In Old Russia, the oven was typically used for cooking and sleeping on its platforms, while bathing was done in the banya (sauna). However, there was an exception. If, for some reason, a banya couldn’t be built, people would actually bathe in the oven. Here’s how it was done. The Russian oven took up a significant part of the house, and not without reason. It could accommodate not only pots of food but also several adults at once. Additionally, using it as a steam bath helped save resources: the oven was heated daily, so there was no need to spend extra wood for a banya. At the end of the day, when all the household chores were finished and the oven had cooled down a bit, all the ash was removed. Then, straw was laid inside the furnace (the interior space), and a cast-iron pot with hot water was placed inside. After that, all that was left to do was to climb inside, close the damper, soak a whisk in hot water, and splash it around to create steam. This method is even mentioned in the “Life of Saint Irinarch” from the late 16th century: Onuphrius, a deacon of the Nikitsky Monastery, suffered from a fever. He shivered so much that he would climb into the oven to warm up a bit. Thus, the oven was not only a means of nourishment but also a kind of “clinic”: the sick were brought inside on boards. Even sick infants were placed in the oven to drive out illness. How could we not think of Baba Yaga! Bathing in the oven had its own peculiarities: • People usually entered the oven feet first. • You had to sit or lie down very carefully to avoid burning yourself on the walls. • Not much water was used – it was used to wash in a basin near the oven. • Men bathed first, followed by women and children. People bathed in ovens not only in ancient times but even in the first half of the 20th century.