baptized

Today marks the end of the very prolonged holiday season in Ukraine. It's the anniversary of the conversion of the Slavs to Christianity, which happened in Kiev 1100 years ago, when the king jumped in the frozen river and baptized himself. Everyone goes to church with big water bottles, which they fill with "holy water" from the Dniepr, take home, and drink. My landlord, who was around this week, went and got his water last night and threw it on me when I woke up in the morning. Worked better than a cup of coffee! But then, he poured some in a cup and told me to drink it too. This upset me a bit--besides being filthy, the river's also radioactive. But I also didn't want to offend him by telling him that his holy water is dirty. So, I took a tiny sip and waited all for the problems to ensue. But so far, so good... no vomiting, no cholera, no glowing, at least for now. Maybe it really is holy!

I went to church myself to check it out and took a picture of all the people with their water bottles, but I lost it due to a camera mishap. So use your imagination.