Tens of thousands of Russians jumped into holes cut in ice on Monday night and Tuesday morning on the holiday of the Epiphany, when Russian Orthodox believers take part in a baptism ceremony.

Russians stripped to swimsuits or loose robes to plunge into cross-shaped holes cut in frozen rivers, believing that the water takes on sacred powers on the holiday, which commemorates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, held an all-night service in Moscow's Yelokhovsky cathedral and on Tuesday morning blessed water, which believers collect in bottles, crediting it with healing powers.

"I feel like a new man," exclaimed Nikolai Ivanov, 42, as he vigorously toweled himself off after plunging into a cross-shaped ice hole in Zaozyorye, 60 kilometres (37 miles) east of Moscow.

Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida warned believers only to jump into the freezing water after consulting a doctor, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, as temperatures fell below 30 degrees Celsius in Siberia.

But many believers seemed entirely ignorant of the cold, wearing little but huge smiles as they took part in an ancient rite that has passed on through the generations since the early tsarist times.

"The cold is one of the best gifts you can give a Russian," said Dmitry Chulkov, 25, while pulling on his boots after a particularly spectacular dive. "We are all a little crazy," he later admitted.

Father Sergei, who oversees the local church, observed the hundreds of brave believers with an air of satisfaction.

"This is good for both their bodies and their souls," he said.

In Moscow around 58,000 people gathered to jump in ice holes overnight, far exceeding last year's total of 32,000 people, city police spokesman Viktor Biryukov told RIA Novosti.

The Church estimates that hundreds of thousands of believers take part in the ceremony across the country each year.

Rescue workers at the emergency ministry manned 46 officially sanctioned ice holes in Moscow, where the temperature was minus 15 degrees Celsius on Tuesday morning.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)