本周一，芬兰桑拿协会向芬兰外交部颁发“蒸汽精神奖”，肯定了芬兰外交官向全世界推广桑拿文化并利用“桑拿外交”协调国际关系的成就。桑拿协会主席表示，驻世界各地的芬兰外交官都在利用使馆内的桑拿房开展外交活动，让更多人了解到芬兰文化的实质。桑拿是芬兰文化的重要组成部分，家庭、社会甚至政治生活都少不了它。上世纪70年代，就曾有总统在桑拿房召开外交会议。如今，芬兰派往不同国家的维和部队也都会在驻地修建桑拿房。芬兰外交部一名发言人表示，桑拿是芬兰外交活动中不可或缺的一部分，桑拿房是建立国际友谊、商讨协议和理想场所。

The humble wood-fired sauna is a cornerstone of Finnish culture.

Finland's foreign ministry on Monday won the Steam Spirit Prize for promoting sauna culture abroad, organisers said, hailing Finnish diplomats for using saunas to help forge international relations.

"The prize is given for a deed, a person or an event promoting sauna culture. The recipient meets all these criteria," Sauna Society chairman Ben Grass said in a statement.

"Through diplomacy, the ministry has made a fundamental contribution to increasing awareness about the essence of being Finnish," he said, hailing the way Finnish diplomats around the world use embassy saunas as a place for diplomatic "deeds and events".

The humble wood-fired sauna is a cornerstone of Finnish culture.

It is not merely a way to wash but a place that was the centre of stories and superstition, and which is still a key aspect of family, social and even political life in the Nordic country.

In the 1970s, for instance, President Urho Kekkonen was known to hold diplomatic meetings in his sauna, while today's Finnish peacekeepers build saunas in every camp they are deployed, even in places like Chad and Afghanistan.

"The sauna is an inseparable element of Finnish diplomacy throughout the world... Nearly all Finnish embassies have saunas, where relations with local movers and shakers are cultivated," Pertti Torstila, a state secretary at the foreign ministry, said in the statement.

"The sauna is an ideal place for forging friendships, making agreements and building peace," he added.

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(Agencies)

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen ）