Covid-19 has also folded the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who for the first time gave up the traditional ice cream bath for the celebrations of ‘Kreshenie’, the Orthodox Epiphany. “This year, the president preferred to listen to the recommendations of the representatives of the Church, against the background of the conditions of the pandemic, and not immerse himself in the baptismal font,” explained the spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov, speaking to the press.
Despite warnings from health and religious authorities related to the coronavirus pandemic, Putin last year he had however immersed himself in the traditional cross-shaped hole taken in the icy waters and his photos, shirtless in the cold, had as always been around the world.
For the Orthodox Church – which follows the Julian calendar “delayed” by 13 days compared to the Gregorian one followed by Catholics – the baptism of Jesus is remembered on 19 January. Putin, an officially practicing Christian, bathes in ‘Kreshenie’ every year , after attending the Mass of the Epiphany, one of the most important holidays of the Orthodox Church. Tradition has it that, on this day, the waters of rivers and lakes are blessed and sanctified.
In the past, the faithful made a large hole in the ice, called the “Jordanian”, from the river where Jesus was baptized; around this hole, a procession with a cross was held. It was thought that the water of the “Jordan” had healing powers and repelled evils and from here the Russians continue to observe this tradition, even if it is not required by the Church itself.