'bastu' (from 'badstuga' "bath cabin, bath house"). In Norway and Sweden, saunas are common in almost every public swimming pool and gym. The public saunas are generally single-sex and may or may not permit use of swimwear. Rules for swimwear and towels for sitting on or covering yourself differ between saunas. Removing body hair in the sauna, staring at other's nudity or spreading odors is considered impolite. Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Eastern Europe In Latvia, Lithuania and many regions of Russia sauna-going plays a central social role. These countries also have the tradition of massaging fellow sauna-goers with leafy, wet birch bunches: slota in Latvian, vanta in Lithuanian, venik (веник) in Russian. In Latvian, sauna is pirts, in Lithuanian, it is pirtis. In Russian-speaking communities the word banya (Russian: Баня) is widely used also when referring to a public bath. In Russia, public banya baths are strictly single-sex, while in Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, both types occur. During wintertime, sauna-goers often run outdoors for either ice swimming or, in the absence of lake, just to roll around in the snow naked and then go back inside. Russian traditional banya is quite similar to Finnish sauna, despite the popular misconception that the Finnish sauna is very dry. In modern Russia, there are three different types of saunas. The first one, previously very popular especially during the 20th century, is the public sauna or the banya, (also known as the Russian banya), as it is referred to among the locals, is similar in context to public bathhouses in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The banya is a large setting with many different rooms. There is at least one sauna (Finnish style), one cold pool of water, a relaxation area, another sauna where fellow-sauna goers beat other fellow-sauna goers with the leafy birch, a shower area, a small cafeteria with a TV and drinks, and a large common area that leads to the other areas. In this large area, there are marble bed-like structures where people lie down and receive a massage either by another sauna-member or by a designated masseur. In the resting area, there are also other bed-like structures made of marble or stone attached to the ground where people lie down to rest between different rounds of sauna or at the very end of their banya session. There is also a large public locker area where one keeps one's clothes