Soaking

Over the summer, I worked with one of my students on a project to locate any signs of physical therapies (massage and manipulation, remedial gymnastics, electrotherapy, and hydrotherapy) in New Zealand during the 19th century.  Although physical therapies were hugely popular in Europe and North America at the time, they appear to have been almost unused in New Zealand, which is surprising since the indigenous Māori population were known to use massage (mirimiri) and hot spring water for treatment, and the early settlers would have known and practiced these therapies too.  It seems that New Zealand was much like a frontier settlement before 1900, with most people working in farming, gold mining and timber milling.  If you go injured, you just go on with it; there was no public health system, no accident compensation, and very few therapists.

The spas that New Zealand is famous for only really began in 1903 when the railways connected the major towns, so before then they were very much small scale, local industries.  But in honour of the sheer beauty and luxuriance of the spa, here is a video from Aeon to relax you in time for the weekend.

http://aeon.co/video/culture/soak-on-sensuous-pleasures-and-amusing-rituals-of-hot-springs