Baths
There has always been a need for humankind to have some sort of bath, and for most of history, this has come in the form of a natural body of water, like a river. There are places like India, with its rivers like the Ganges and Yamuna that are considered by millions of people to be sacred and to hold the promises of purity and elevation in the after life. In these rivers, people bath not just for bodily cleansing but also for cleaning their spirits and minds, through a process of ritual and faith.
Then there are the baths like the Romans were famous for, where people would congregate in elaborate houses, often with statues, carvings, and marble bathing basins in them. These bathing houses would accomodate many people, and were usually reserved for the wealthy class of men, who would come to bath and would be attended by servants who were often women and were not infrequently, women who offered intimate services from the bath house to the bedroom. These kinds of bath houses still exist, although most are for strictly therapeutic purposes instead of for the exchange of personal favors by professional women. In Moscow, Russia; in New York, USA; and in Athens, Greece, these bath houses can be found are visited for a very classy experience from the ancient times.
In North Carolina, USA, there are mountains where the Cherokee live and have lived for centuries. These idigenous people discovered a thermal bath, in a raging river, and diverted some of the naturally hot water, which contains many healthy minerals and salts, into a stone basin that they constructed for the purpose of taking baths the way people do these days in hot tubs. Today the site is actually a health spa, where the public go and pay a small fee to soak in the waters that are now divereted by modern plumbing into modern hot tubs.
Similar natural basins for bathing are used all over the world, for a variety of reasons that range from health therapy to decadent luxury. In Japan there are giesha houses with baths, in Scandanavia there are outdoor sauna bath houses used in the dead of winter to revitalize the spirit and the skin. In some cultures, guests are bathed with milk, honey, and scented water, from large gourds, as a sign of honor and respect.
To recreate a bathhouse experience in your own home, even if you have a small bath tub, and live in a little apartment in an industrial city, just light some candles, put some bath oil into the water, close your eyes, and pretend that you are in ancient Greece, India, or China, enjoying the luxury and high culture of a bath house experience.
source : bathroom info