akzent

http://videos.oneindia.in/watch/4655...ng-hockey.html

Wrestling_Prodigy

lolz.. Looks a little silly to me.

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akzent

Main thing – the guys have fun.

If you don't like it, I have another special wrestling competition for you – wrestling in the water for a cross (and money).

Today, Jan 6, the Church celebrates Epiphany. Note that on this day the Eastern Orthodox Churches commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River (that is why the feast is called also Jordan Day), not the visitation of the Magi to the child Jesus as in the “Western” churches.

In the Eastern Orthodox countries on the Balkan (Greece, Bulgaria and partly Romania), there is an old competitive ritual associated with the idea of Holy Waters.

After the morning church service, there is a procession from the church to the biggest water thing in the particular city/village – a river, a lake or the sea. From the bank/shore or from a bridge, a priest throws a cross in the water. Then young men jump in the water and compete (often wrestling each other) to reach the cross (when it is wooden) or find it (when it is silver) on the bottom and take it out from the water. Then the winner gives it back to the priest and the priest and the mayor pay him for “having saved the cross” (in the language of the church). This is one of the rare cases when the Church has to pay for something.

Some pics from Bulgaria:









Also Serbians and Macedonians have this ritual competition. Since they follow the old Julian calendar which has a delay of 13 days (today they have the Christmas Eve), they will celebrate Epiphany on Jan 19. So you have enough time to buy a ticket to Belgrade or Skopje and jump in the water to wrestle with the locals for the cross. (Don't buy tickets to other Eastern Orthodox countries like Russia, Ukraine, Georgia... They don't have this ritual. Only on the Balkans!)

akzent

The pictures I posted above were from past year.

From today's coverage:

Lake in Sofia, Bulgaria:







The winner in Thessaloniki, Greece, Aegean Sea



The winner (back left) at Bosphoros in Istanbul (Greek-Orthodox community)

the518

i wonder how many people he inflicted blunt force trauma upon with that cross before everyone just let him have it. there wasn't a girl in sight to witness your retreat, so why get hit in the head again for a silly cross?

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but then again, i may be retarded

akzent

You cannot see any girls in the pics only because they (like all other spectators) stay on the shore/bank.
But sometimes even girls participate (breaking the tradition) as in this Bulgarian town at the Black Sea:

ODH

Looks to me to be in the same spirit as the basketball games my wrestling team used to have before practice.