Greetings from the hinterlands! Winter has finally arrived, and it’s in fine form, dumping snow on my little town and temperatures hover around 20 degrees, dipping into the single digits every three days or so. While it is admittedly beautiful, it is also, without a doubt, cold. Not Siberia-cold, mind you, but brr-inducing nonetheless.
The first brave soul got a running start. Pretty impressive for a 60+, pot-bellied, chain-smoking gentleman.
None of this would be particularly remarkable, except for the fact that one of the (in my opinion) strangest holiday traditions occurs every year in Ukraine on January 19th (for those keeping score, that would be yesterday.) Now, the 19th of January, in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, is the Feast of Epiphany. This is the last of the Christmas season holidays in Ukraine (of which there are many), and is by far the most bizarre in one respect.
The Feast of Epiphany is a religious holiday, and there are church services the night before, and on the day of, the 19th. Basically, this is what it’s all about: “The feast commemorates the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River during which Christ declared Himself as the Messiah and Savior.”
the local swimming hole
Okay, fair enough. Typically on this holiday, the faithful take water to church to have it consecrated by a priest. The very faithful (or exceptionally strong-willed?) take it one step further, immersing themselves in the freezing waters of a lake or river in the middle of the night. Doing so is supposed to bring one boundless luck for the rest of the year.
Now, I will say up front, I did not participate in any midnight immersion in freezing water, in temperatures well below freezing. However, I was asked, by the local karate club to attend their heroic cold-water efforts, and to “make photographs.” of the participants. As many of the karate kids are students of mine, I readily agreed.
The karate kids warming up.
Following school, we assembled near the local sports school (which is the target of an upcoming grant/fundraising project of mine – but more on that in a few weeks!). The mood was boisterous and anticipatory. The instructor of the school (who I’ve collaborated with in the past, organizing different sporting events), greeted me, and my students beamed at me. After everyone had assembled, we headed out – convoy style – to the local swimming hole.
The instructor drilled his students over what they had to do, and the order in which they would get into the cold water. Then they did some karate drills to warm-up and get themselves into the proper mindset.
Then, it was time for the big dunk.
I think the pictures speak for themselves.
Enjoy! 
Everybody in!
....yep. Cold. Just as I suspected.
