Diving for Jesus?

 Yesterday was Eastern Orthodox Epiphany and and to mark the day the high priests of the nearby Orthodox Church toss a crucifix into the Vardar River where folks dive in to retrieve it.  Our landlord told us about the event and we decided to check it out. 

I imagined the swimmers on shore would be diving off the bridge that crosses the river in front of the Eastern Orthodox Church...and brave the rapidly flowing waters to search under water for the precious relic. But when we arrived a bit after 10am very few people where there except  Skopje's bravest -- all young men - who stood on the shores of the river dressed only in their bathing suits and T-shirts. 

As the morning stretched on the crowd continued to build, with increasingly tight security all around. About an hour into the wait, some military type folks in full wet suits got on a rubber boat and laid ropes across the river downstream from where the young men were waiting. Now the crowds were ten people deep on both sides of the river. More security guys with guns. More men in wet suits lined the shore -  presumably to save the young men from drowning or being swept down the river. It was overcast and around 40 degrees. And the guys in bathing suits continued to wait patiently.  

Finally around noon, the church doors opened and the procession of high priests accompanied by  a continuous loud speaker of religious music slowly walked to the river. And then they prayed for quite a while.... 

As the prayers were being said -- at length -- , some of the young men in bathing suits started to put on shoes and a few waded  into the 1 or 2 feet of water!!  No one was going to drown here! (Later I learned that the Vardar was about as low as its ever been thanks to climate change).

 Finally the tiny crucifix was tossed....and it floats....and the crowd of young guys run in shallow water and someone grabs the crucifix! End of show!!! 

But I did enjoy the trade-inducing music (below) and being part of a local ritual. 

UPDATE: We just watched a Macedonian film, "God Exists. Her Name is Petruvya" about a girl who goes into the river and catches the crucifix, much to the chagrin of some of the men. Very well done. Several streaming options.