Not being familiar with the reason for Epiphany, I looked it up. Epiphany is the day that the three kings visited the baby Jesus. It is also the day that St. John the Baptist baptized Jesus.
The celebration was set to begin at noon. Dan and I arrived at the river a little past 11 a.m. and the river was already lined with spectators. Beautiful orthodox a cappella voices accompanied us as we found our way down to the river. Next the head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia HH Stefan performed the Blessing of Water, dipping the Holy Cross and blessing the water of the river Vardar. He did this ceremony from a bridge over the Vardar. Then, HH Stefan tossed a wooden cross into the River Vardar, and 127 “believers” ran into the river to retrieve the cross.
The winning “believer” was a second time winner. We were told that the one who catches the cross will enjoy happiness, health and good luck all year long. The winner also received a laptop from the Prime Minister, an icon from the Mayor of the center of Skopje, and a golden coin from the Mayor of greater Skopje. This year’s Blessing of the River marked the first ever woman participant running into the river.
After the cross is tossed into the river, the river water is blessed and becomes holy. When the cross was retrieved, various spectators began filling bottles with river water to take back to their homes (hopefully not to drink).
One of the emergency divers considerately filled bottles for some spectators. Note the ring of ice above the river level.
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