TO SPA OR NOT TO SPA, THAT IS THE QUESTION?
The term is derived from the name of the town Spa in Belgium, whose name is known back to Roman times, when the location was called Aquae Spadanae, which related to the Latin word “spargere” meaning to scatter, sprinkle or moisten.
In the 16th.Century in England, the old Roman ideas of medicinal bathing were revived at towns like Bath and later in the seaside town of Scarborough where the first rolling bathing machines for bathers were recorded on the sands in 1735.
No Itsy, bitsy, teeny, weenie, polka dot bikinis in those days sisters, you were clad in what resembled a badly cut overcoat, going all the way from the neck to the ankle and then wheeled into the water in something resembling a gypsies caravan so that you could immerse yourself and your laundry in the freezing surf without the prying eyes of the donkeys on the beach.
Have Pity on the amorous men folk prior to the 17th.century when most of the upper-class Europeans often washed their clothes in water but only washed their faces with moist linen cloths as the feeling among the aristocracy was that bathing the entire body was a lower class activity and should be avoided. It wasn’t until 1702, when Queen Anne of England travelled to Bath, the former Roman development, to bathe that getting the kit off became more ritual.
However like all things fashionable, the wealthy and famous soon began arriving on a seasonal basis to bathe and drink the water (Yuk!!).
That of course led to a spin off in the local economies as the ladies liked to do then what they still like to do to-day; Shop.
Concerts were held, coffee-houses opened and I suppose the men began opening Pubs and devising ways of enjoying themselves as they tried to come to terms with the idea that the woman they admired no longer had the odour of a skunk.
So next time you are sitting in the hydro-whatever pool with the bubbles going every where they shouldn’t, spare a thought for your cousins of old, who took a bath once a year whether they needed it or not.