Winter Swimming in Russia – Russian Lesson
Learn Russian with Russian from Russia! These are stories about Russian customs and traditions, history and other things that are well-known to most people in Russia.
Winter swimming in Russia is a part of the Russian celebration of Epiphany (January 19th). It is a very famous Russian tradition.
In Russian, it is called крещенское купанье. On this day, some people in Russia bathe in ice holes. They bathe in ice-cold water, despite the cold.
The priests sanctify the water in the rivers, in the lakes, and people believe that such water, the holy water, brings health: the health of the body and the health of the soul.
Прорубь – it is a hole, a special hole which is made in the ice. People cut through the ice,
in order to take water or to swim. When a man gets into the water and dips himself, we say ‘он окунается’.
What do you think about this tradition? Would you ever try it?
If you would like to further improve your knowledge, you can check my audio podcast Russian Verbs from Russia about verb differences or my other video lessons on Youtube channel Russian from Russia.
