SAUNAHOITO = Sauna Wellness
My souvenir mug from Hoito circa 1995 For many years, our family took vacations along Lake Superior's North Shore in Minnesota. My dad in particular was drawn to the agate beaches for rock hunting. Near the Canadian border, the quest for rocks continued near Thunder Bay, Ontario where we would hunt in open pit amethyst mines and find treasure. One of our favorite stops in town over the years was a restaurant called the Hoito on Bay Street . It was a simple, church-basement-style cafeteria founded in 1918 by union-minded Finns to provide affordable meals to the working class (sadly, the historic building where it was housed burned down in 2021). Hoito means 'to care' or 'look after.' It wasn't until I encountered the term Saunahoito, a Finnish phrase for 'sauna care', the wellness therapies practiced in the sauna, that I realized the meaning in the name of my favorite Thunder Bay café. It really refers to a place where people take care of each other. I...
