Crete tourist guide

Epiphany 2025

2025-01-06 19:40:39

Today, on January 6, Greece celebrates Epiphany, or the Feast of the Epiphany, which officially ends the Christmas holiday. Epiphany is mainly associated with the interesting custom of blessing water and the spectacular tradition of fishing out a cross. Of course, religious ceremonies are organized first on this holiday and only after they are over does a procession of the faithful and clergy march to a nearby body of water. And then the most interesting part of the ceremony begins, the blessing of the water. After reading a prayer from the liturgical book, the priest throws a cross into the water, and the brave ones who are not afraid of a cold bath jump in and try to fish it out. According to local beliefs, the lucky person who fishes out the cross receives a blessing and is to enjoy special prosperity throughout the year. It should come as no surprise that there is usually no shortage of people willing to take part in this spectacular competition.

In cities and towns located by the sea, the ceremony takes place on the coast. In small villages far from the sea or other bodies of water, a vessel of water placed in the church is simply blessed. In villages near which there are dams or other artificial reservoirs, the ceremony takes place there.

Today's sunny weather meant that a particularly large number of people turned up for the celebrations in the main cities of Crete, namely Heraklion and Chania. A particularly large group of people eager to fish out the cross showed up on the port quay in the capital of Crete. The daredevils were assisted not only by the spectators who gathered in large numbers on the quay, but also by people on the boats who surrounded the swimmers with a cordon. Interestingly, this year three swimmers grabbed the cross at the same time, two men and one woman.

A similar atmosphere prevailed in the city of Chania, where spectators gathered on the coast of the Venetian Harbour watched daredevils diving in search of the cross. This year, in addition to the Chanians, three teenagers from Uruguay, who are currently on holiday in Crete, also tried their luck in catching the cross.

In the famous mountain village of Anogia, the ceremony of blessing water was organized at the Gonomio water dam. Although this reservoir was built in 2000, this was the first time that the Epiphany ceremony was organized here. It is located at an altitude of 900 m above sea level and is fed by springs located in the mountains. In Anogia, however, there were not many people willing to enter the water, which is too cold for the locals at this time of year. Only one resident of Anogia rushed to the cross.

What Epiphany Traditionally Looks Like

The Epiphany holiday was established in memory of the baptism of Jesus on the Jordan River, which is why the name Baptism of the Lord is also used in reference to this holiday. In the Greek Orthodox Church, as we described above, it is celebrated in a rather special way. Of course, the form of rites and customs accompanying the main religious festivities may be slightly different depending on the region of Greece. The festive atmosphere prevails the day before, on January 5. On this day, the faithful go to church, fasting dishes appear on the tables, and the priest visits the houses (and not only them) to bless them. On January 6, the faithful first gather in churches for the Divine Liturgies, and only then the solemn procession of the faithful and priests goes to the sea or another available body of water, where the above-described blessing of water takes place.

Gosia,  2025-01-06 19:40:39

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