Kapa’s Blog

7th January, in the Greek Orthodox religion, this day is the celebration of “John the Baptist” (happy name day to me). Today was also the day that the “Blessing of the Water” was performed.

For those not familiar, it is where a service is held on the edge of the water, and at the time the water is blessed, a Cross is tossed into the water. This is the signal for males to jump into the water and be the first to attempt to retrieve the Cross.

In Sydney, the service is held at Yarra Bay, La-Perouse. It’s a great day which is celebrated as a festival with music, food & a great day out.

Those wishing to participate in retrieving the cross, swim out to a pontoon after registering for the event.

A fleet of boats were anchored nearby to witness the event from the water, some sporting the traditional Greek colours.

Waiting on the pontoon for the signal to begin.

They’re off

The victorious winner, by at least 4 lengths.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 7th, 2007 at 7:00 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.