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Greeks celebrate Epiphany, wishing for better future

Xinhua, January 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Hundreds of worshippers plunged into rivers, ports and pools across Greece on Wednesday to mark Epiphany, an important festival of Christianity.

"May the light of Christianity shatter the darkness of the crisis and poverty," Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said after attending a religious ritual in Athens.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras attended the ritual in the center of the Greek capital, too.

The festival of Epiphany is celebrated across different countries. Eastern Orthodox Christians, including most of the worshippers in Greece, marked the day to commemorate Jesus' baptism in the Jordan river.

At the port of Piraeus, the worshippers braved the chilling temperature and took a plunge into the water to retrieve the crosses cast by priests.

Orthodox followers believe that the dive on Epiphany day revives their bodies and rids their spirits of sins, and that the swimmer who retrieves the cross from the water is blessed with good luck. Endi