Putin Goes For Topless Icy Dip… For Purity
Vladimir Putin doing what Vladimir Putin does. That’s the only way I can describe the Russian President’s actions earlier today in Russia.
In a pre-dawn religious ceremony in Russia, Putin waded into an icy lake for what is known as the Epiphany. This ceremony is practice is celebrated yearly in January and the temperatures of the waters are unbearably cold. Well unbearable for a pansy American like myself, apparently doable for the Russian President to handle shirtless.
While there are absolutely no political ramifications to this, I would be curious to hear what Donald Trump has to say about Vladimir Putin being a more devout Christian than himself. I’m sure Donald would give us a familiar line about no one being a bigger or better Christian than him and that he “biggly” believes in Jesus and God. Although Trump may take some issues with Jesus because he let himself get captured, and as he said of John McCain, because he likes people “that weren’t captured“.
I’d be more interested in seeing Trump actually make a run at trying to out do the Russian leader by maybe doing a giant belly flop into an icy lake somewhere in Minnesota later this week.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin dipped into frigid waters early Friday at a lake in northwestern Russia to mark the Orthodox observance of the Epiphany, which commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.
The president arrived for the pre-dawn ceremony flanked by journalists with video cameras and monks holding gold icons depicting Jesus and Mary Magdalene, then strode to a wooden platform cut into frozen Lake Seliger. He lowered himself into the water, made a sign of the cross and submerged himself for a moment, in a scene captured by state media. His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the water temperature was about 21 degrees Fahrenheit.
Russians observe the feast of the Epiphany on Jan. 19, rather than Jan. 6, as in the West, because they follow the Gregorian calendar, which observes Christmas on Jan. 7.
The ceremony to purify the spirit drew half a million worshipers to natural and artificial pools at 4,000 sites across Russia on Friday, the government-run Channel One reported — including some who took a dip in the sea at Sochi and others who plunged into minus-58 degree waters in remote Yakutia. That region holds the title of the world’s coldest permanently occupied village, where even eyelashes freeze.
The devotional moment represented another bare-chested media day for Putin, a leader who oversees a corrupt political system, imprisonment and torture of gays, ongoing harassment of and violence against journalists and apparent involvement in U.S. election meddling, but also a public relations operation to sustain the mythos of his machismo.
Putin has garnered wide attention for photos and video footage of him shirtless on horseback, shirtless fishing, shirtless hunting and now, shirtless worshiping.
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
