Winter Bathing 2012

Yesterday, January 19th. was Водохрещеня (Vodochreschenia) or Jordan and the feast of the Epithany. On this day the waters are blessed and the people believe that the waters are suppose to have curitive powers. This belief is supported by many scholars who claim that the water somehow changes and takes on magical qualities. In the morning we went to church where water was blessed by the priests. This water was than taken home where it is drunk and the people bathed in it in the belief that their ills would be washed away.  



These magical properties in the waters are 

in the mt's

acquired in many different ways.


in a mountain stream 






getting ready for the dip



dunkin

  

thank God I did it!



Around the country many people went so far as to jumping into the cold water of the rivers and ponds and submersing themselves to get the full effects of the waters powers, but only for a few seconds as the air temp was only around +3. although that didn't seem to bother the bathers as much as it did the bystanders.



In the river Prut



refreshing







it isn't that cold, really!



This day marked the end of the winter holidays which began a month earlier with the coming of

St. Mikolai on Dec. 19th. bringing gifts to all the good kids.