Bastu, which I just realised must be an abbriviation of "badstuga" (bathing house), is the swedish name for what the finns call sauna. Finns aren't the only ones who have this fine tradition, you know.
In a bastu you can do many things. Decide stuff for instance. In a northen city town of Sweden the female politicians have accused the male poleticians of discussing and deciding everything in the bastu, which shut the women out since you usually have a seperate bastu for men and women. The last time I was in the bastu I discussed litterature (The good soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek) with a norwegian. Most of the time, however, you just drink beer and sweat.