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Volume 4 117 |
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A–Z |  |
PICTURESQUE CEREMONY OF BLESSING THE WATERS IN A COUNTRY VILLAGE OF RUMANIA
| This religious ceremony takes place annually on January 6 by the riverside in many country districts of Rumania, and also on the bank of the Dimbovitza, the river on which Bukarest, the capital, is built. Crowds attend the ceremony, dressed in their best, and devoutly follow the religious service conducted by the head priest. It is customary for the Metropolitan, invoking the blessing on the waters of the Dimbovitza, to throw a large cross into the river, and the person who succeeds in bring it ashore receives a monetary reward from the King |