Sofia, Bulgaria/Athens, Greece
AP
Thousands of young men are plunging into rivers and lakes across Bulgaria to retrieve crucifixes, in an old ritual marking the feast of Epiphany.
By tradition, a crucifix is cast into the waters of a lake or river, and it is believed that the person who retrieves it will be freed from evil spirits and will be healthy through the year.
A young boy touches the holy cross during celebrations in the cold Tundzha River in the town of Kalofer, on Friday, 6th January, 2023. The legend goes that the person who retrieves the wooden cross will be freed from evil spirits and will be healthy throughout the year. After the cross is fished out, the priest delivers a special blessing to that man and his household. In the small mountain city of Kalofer in central Bulgaria the ritual lasts longer, as nearly a hundred men dressed in traditional white embroidered shirts wade into the Tundzha River to perform a slow men’s dance. PICTURE: AP Photo/Alexander Nikolov).
After the cross is fished out, the priest sprinkles believers with water using a bunch of basil.
The celebration of Epiphany, or the Apparition of Christ, as Bulgarians call it, began on Friday in Sofia with a water blessing ceremony.
Senior clergymen of Bulgaria’s Orthodox church said prayers for the prosperity of the people and blessed the colours of representative army units in a tradition that was abandoned in 1946 but re-established following the fall of communism in 1992.
In the small mountain city of Kalofer in central Bulgaria, people stick to a century-old unique ritual, as nearly dozens of men dressed in traditional white embroidered shirts wade into the Tundzha River to perform a slow “mazhko horo,” or men’s dance.
Led by the town’s mayor and inspired by bass drums and bagpipes, the men dance for nearly half an hour, holding each other by the shoulders and stomping on the rocky riverbed up to their waists in the cold water.
Despite the unusual spring-like weather which damped down the thrill of dancing among ice chunks in the river, the men did not skip the usual preparations, which kick off the previous night as they warm up in the city tavern with local red wine.
Men play bagpipes and drums as they form a procession into the cold Tundzha River to celebrate Epiphany in the town of Kalofer, on Friday, 6th January, 2023. PICTURE: AP Photo/Alexander Nikolov
Epiphany marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas, but not all Orthodox Christian churches celebrate it on the same day.
While the Orthodox Christian churches in Greece, Bulgaria and Romania celebrate the feast on 6th January, Orthodox Churches in Russia, Ukraine and Serbia follow the Julian calendar, according to which Epiphany is celebrated on 19th January, as their Christmas falls on 7th January.
Some Western Christian churches celebrate the religious holiday of Epiphany as Three Kings Day, which marks the visit of the Magi, or three wise men, to the baby Jesus, and closes out the Christmas season.
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In Greece, where the holiday is known as Three Kings Day for Catholics and the Baptism of Christ for the Orthodox, unseasonably warm weather helped bring out the crowds for the outdoor celebrations, with swimmers competing against each other to grasp a floating cross thrown by priests into seas, rivers or lakes. Retrieving the cross is believed to confer special blessing upon the person who retrieves it.
In 2021, celebrations had been severely affected by the restrictions imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic; last year, celebrations had been cancelled or scaled back in many parts of Greece as the country struggled with a huge surge in COVID-19 infections.
In the port of Piraeus, a cross is traditionally thrown three times, to accommodate the throngs of swimmers.
In Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, the man who retrieved the cross told media that he had been trying to do so since 1996, missing only two occasions.
