Question for people living outside Finland:

See the picture in link. This is a public place to wash your mats/rugs/carpets.

Do you have such places in your country? If yes, tell your country in comments.

http://www.vuolenkoski.com/!file/!id955/!ver2/!hist0/maxw=684/files/image/IMG_1563.JPG

So the short and simple history of rug washing places in Finland is such that it was customary to wash all textiles in natural waters, but as washing machines got common this changed so that only rugs and heavy textiles were washed there any more.

This habit has persisted even for modern day, but as it was found out that washing rugs was not good for lakes, rivers and the sea, these plumbed washing stands were built in the original washing places so that the tradition can carry on safely.

@Stoori not sure whether it can be called "such places" but in Russia we have laundry washing places in some cities (not just for rugs but for laundry), local governments even have a special expenditure line for cracking the ice there during the winter. Of course it's not a fancy station like on the photo, it's just a large hole in the river ice.
This habit has persisted even for modern day because a lot of people there don't have running water at their homes.