SOAKING IN CULTURE

Ruined ancient bath

As cold days are coming what could warm body and soul better then a relaxing pool of hot water enriched with precious minerals.Being born in the Himalayas i was somehow use to those hot pools and thermal water bath and it was very exciting to know that there are many such pools which you could experience in Hungary.so my search to discover them begins after doing a bit of research i came across one of the hot pool  it was Debreceni termálfürdő.it was so good to be up there soaked in the hot water and felt
                                                       like i’m in  the Himalayas.

During the research i came across bathing has been an important part of  human history.Ancient Greeks and Roman used them and  it was comman daily activity practice among all the social classes.It can be also seen as a bathing culture which came to Hungary during the Ottomon Empire (Turkish) in the 16th century.Most of the today’s bathing house of Budapest are from this era for example Rudas, Rác,Király.Till that time bathhouses were mainly the venues of social life ,politics and other activities of passing on cultural heritage in an informal way but during the 18th century the curing effect of the water has taken into account.

locals enjoying the bath and sharing the joy of life

During the research i came across one more interesting Geographical fact that due to the Carpathian basin where the earth crust is thin so its full of thermal water springs in Hungary.Throughout the country you can find a wide variety of thermal baths.In smaller villages its mostly for the community and in  the bigger towns its for the tourist as well as the locals but in Budapest its mostly for the tourist.Due to the rise in price its been use less by the locals and more by the tourist and the most important quality of thermal baths namely the socializing of locals and the community forming role  is starting to disappear from Hungary.Its very sad as these are the natural water and many using it for business purpose.In ladakh its free for all and everyone is free to take the experience of thermal water bath.It has become a culture for the ladakhi people and the old people suggest it as a medicinal therepy good for any kind of skin disease and joint pain.

Thermal baths are valuable places of cultural heritage ,where often history was made and problems were solved being soaked in the water.It also acts as the healing the hatred between different nations.It would be great if the water would be bubbling again for the local people as well and the renovation project of the historical 100-400 years old bathhouses would be carried out with care.

STANZIN DAZANG NAMGAIL

MA 1st YEAR CHSP