticed a dilapidated stone shed at the back of the yard.  It had been painted pink and had a green roof. Sure enough—the sales attendant told me that it had once been a sauna.

After a few inquiries, I found a sauna behind the barbershop and another behind the hardware store. There is a sauna in the yard of the old parsonage of the Lutheran church and a foundation of a sauna behind the Kaleva Bar. A garden blooms on the site of the Hodimakie family sauna.

Tovo Johnson’s old homestead is just down the road. I could still see the large sign on the sauna outbuilding that reads: “Tovo’s Sauna.” Tovo and all Finnish enthusiasts of the sauna will relate to this verse from the Kalevala:

I have stoked up the sauna
Heated the misty bath-hut
Softened the bath-whisks ready
Steeped the pleasant whisks.
Brother, bath your fill
Pour all the water you want
Wash your head till it is flax
Your eyes till they are snowflakes!

Hillari Johannes Viherjuuri describes the whisk–as well as botanical details–that was used in saunas in his book, The Finnish Bath:

whisk
Options for making a whisk, from The Finnish Bath by Viherjuuri.

The Birch whisk is an essential part of the Finnish sauna. The best whisk is made from leafy branches freshly gathered in summer. But whisks are used in Winter as well as Summer. In the old days a special week was set aside for making whisks. Curly birch (betula verrucosa) a subspecies of silver birch is the best.

The traditions of Finland live on in Kaleva Michigan and stories from its recent past merge with the mythology of the Kalevala.  To tell a final myth, I will speak of Ilmarinen (Vainimonen’s brother) who forged a magic sampo.  Clues to the magic of the Sampo are found in the text of the Kalevala. Some claim it is a pillar that connects Heaven and Earth, while others say it is a mill that can make gold out of thin air.  When the Sampo was lost, enormous changes rocked the land of heroes before it was returned.The Kalevala reads:

Then the smith Ilmarinen said:
Put this into words: ‘I’ll be
Able to forge the Sampo
Beat out the bright-lid
From a swan’s quill tip
a barren cow’s milk
a small barley grain
a summer ewe’s down
because I have forged the sky
beaten out the lid of heaven
with nothing to start off from
with not a shred ready made.

The shiny lid of the Sampo was broken and scattered after it was made in Kalevala.

Then she reached for the Sampo
With her ring finger: she dropped
The Sampo in the water
felled all the bright-lid
Down over the red craft’s side
In the midst of the blue sea;
There the Sampo came to bits
And the bright-lid to pieces.

The saunas of Kaleva have fallen down, but the sites where they once stood litter the village. A few persons still practice the tradition of sauna there and elsewhere in Northern Michigan–you might see a sauna if you walk down Sampo Avenue.

Who knows? Maybe you will even see the shiny lid of the long-lost Sampo.

Three final notes:

February 28, is Kalevala day in Finland.

The village of Kaleva Michigan will hold Kaleva days July 15 – 17   2016

Kalevala is available for checkout at the Traverse Area District Library.

S. A. McFerran is a regular contributor to the Grand Traverse Journal, and has built his own sauna where he experiences a loyly each week.

18 thoughts on “The Saunas of Kaleva: Revisiting the Land of the Heroes”

  1. Very nice article Stewart. Sauna’s have always been a part of my U.P. heritage. I love to go through Kaleva and see all those familiar street names. Sauna, hey!

    1. Thank you for the kudos, George! As an alumna of Northern Michigan University, I spent four wonderful years enjoying some genuine Finnish suana-time in the UP. So, I know exactly what you’re saying. Those Yooper Finns know how to live! Thanks again for reading and commenting.

  2. Thank you for such an informative article. I’m intent upon exploring Kaleva and searching for these saunas. That is, once this latest snowfall melts!

  3. couple of edits:
    “Art Hulkonen met his wife, Gunnard, at her family sauna in Kaleva” …Gunnard was his brother. His wife’s name was Mildred.

    Tovo is spelled Toivo

    1. And Hautamaki….maki means hill.
      Usually names were given for the surroundings….
      If there were only girls in a family in Finland, the husband took her name.
      When you see the “ala” at end of the name, it means around..

