Here it is, the blog post you've been waiting for! Yes, it's that time of year again. Time to shed all fears about the cold, having wet hair outside, catching pneumonia and dive in to the frozen Ishim River. Yes folks, I'm talking about Kreshenya. Loyal readers (all 3 of you) may remember a post from last January about some crazy volunteers and local folks who jumped in the river in -30 degree weather. Around these parts, that day is known as Kreshenya. It's a religious holiday for those in the Russian Orthodox faith and is supposed to act as a "re-baptism". Believers do it once a year on January 19th. The water is believed to be holy on this day and folks who don't take the plunge take some water to keep in their homes for the year. They use it to calm crying babies, ward away sickness, etc.
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| The frozen Ishim River on Kreshenya. |
A lot of local people who are not of this faith also participate in the festivities because people do believe that dipping in the river keeps you healthy for one year. In past years, volunteers have invited other volunteers from around Kazakhstan to participate in the fun. I did the same, and found 8 brave souls willing to make the trek up to Petropavlovsk. They helped out at my orphanage and did teacher trainings so that their time up here would also be work related. My students really enjoyed having them around and I'll post soon about that.
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Waling single file on our short detour to the river.
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We gathered at around 11 AM to get the bus out to the river. Some miscommunication with the conductor meant we got out about 2 stops to early. No worries, we just added another 10-15 minutes to our journey in some pretty cold weather. On the bright-side, my friends got to see a little more of my city. We got a few stares from the locals. It's not everyday that a giant group of Americans comes traipsing through your neighborhood.
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| Waiting my turn to get some water. |
We arrived at the river, and I was surprised to see a large number of people there. Last year is was probably -35C or more. This year it was closer to -27C/-16F, and so more people came to participate. My counterpart from the orphanage had to work and couldn't make it to the river. She asked me to bring her some water, which was our first order of business.
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Getting the water with bare hands.
Makes you think twice about jumping in! |
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| My Russian tutor Lena, and me. |
Once we had the water it was time to do the dip. About 10 of us were dipping so we decided to go in shifts. We needed to be quick bcause we knew once people had dipped they would want to get out of there quicly and go to the banya (kind of like a sauna). I kind of handn't decided if I would really do this, so I was able to procrastinate a little more when I scored a spot in the second shift.
I prepared myself for the worst, and thought I would feel like dying when I got out of the water, so I was pleasantly surprised that this experience wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My fingers and toes were not happy with me, but other than that, it wasn't that bad. I was glad I participated, as this was my last opportunity to do so. It was nice to share this experience with some equally crazy volunteers. So, enjoy these frozen photos and leave some comments. If this post doesn't generate some comments, I don't know what will!
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| This guy makes it look easy. |
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| Waiting my turn... |
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| Testing the waters... |
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| Are we having fun yet? |
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| Afterward, my feet wouldn't work. I needed help to put my flip flops on! |
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| After the dip, some really cold volunteers got on the marshrutka and headed straight for the sauna! The look on Hannah's face (on the right) says it all! |
