Tricks People Used Throughout the Centuries to Protect Themselves From the Cold

Humans have always been inventive when it came to their survival. For example, a floor with heating was invented more than 7,000 years ago and now the Swedes are successfully using internet technologies to warm themselves up in their modern houses.

We at Bright Side decided to learn about what tricks people from different countries would use to keep themselves warm in cold weather and how effective those methods are.

China — many layers of clothing, windows facing south, and brick platform “kang”

There are many houses in China that lack central heating. Wealthy people get radiators and under-floor heating pipes installed. People from older generations and the ones who don’t have sufficient funds, keep themselves warm using the method “put on as many layers of clothing as possible.” They put on several jackets at once. Moreover, sometimes it is so cold indoors that they have to put on more clothes after returning from outside, not vice versa.

Here are other ways that the Chinese traditionally use to heat their shelters up:

• They build houses with windows and doors overlooking the south. At the same time, they place the house so that the sun doesn’t shine too much into the windows, but still to make sure it warms up.
• Even today, one can easily find brick platforms heated by fire — called Kang bed-stoves — in village houses. They are at least 6.5 feet long and sometimes they occupy the whole floor. Kang was more than just a stove for the Chinese — it was used as a table, a bed, and a chair. Wedding ceremonies as well as other rituals were held on Kangs covered with mats. In fact, Kang used to occupy the entire room as a heated floor and the Chinese would construct it even 7,000 years ago.

A woman sewing and sitting on a Kang

Japan — yutanpo, kairo, and kotatsu

There is still no central heating in Japan and the walls of their houses are as thin as paper. The insulation is also bad, that’s why cold comes from everywhere — from the windows, doors, and floors. The thing is, many houses there are built to be “disposable.” Their service life is 30 years, after which the houses are demolished and rebuilt. As a result, the rooms can be quite cold even in warm winters. But the inventive Japanese have found several ways to solve this problem:

• In order to warm themselves up at night, the Japanese wrap themselves in yutanpo. It’s actually just a heating pad or bottle that is filled with hot water. These heating pads are made of plastic, aluminum, and, less often, rubber. However, yutanpo has quite a few drawbacks: they only keep one part of the body warm, if you close the lid too tight or fill it with water that is too hot, you can wake up with burns on your skin.
• Also, the Japanese wear kairo — tiny warmers that look like pads with gel. If you shake it in your hands or wrinkle while moving the gel inside, it starts to generate heat. These bags can be put in shoes or in a pocket, while others, with Velcro, can be attached directly to clothes.
• And indeed, the kotatsu table also helps keep the Japanese warm — it’s actually just a blanket that is used to cover the table with a heater. But it becomes the center of the house during cold evenings where the whole family gathers to have a conversation, watch TV, or play games.

USA, Netherlands, and Northern Germany — foot stove

The foot stove was a wooden box that had a ceramic or metal bowl or pot with hot coals placed inside it. At the top of the box, there were holes through which warm air would come out. By putting your feet on top and covering the box with long clothes or a blanket, one could get really warm. In the 19th century, in the US, these “chairs” were often brought by people to sit on benches through long church services and not get cold.

Poor people traveling in carts or sleighs warmed themselves in their own way — they would carry heated bricks with them or use an iron or baked potato as a heating pad.

Israel — hot soup and checkered slippers

Israel is a warm country that’s why summer houses are mainly built there. As a result, it becomes really cold during those short winter periods — the floor tiles become icy, cold cement walls and drafty rooms take away all the warmth that could be inside. But in addition to heating radiators and air conditioners with a heating function, people have found a few more simple ways to keep warm in the cold season:

• They install wood, gas, or electric fireplaces and floor heating.
• They drink a lot of tea and don’t walk around their homes without warm socks or special checkered slippers.
• They enjoy hot chicken soup with vegetables and couscous.

Finland — from sauna to the energy of nature

Since ancient times, the Finns have been basking in saunas. Moreover, saunas were not just a place where one could wash — in winter, they served as a dwelling. The sauna was just a hole in the ground without any windows. Inside this hole, there was a pile of stones that was kept warm by burning large amounts of wood located under it. After 6–8 hours of warming up, the smoke was released through the hatch, and one could go in and enjoy the warmth.

Modern houses in Finland also have good warmth insulation and, oftentimes, they have triple or even quadruple or even quintuple glazing. Many houses are connected to a central heating system, however, 70% of new buildings represent small houses that are built using heat pumps that convert energy from external heat sources (water, air). They are small in size and don’t require fuel.

Great Britain and the US — from brass warmers to electric blankets

Fireplaces in movies are associated with coziness and warmth but, in reality, they were not that helpful at all: the biggest part of the heat left the house through the chimney. Even if a fire had been burning in the house all day long, the temperature in the room rarely rose above freezing, and the food would simply freeze. At the same time, there was normally one room that was heated and where all of the family members would gather, even in a big house. In order to not get cold while sleeping, the residents of Great Britain and the US used numerous tricks:

• People would go to bed wearing hats and woolen clothes upon which nightgowns were donned. They also had to cover themselves with several blankets at once.
• Beds were warmed up with the help of brass warmers that looked like big pans filled with hot or glowing coals and that were placed between linen sheets.
• Later they were replaced with rubber warmers that were filled with hot water. At the beginning of the 20th century, they were replaced with electric blankets. However, it was not safe to sleep under them up to the beginning of the 21st century — they could set fire as they didn’t switch off when overheated.

Sweden — warmth emitted by people and their internet activity

Most of Sweden has switched to environmentally-friendly home heating systems. In many houses here, they use geothermal heating utilizing the natural warmth of the earth that is responsible for the cozy atmosphere. However, it is quite expensive to install this system — it usually pays off after around 8 years. Other ways to get warm are no less interesting:

• Many Swedes install solar panels near their homes and thus provide themselves with almost free heat for life.
• All the photos and texts that we post on Instagram and Facebook, are stored on huge warehouses of servers. One of them, located in Stockholm, brings real benefits to its people — all the warmth that it creates is used for heating up the homes of the residents of this city.
• It was also declared that they are going to convert the warmth emitted by train passengers into the heating for the nearest office building. The excess heat would be removed through the ventilation system and warm up the water pipes that heat the offices.

How do you keep yourself warm in winter? Do you have favorite dishes and beverages that you save for especially cold evenings?