Hammams in America?
“Yala al Hammam.” My grandma chimed enthusiastically, indicating to us that it was time for our visit to Hay Riyad, the neighborhood public bathhouse to visit and perform a hammam: something she was looking forward to all week. We grabbed our bathrobes, a change of clothes, and we were on our way.
I vividly remember the first time I experienced a hammam: I followed my grandma, mom, and aunt into the women’s section and initially was overwhelmed by my surroundings; it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and I was quite shocked. Most Americans, myself included, are accustomed to the idea that showering and bathing is a private vulnerable activity done within the home so standing in the middle of the entrance of three rooms full of naked women who were cleansing and exfoliating themselves out in public felt like a culture shock. However, I would come to learn this was a valued, sacred, and habitual practice for Moroccans and Arabs alike.
In Morocco, before the onset of modern plumbing, public bathhouses or hammams were the only means of bathing and were settings that promoted public hygiene, religious purification, and socialization. Despite the widespread adoption of modern plumbing systems, most Moroccan families still continue to make a weekly hammam trip as part of a long-held cultural and religious tradition. You might be wondering: What exactly is a hammam? A hammam is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It consists of a bathhouse with multiple rooms (dry and steamed) for cleaning the body and soul according to the traditional ritual. Entry typically costs about 20–50 dirhams (depending on the services you request) which is roughly $2 to $5 U.S. dollars — a bargain. During the process of a hammam, individuals are able to not only deep clean and exfoliate their bodies but more importantly simultaneously catch up with their families, socialize, and gossip with their neighbors. Hammams have gained an imperative cultural, social, and religious significance across the Middle East and there has been an attempt to replicate them in Western cultures but they do not resemble their original purpose. The practice of Hammams translates over to American culture however it is stripped of its spiritual and communal purposes and turned into a privatized individualized luxury spa experience, which reflects larger ideas of materialistic and secular American society.
The concept of public bathhouses originally derived from ancient Roman and Byzantine traditions due to the heavy emphasis that Greco-Roman societies placed on washing and cleanliness. These bathhouses were then adopted and transformed by Arab cultures due to similar values but in a way that conformed to Islamic customs, and they became a staple of Middle Eastern social, cultural, and religious institutions. In Arab culture in general, showering with soap and water within your home is not enough and is classified as surface-level cleaning. The process of going through the different stages of heat, opening up pores, exfoliating skin, and ending with natural oil application is what is considered “clean” and that is exactly what a hammam is — and why it has become so important. The signifance that ceremonial hammams hold in Islam are one of the more important reasons they are so popular in the Middle East, and why they are not as common in secular societies. In this region majorly dominated by Islam, the hammam originated as a place to get ready for prayer and reflected one of Islam’s main focuses: purification and community. They were conveniently located near mosques and indicated Islamic values such as the principles of modesty reflected by the separation of genders. It’s quite difficult to translate a practice that revolves around ideas of one religion that dominates a region into a society where those values (ex: modesty) are not as important. However, in recent years, there has been a rise in Westernized Americanized hammams in the U.S. that are suited for wealthy Americans and elite Arabs. What I mean by elite Arabs are those who are looking to revisit a piece of their culture and can afford it at a hefty price — because most Arabs don’t want to pay an entry fee anywhere from $60 to $100+ U.S. dollars for something they’re familiar with but, a watered-down commercialized version of their cultural and religious practice. However, wealthy Americans yearn to experience this luxury “one of a kind” experience that is marketed to them as a traditional all-natural Moroccan Hammam or Turkish Bath, a concept they are most probably unfamiliar with but eager to try due to the marketing of it. Most Americans by nature are quickly influenced to spend their money on products or services that sell them “quick fixes” or anything with the phrases “all-natural”, “healing”, etc. The practice of hammams have countless real health benefits as it “stimulates circulation as well as detoxifies the body by sweating out impurities, ensuring a deep cleanse.” This is one of the main stances used to attract those looking for a rejuvenating spa-like deep cleansing experience with countless health benefits. For this reason, hammams are so easy to market in America because they can be commercialized so easily and promote these health benefits to a target market of individuals who would spend their money on these self-care services. Westernized hammams feed into the “self-care epidemic” as I like to consider it because Americans justify spending money on “self-care” to cope with their hectic lives thanks to the strong capitalistic values that reign over American society where work is glorified and rest is commercialized.
In America, as I described, hammams are sold as luxury ceremonial practices that heal the body and mind which is why they’re attractive to the wealthy consumer. These Americanized hammams are often exquisite bathhouses with high ceilings and hundreds of colors and designs, sculptures, wells, infinity pools, masseuses, etc — very different from their original counterparts. In Morocco, the hammams are often basic and very simple. This goes to show the outcome of the translation of these sacred practices ended up being to simply generate profit and it reflects the consumer culture that overpowers America and allows these hammams to have translated the way they did — as luxury commodities. Another feature of American hammams that reflects Western values of individualism is that they offer more privacy with raised beds for massages, for example, that allow for more personal space and appeal to visitors “who might be disturbed sharing floor space and rubbing elbows with other naked women.”
Overall, one of the main reasons why it’s so hard to exactly replicate the practice of hammams in America is due to a difference in values and their historic religious significance and strong ties to Islam that don’t translate well in the States, where there’s a clear divide between religion and government/society and less of an emphasis placed on spirituality unless its commercialized, and not from a religious standpoint — hence why they’re solely commercialized. Take the idea of the separation of genders and modesty — which is what hammams were built on (these islamic values) — the westernized hammams are often either co-ed or not as obscurely separated by gender as Moroccan hammams are and have no religious affiliation as a whole, which some may argue takes away from the ceremonies whole purpose. In Morocco, hammams are seen as ceremonial traditions to perform before prayer, after sexual intercourse, on wedding days, etc. which are all concepts that are ingrained in Islam (the idea of purification before monumental moments). Although the hammams are in place in America, these exact concepts are still hard to translate across borders that don’t value the same ideas or are not spiritual countries and societies. For example, Japanese Sentos are more similar to Arabian bathhouses but have Buddhist ideas and practices infused into them and hold significance in Japanese culture due to their religious and social importance which is not the case in America. Hammams in America have translated well but have failed to replicate the exact same purposes due to the differences in social, cultural and religious values between the Middle East and America.
Although public bathhouses and specifically hammams do exist in America, they serve a completely different purpose and are set up more like luxury spa experiences rather than their original intended purposes’, which reflect larger differences in Eastern and Western cultural values. Eastern cultures, including the Middle East and North Africa, place a strong emphasis on collectivism, community, and religion while Western cultures, including my home country America, place a stronger emphasis on individualism, luxury, and commercialization. Therefore, hammams, these places that are intended to be social and religious epicenters, are translated into luxury commercial service providers in America. This paints a larger picture of the globalization of culture as cultural objects (in this case hammams) lose some of their cultural meaning when they cross borders and although they seem to translate well they’re actually stripped of their significance. Can cultural objects translate directly and exactly across borders or is this not possible? I think that because cultural values drastically differ from country to country there can never be an exact translation of cultural objects because each country will contextualize objects based on the ideas and values that are present within their borders.
Ultimately, the globalization of culture forces us to see cultural objects from different lenses and different contexts. The translation of cultural objects allows them to be introduced to new cultures but sometimes it’s at the expense of the loss of their cultural significance.