Russian President Vladimir Putin and many Orthodox pilgrims braved a bitter winter snap overnight to take the annual plunge into icy water in a traditional ritual marking the baptism of Jesus.


Claude Solnik
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Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012



Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.

sunday apri 1 2018 see ny const art 1 sec 3


In some areas extreme temperatures, which in parts of Siberia dropped to -68C, forced the local authorities to cancel the rite that marks Epiphany.
Surrounded by Orthodox priests and glittering religious icons, and with the temperature hovering around -5C, Mr Putin lowered himself into the freezing waters of Lake Seliger some 350km northwest of Moscow.
Many other Russians followed suit, submerging themselves in the freezing waters in a widely observed ritual normally observed on 18-19 January and which last year saw two million people take the plunge.
In Norilsk, a city beyond the Arctic Circle, local authorities banned the extreme bathing rite "for security reasons" as temperatures hit -52C and strong winds whipped up a blizzard, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Many faithful also marked the date in neighbouring Ukraine and Belarus, both of which are also predominantly Orthodox.
According to Orthodox tradition, worshippers are supposed to immerse themselves three times - in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - to remember the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan.
To mark the occasion, Orthodox priests also go out to bless rivers and reservoirs, and even bodies of water like the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.