Orthodox christian epiphany celebrations

Russian Orthodox Christians wait to jump into icy waters as part of the Epiphany holiday celebrations for the rich, at an elite Moscow country club
Photograph: Michael Eckels/AFP/Getty Images

Scantily-clad Orthodox Christians brave freezing temperatures to immerse themselves in ice holes in rivers and lakes to celebrate the religious holiday
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A Russian believer plunges himself into the freezing waters of an ice hole in the shape of a crucifix
Photograph: Dima Korotayev/AFP/Getty Images

A man prepares to dip in the icy waters of the Ob River in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, with the air temperature at about -30C
Photograph: Alexei Yefimov/Reuters

Orthodox Ukrainian priests throw a cross into the icy waters of the Dnieper river in Kiev, to consecrate it, during Epiphany celebrations
Photograph: Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images

The Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko, takes a bath in the cold water during the celebrations in Kiev
Photograph: Nikolay Lazarenko/EPA

Jovan Didier, 44, lifts up a wooden crucifix, after being the first to reach the cross in a traditional race on the Danube river in Belgrade, Serbia
Photograph: Marko Drobnjakovic/AP

A Russian man takes an icy bath in the Moskva river. People believe that dipping into blessed waters during the holiday strengthens their spirit and body
Photograph: Yuri Kochetkov/EPA

A Russian Orthodox believer swims in the ice hole made in the form of a cross in a lake near Valdai-Iverskiy monastery in Valdai
Photograph: Dmitry Lovetsky/AP

Orthodox Ukrainian believers dunk themselves into the icy waters of the Dnieper river in Kiev. For Christians, the Epiphany celebrates the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist in the river Jordan
Photograph: Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images

Braving temperatures of -10C, thousands queued overnight in Kiev to dunk themselves into a hole in the ice and rise again in a ritual symbolising rebirth, to mark the Orthodox Epiphany
Photograph: AP

A boy bathes in an ice hole of the Dnieper river in Vyshgorod, near Kiev, Ukraine
Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images

An Orthodox priest with icy beard and eyebrows attends Epiphany celebrations on the banks of the Dnieper river, in Vyshgorod
Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images

A man dips into the icy waters of the Moskva river in Moscow during the celebrations
Photograph: Alexander Natruskin/Reuters

An orthodox priest pours freezing river water over a girl during an Epiphany ceremony at the Kara Balta river, near the village of Sosnovka, near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Photograph: Igor Kovalenko/EPA