January 19, Epiphany in Sochi

Last night in Sochi, the beaches were full of bathers at midnight, despite the cold and damp evening.  The occasion was the celebration of Epiphany, which is celebrated in the Orthodox Christian Church as the day that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River and one of only two times when all three Persons of the Holy Trinity manifested themselves to humanity.  In colder areas of Russia, those observing will cut a hole in the ice (often in the shape of a cross) and immerse themselves in the water, sometimes 3 times.  In Sochi, thousands of people come to the beaches and plunged into the Black Sea at midnight.  Last night, I was there for a brief and chilly swim.  The water temperature was about +8 to 10 Celsius ( 46- 50 Fahrenheit).