You're reading: Cold swim to celebrate Epiphany, healthy lives

Denys Lisovyi, 27, has been practicing winter swimming for seven years. He tried it for the first time on Jan. 19, 2011, during Orthodox Christian celebrations of the Epiphany, or the baptism of Christ, but now he also sees it as an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.

Epiphany is an important Christian holiday, which is celebrated on Jan. 6 by Catholics and on Jan. 19 by Orthodox denominations. On this day, believers commemorate the baptism of Christ in the Jordan River.

According to the Eastern tradition, a priest baptizes an area of water, and then people plunge into it, be it a river, a lake or the sea. In Ukrainian, the religious holiday is known as Vodokhrescha, or “the Blessing of the Water.”

However, most Ukrainians, like Lisovyi, now mark the holiday rather as a healthy tradition than a way to express their religious beliefs.

“Overall I bathed three times on Jan. 19 – but it wasn’t because of religion, but rather a chance to see my friends,” Lisovyi told the Kyiv Post.

Tamara Shevchuk (second from right) and her friends stand on the bank of the Dnipro River in Kyiv's Hydropark after swimming in cold water on Jan. 19, 2015.

Tamara Shevchuk (second from right) and her friends stand on the bank of the Dnipro River in Kyiv’s Hydropark after swimming in cold water on Jan. 19, 2015. (Courtesy)

Tamara Shevchuk, a 22-year-old Kyiv resident, and her friends also share the tradition of bathing together outdoors on Epiphany.

Some six years ago she went to Odesa, a city on the Black Sea coast 500 kilometers south of Kyiv, in December, and tried winter swimming in the ice-cold Black Sea. She and her friends enjoyed it so much that back in Kyiv they decided to do it again on Epiphany.

“At first it feels quite scary – it feels like thousands of needles are being stuck into your legs. But after several seconds excitement wins and you’re ready to scream: ‘Yes, I’ve done it.’ This year we will definitely repeat it,” Shevchuk said.

Volodymyr Popov, 44, who lives near a beach in Odesa has been practicing winter swimming for seven years.

The lowest temperature of water that Popov has swum in is -0.5 degrees Celsius, when the Black Sea was starting to freeze. He says winter swimming gives people the chance to live the moment, as they start to feel every part of their body.

“I started to see it as a workout, and it immediately became a part of my daily routine,” Popov says. “Sometimes I can replace the winter swimming with a cold shower in the morning, but I never miss Jan. 19.”

Even though Popov thinks of winter swimming mostly as a sport, he still believes the feast day of Epiphany is “a special day.”

“This is when the water is full of energy,” he says.

For those daring to take the plunge into ice-cold water on Jan. 19, here are the top five places for winter swimming in Kyiv:

1. Hydropark, near the Chapel of the Lord’s Baptism
2. Obolonska embankment, near St. Pokrovsky Cathedral
3. Trukhaniv island, Central Beach near Pishohidnyi (Pedestrian) bridge
4. Pyrohiv outdoor Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine
5. X-Park in Druzhby Narodiv Park (near Moscowskyi Bridge)