Greeks have celebrated Epiphany with blessing of the waters ceremonies across the country.

Good weather helped bring out the crowds for the outdoor celebrations, with swimmers competing against each other to grasp a floating cross thrown by priests into seas, rivers or lakes. Retrieving the cross is believed to confer special blessing upon the person who retrieves it.

In the port of Piraeus, a cross is traditionally thrown three times, to accommodate the throngs of swimmers.

Attending the ceremonies at Hadrian’s Aqueduct in Athens, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that Greece draws strength and hope from the celebration of the Epiphany.

“The message of the Epiphany is, at its core, one of optimism, hope and self-confidence. And, indeed, Greece today is a beacon of stability in an unstable world and a country that, despite difficulties, is paving the way for progress in a more general environment of stagnation,” he said.

President Katerina Sakellaropoulou was at Lake Doiran in Kilkis for the celebration.

PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis was at the Phanar in Istanbul, while SYRIZA chief Socrates Famellos attend the ceremony in Piraeus.

Source: Ekathimerini.com