Kostroma: Epiphany

Kostroma, Russia, 2007.

Epiphany is a winter church feast with its own distinct Russian features: through ice holes cut in the frozen surface, rivers and bodies of water are blessed in memory of Christ’s baptism in the River Jordan. After this, traditional public bathing takes place in these openings, often in frost and wind. This part of the tradition only indirectly recalls baptism in rivers, but in essence originates from the Soviet era—“winter swimming,” the immersion and swimming in icy water. And while hardening practices had a therapeutic nature and involved serious preparation, contemporary Epiphany bathing is spontaneous; sometimes people come intoxicated, and the majority are not practicing Christians at all.

This is one of the most kitsch subjects for photographers, which is why my aim was not the ritual itself, but the urban context—as an investigation of the cause of the tradition rather than its visual consequence.