_{The river under Cholakov Bridge flows red with wine}

In the Rhodopean town of Perushtitsa, near Plovdiv, nobody knows when and how the "kapanki" (river bathing) custom has originated. As the folklore tradition goes, "kapanki" is performed on Ivanov Den (St John's Day), January 7 and is devoted to the young families who wed during the previous year. The ritual is carried out always in the icy waters of the river that runs through town. According to the belief, those men who keep the tradition and bathe in the icy waters will have strong offspring.
"Kapanki" begins in the early morning when the closest friends gather in the home of the young family round a plentiful table and the husband welcomes the guests with a cauldron of wine. At about noon the guests take the husband to the river. His best man jumps into the water with him out of solidarity and pours a cask of wine into the water. The bathing men sprinkle those on the bank with water, that is believed to bring good luck, health and more children. The young wife takes water from the river in her sleeves and sprinkles the vines.
Ethnographers say the ritual existed even before Christianity was introduced in Bulgarian lands (8th and 9th century). Then sick and crippled people would jump into the water and probably the stress of the cold cured them.
Today, local people are explicit: no one has ever get sick from the winter bathing.



^{Daredevils splash water for good health on the onlookers as well}

Photo Slavcho Kalinov

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