Orthodox Christians in Russia and across eastern Europe and central Asia have braved sub-zero temperatures as they plunged into icy water to celebrate the Epiphany. As the air temperatures dropped as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit), believers immersed themselves in special cross-shaped holes cut into thick ice covering rivers and lakes to commemorate the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River.
A young man takes a dip in the freezing waters of Lake Buzim near the village of Sukhobuzimskoye north of Krasnoyarsk, RussiaIlya Naymushin/Reuters
Orthodox Christians who use the Julian Calendar [including Russians, Ukrainians, Serbians, Georgians, Copts, Ethiopians and Palestinians] celebrate Epiphany on 19 January, nearly two weeks after it is celebrated by Christians in the rest of the world.
Many Russian Orthodox Christians believe that bathing on the Epiphany symbolically washes away their sins. In Orthodox tradition, water blessed by a priest during Epiphany week is considered holy and pure, and believers attribute healing powers to it. However, others take the plunge simply because they believe a dip in the cold water is good for their health.
A man swims in the icy waters of a river during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday near the village of Baytik, some 15 km of Bishkek, KyrgyzstanVyacheslav Oseledko/AFPA girl reacts as she plunges in a river during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday near the village of Baytik, KyrgyzstanVyacheslav Oseledko/AFPAn Orthodox believer plunges into the icy waters of a pond during the celebration of the Epiphany in MoscowAlexander Nemenov/AFPA man reacts as he plunges into Lake Buzim, near the village of Sukhobuzimskoye north of Krasnoyarsk, RussiaIlya Naymushin/ReutersA Russian Orthodox priest plunges into the icy waters of a lake during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday in the village of Orlino, some 80 km of Saint PetersburgOlga Maltseva/AFPA man dives into a cross-shaped hole cut into a frozen pond in the village of Ivankovychi, UkraineGleb Garanich/ReutersCossacks help a woman to bathe in the icy waters of a river near the village of Baytik, some 15 km of Bishkek, KyrgyzstanVyacheslav Oseledko/AFPA man takes a dip in icy water during Orthodox Epiphany celebrations in the village of Ivankovychi, UkraineGleb Garanich/ReutersA youth crosses himself as he plunges in icy water during Orthodox Epiphany celebrations in Kiev, UkraineValentyn Ogirenko/ReutersA man kisses a cross after taking a dip in icy water in the village of Ivankovychi, UkraineGleb Garanich/ReutersA priest helps a boy to take a dip in the freezing waters of Lake Buzim with the air temperature at about minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit)Ilya Naymushin/ReutersMen prepare to dive into the River Drina to try retrieve a cross from the water during Epiphany Day celebrations in Visegrad, Bosnia and HerzegovinaDado Ruvic/ReutersMen swim to retrieve a cross from the water during Epiphany Day celebrations in Visegrad, Bosnia and HerzegovinaDado Ruvic/ReutersPeople swim to retrieve a wooden cross from the Moraca river during Epiphany Day celebrations in Podgorica, MontenegroStevo Vasiljevic/ReutersDaniel Doncevski retrieves a cross from the freezing waters of the river Vardar during the traditional holiday of Vodici (Epiphany) in Skopje. MacedoniaRobert Atanasovski/AFPDaniel Doncevski triumphantly shows the cross he retrieved from the freezing waters of the Vardar River in Skopje, MacedoniaRobert Atanasovski/AFPMileta Pitulic holds a wooden cross after retrieving it from the cold waters of the Gazivoda lake near the town of Zubin Potok in northern Mitrovica, KosovoArmend Nimani/AFPGeorgian Patriarch Ilia II blesses water during Orthodox Epiphany service in Tbilisi, GeorgiaDavid Mdzinarishvili/ReutersA believer fills a bottle with holy water during Orthodox Epiphany service in Tbilisi, GeorgiaDavid Mdzinarishvili/ReutersWomen get out of a cross-shaped hole cut into the ice over a lake in Kiev, UkraineValentyn Ogirenko/ReutersA man runs after plunging into an ice hole cut into a frozen lake in Minsk, BelarusVasily Fedosenko/ReutersOrthodox believers queue to plunges into a partly frozen pond during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday in KievSergei Supinksy/AFPA woman plunges in the icy waters of a pond in Kiev, UkraineSergei Supinksy/AFPA goose attacks an Orthodox believer as he leaves an iced-over pond in Kiev, UkraineSergei Supinksy/AFPA woman takes a picture of a man taking a dip in an iced-over pond in Izmailovo in MoscowMladen Antonov/AFPAn Orthodox believer enters the icy waters of a pond during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday in Izmailovo in MoscowMladen Antonov/AFPA man reacts as he plunges in the icy waters of a pond in Izmailovo in MoscowMladen Antonov/AFPA woman takes a selfie after she plunged into an icy pond in KievSergei Supinksy/AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin stripped down to his bathing trunks and immersed himself in the frozen Lake Seliger, about 400 km (250 miles) north of Moscow. Air temperatures at the time were around six degrees Celsius below zero (21 degrees Fahrenheit). Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the president had dipped in icy waters on the Epiphany before, but this was the first time he's done so in public.
