January is an amazing month, rich in wonderful holidays: Christmas, Epiphany, which belong to the Twelveth Holidays, and Christmastide between them.
The Baptism of the Lord for Christians is one of the oldest holidays, in the center of which is the consecration of water. This holiday has a tradition - to plunge into the ice hole on Epiphany night. It is believed that water will take away sins, that is, take them away. The word "Baptism" itself is translated from Greek as "immersion in water". This is what the original says.
Actually, with the Baptism a little more than 2000 years ago, the miracles of Jesus Christ began, which he performed for people and for their sake. He was baptized in the waters of the Jordan. In another way, the holiday is called the Epiphany - on this day for the first time the Holy Trinity appeared to the world: the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the form of a dove, God the Father from heaven turned to his son Jesus after he was baptized by John in the waters of Jordan. That is why people plunge into the baptismal hole, considering that water from there is Jordanian.
It is worth saying that there is no consensus among the clergy about whether to plunge into the baptismal hole: some believe that if you do this with repentance, faith, prayer, then illness, and most importantly, wicked thoughts will surely recede. Other representatives of the Orthodox Church call swimming in an ice-hole human fun, considering only the waters of the Jordan are capable of cleansing sins.
