06 January - Epiphany

In Eastern Christianity, Jesus' baptism is commemorated on 6 January, the feast of Epiphany. Epiphany (Yordanovden in Bulgarian) is one of the major Christian holidays in Bulgaria.

According to the Bible, on that day, John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ in the Jordan River. When Jesus accepted John's baptism, they heard a voice from heaven saying: "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased". After that the Spirit in the form of a dove descended on Jesus. It was a sign that Jesus was the Lamb of God and Messiah who had been promised.

Nowadays, Epiphany day in Bulgaria is celebrated with festive liturgy in the churches and rituals involving water.

After the festive liturgy the priests, accompanied by hundreds of people start a festive procession from all churches. They go to the nearest river and the priest throws a cross into the water. It is believed that the one who succeed to take out the cross from the water will be happy and rich all year round. So a lot of enthusiastic men jump into the ice cold waters of the river and try to catch the cross. After that people continue celebrating all day long.

The 6th of January is a name day of everyone named Jordan, Bogdan, Bogdana, Boyan, Danka.