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HomeExploreHealth & FitnessWinter Swimming and Ice Bathing Traditions
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Some swimmers mark Christmas with a race, others greet the new year with a dash into the sea, and some cut an opening in the ice for a winter dip. These photographs show where people keep these traditions and what each gathering looks like at the water’s edge.

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Images14

1
Finnish Avanto Swimming
Finnish Avanto Swimming: The opening in the ice is an avanto, the Finnish name for a hole used for winter swimming. This…
2
Scheveningen New Year’s Dive
Scheveningen New Year’s Dive: Swimmers gather on the beach at Scheveningen for the Nieuwjaarsduik. The Dutch New Year’s Day…
3
Peter Pan Cup Christmas Race
Peter Pan Cup Christmas Race: The Serpentine Swimming Club races in London’s Hyde Park on Christmas morning. The club dates…
4
Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge
Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge: Swimmers wade into the Atlantic off Brooklyn at the 2024 New Year’s Day Plunge. The Coney…
5
Harbin Songhua River Winter Swimming
Harbin Songhua River Winter Swimming: A winter swimmer moves between ice floes in the Songhua River at Harbin. Local…
6
Russian Epiphany Ice Plunge
Russian Epiphany Ice Plunge: In Russia, some participants mark Orthodox Epiphany on January 19 with a dip in cold water…
7
Wim Hof Ice Bath Demonstration
Wim Hof Ice Bath Demonstration: Dutch cold-exposure performer Wim Hof appears in an ice bath during a 2007 demonstration in…
8
Vancouver Polar Bear Swim
Vancouver Polar Bear Swim: Vancouver’s New Year’s Day swimmers enter English Bay, where the city’s first organized polar…
9
South Queensferry Loony Dook
South Queensferry Loony Dook: Costumed swimmers wade into the Firth of Forth with the Forth Bridge behind them in this 2010…
10
Prague’s Alfred Nikodém Memorial
Prague’s Alfred Nikodém Memorial: Winter swimmers climb out of the Vltava during the 2018 Alfred Nikodém Memorial. Prague’s…
11
Tallinn Winter Swimming World Championship
Tallinn Winter Swimming World Championship: Swimmers race in lanes set up directly in Tallinn’s Admiralty Basin during the…
12
Copenhagen Harbor Winter Bathing
Copenhagen Harbor Winter Bathing: A winter bather takes to Copenhagen Harbor at Kalvebod Bølge, on the Kalvebod Brygge…
13
Karoro Beach Midwinter Swim
Karoro Beach Midwinter Swim: A crowd gathers at Karoro Beach for a midwinter swim on June 25, 1988. This photograph from…
14
Geneva’s Coupe de Noël
Geneva’s Coupe de Noël: The Coupe de Noël began in Geneva in 1934. At the modern race, swimmers cross about 100 meters of…

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