      1. Julie,,, have wondered about this since my family did a ‘family tree’ thing years ago. Around 1900 my male ‘Skuttenaba’ relative married and took her family name ‘ a Bjorklund’. So I’m named Bjorklund, but feel alot of ‘ Skuttenaba ‘ in heart.

  4. I have so many good memories of Saturday night saunas at grandma’s home just northeast of Kaleva. This was their only form of bathing until the early 1970s. Family and friends joined together to enjoy good food, good fellowship, and oh yeah…taking a bath/sauna The sauna still stands today, although my uncle who lives there now no longer uses it. Thank you for a trip down memory lane.

  5. Growing up visiting my grandparents @ their farm on Bear Creek outside Kaleva was amazing. I loved doing the sauna. Thoroughly enjoyed this story. My great-grandfather was John Haksluoto. You will find his name on the historical marker on Main Street as he is a founding father. My grandfather, Edwin Haksluoto, was once the milkman of Kaleva. Supplying milk for the town from his cows on the farm. I am sad that no one from our family could afford to purchase the farm when it was sold back in the early eighties. I am, of coarse, very proud of my Finnish heritage. I miss taking saunas as a child. I miss walking from grandma’s into Kaleva to buy something, anything from the store. Thank you for an excellent story and triggering memories.

  6. I grew up in Kaleva, and very much appreciate that Mr. McFerran has told the story about the Finns and their saunas. I don’t like to nitpick but, as a newspaper writer myself, I know the importance of accuracy in telling a story. I think the street referred to as Waotski probably is Wuoksi Avenue, and the name spelled Hodimakie should be Hautamaki. My family name is Wiitala, so I get how easy it is to misspell these Suomalainen (Finnish) words. Thanks again for the nice feature on Kaleva.

    1. Ms. McMarlin: I am the first to admit that I am not a good speller and need all the help I can get. Thank you for your help!

    2. The old Wiitala farm outside of Kaleva heading toward Copemish has one of the coolest saunas around. It is built above a stream that runs through the farm property allowing for a nice cool dip after a long hot sauna.

  7. As a native of Kaleva, I found your writing very informative and found your information very accurate. I ask everyone interested in Kaleva and the Kalevala to visit Kaleva with an inquisitive zest. There are several attractions for those seeking the history of Kaleva. The Bottle House and Railroad Depot are very popular destinations.
    Yes, I’ve “taken” a sauna. It’s very refreshing and invigorating. Try it, especially if you like heat. It’ll heat your body and warm your soul.

    1. Ditto that sentiment, Tom, and thanks for reading! I bet you have a few stories of your own you could tell. Consider getting them down on paper, we’d love to publish them in the GTJ!

  8. Hello, I recently moved to Boon, MI, after working and living in Finland for 2 years (i’m not Finnish). I developed a love for the sauna (and traditional savusauna), and since being back in the states i’ve been thoroughly dissapointed with any “sauna” i’ve seen, many have a sign which state you can’t pour water on the rocks (aka not a sauna), and are never hot enough as theyre in public gyms. The only one i’ve found in Michigan that is open to the public is 2nd street Sauna in Marquette. I am curious if there is anyone that still has an operating wood burning sauna in Kaleva? I would be interested in taking pictures and just seeing them (and if i’m extremely lucky maybe someone will invite me to take a sauna), as I plan on building one on my land very soon, but cedar is very expensive. I find my states history with Finnish culture fascinating, especially in the UP around the Keweenaw area, but it’s even cooler to have a finnish town close to my new home. Are there any local events that I should know about? And does anyone locally still speak finnish?

    1. Those are all great questions, Roman! As a part-time Yooper myself, you are correct, the love of personal saunas here in the Grand Traverse region pales in comparison to our northern neighbors! The best person to answer your questions is Mr. McFerran, the author. I’m sure he’ll be in touch with you soon!

  9. You people in Kaleva sound like true Finns–Nice !!! I was born in Riihimaki-Finland , now a US citizen living in Au Gres on Lake Huron..I would really like to meet & get to know some of you fellow Finlanders…989 876 6780

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