Today is one more religious Holiday in Ukraine. Usually it is a very cold day and it`s not a simple coincidence – on 19th of January there is a feast of Blessing Water and some really encouraged people try to plunge into the water which could heal from all the diseases.
Epiphany – is a religious feast on January 19th, popularly called Vodokhreshche (Blessing of Water) or Yordan (Jordan River), which completes the winter festivities cycle in Ukraine. The principal ceremony of Epiphany traditionally consisted of the solemn outdoor blessing of waters, usually at a river or at a well, where a cross was erected out of blocks of ice (nowadays water is usually blessed inside the church).
A procession was led to the place of ceremony. After the blessing of the water, everyone present drank the water and also took some home to be kept there for a whole year.
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