You're missing a major key factor here.
Humans didn't live only the tropics.
Native Americans bathed all year round & had hygiene protocols as well as fishing & other things that forced them into the water.
They lived all up and down this country with access to rivers, creeks, lakes, all which have a temperature below 57 & colder throughout the year.
In terms of survival, you'd want to train your body to enter cold water in case you ever fell in by accident for example.
The #1 cause of death in cold water isn't frost bite - it's loss of breath & the ability to recapture it.
No recapture= loss of control = ded
There we go - this is what I am looking for! Is it just done for infants, and to what purpose?
One Spanish chronicler said bathing was “as common and frequent as eating” among the native Americans. Mostly this was done in rivers and lakes, but Mesoamericans also developed a highly sophisticated bathing house, which used steam, cool water, natural soaps, and plant scrubbers to keep themselves clean.
That's interesting. I wasn't confining this to water, as I see cryo-chambers as the same thing in modern times. Are you sure about that, though? It wouldn't be frostbite, but I would think hypothermia or exhaustion would ultimately claim more lives, if we are including prolonged cold water deaths.
Here's a personal experience. As a boy, maybe 6 yrs old, I was running on the docks, tripped and fell in the water. I was in a life jacket - we always had to wear them outside of the house, for reasons exactly like this. There was some skim ice on the water, so it was plenty cold.
My parents were up at the house, but luckily heard my shouts or something and were able to find me and pull me out. Some hot cocoa and all was well, but I'm sure I gave them a horrible scare. I've actually experienced this in nightmares with my own children drowning and me not able to save them.
I live near rivers that people die in every year, because they think they can swim across them, but the spring snow melt runoff in the rivers is so cold that it exhausts them before they make it across.
As a survival skill, I'm not convinced cold plunging would be high on the list, compared to avoiding situations where an accidental exposure would happen, or being prepared with flotation or other safeguards.
I'm not missing that point at all. I started by stating it, amd referenced Inuit earlier.
Did native americans bathe year round as a form of hygiene? I don't know if this is true or not. I'm not willing to assume it. That is still different from experiencing less than 57 degree water for wellness or mental clarity. Exposure to cold temps for fishing or other food gathering also isn't the same as doing it optionally for wellness.
Exposure to heat through sweat lodges and various ceremonies was done for wellness. That is clear. Not all cultures, perhaps, but enough. Not seeing evidence of cold ceremonies.
the bulgarians and several other slavic cultures (could even be almost universal Orthodox) have an event every year where a bunch of young men dive into a river in the middle of winter to retrieve a crucifix i believe
to some extent, i think that baptism comes close to having some strong reference to cold rituals, and the implication of "waking you up" is definitely strong in the meme of baptism altogether IMO
also, yes, you ask the slavs about it and it isn't just this one religious related ritual, cold shock therapy is done for wellness in many of the cultures, that is just the most visible one you can easily find reference to
the ceremony usually makes an appearance on the TV news every year in serbia and bulgaria at least
