Greeks celebrate Epiphany with blessings of the water after 2 years of COVID restrictions
Fox News
Greeks celebrated the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, after two years of COVID-19 restrictions. The celebrations included blessings of the water ceremonies.
Unseasonably warm weather helped bring out the crowds for the outdoor celebrations, with swimmers competing against each other to grasp a floating cross thrown by priests into seas, rivers or lakes. Retrieving the cross is believed to confer special blessing upon the person who retrieves it.
In 2021, celebrations had been severely affected by the restrictions imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic; last year, celebrations had been canceled or scaled back in many parts of Greece as the country struggled with a huge surge in COVID-19 infections.
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