Mayans Loved to Use the Sauna
You’d think it would be hard to be a killjoy about something like a sauna. But that didn’t stop the Catholic Church in the 16th century. Perhaps be because of the nakedness, though the biggest hangup may have been the extensive religious rituals used in Mayan saunas. They often offered incense to idols in these saunas called zumpul-ché. The sauna was believed to have spiritual and healing power. It was used to heal all sorts of ailments. Saunas were also used very commonly by women who had recently given birth. Nothing like a trip to the sauna to treat postpartum symptoms. Zumpul- ché even translates to “a bath for women after childbirth and for sick persons used to cast out disease in their bodies.” Eventually the Spanish themselves caught on to the fad, but not until they removed the old Paganism out of the practice.