Epiphany is one of the main Orthodox holidays celebrated across Russia on January 19. The weather during this time of the year is usually very harsh, but according to tradition, the night before the Epiphany and during the entire day people dive into an ice hole called that is usually made in the form of the Holy Cross. Russians dive in the water 3 times as they believe that the water is holy this day and it washes all their sins away.
📍 FULL VIDEO : [ Ссылка ] - Experiencing snowstorm & traditional epiphany bathing in the Extreme North of Russia
I dived in the village Oymyakon. Oymyakon (Оймякон) is a rural locality in Oymyakonsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located in the Yana-Oymyakon Highlands, along the Indigirka River, 30 km northwest of Tomtor on the Kolyma Highway. By winter average temperatures, it is the coldest permanently inhabited settlement on Earth. It is named after the Oymyakon River, whose name reportedly comes from the Even word kheium, meaning "unfrozen water; place where fish spend the winter".
