A CROWD of hundreds spilled onto the steps and rock platforms of Newcastle’s Bogey Hole on Sunday for the Greek Orthodox tradition of the Blessing of the Waters.
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Illias Gore, 20, won the race to snatch a metal crucifix from the churned water, and was anointed the winner for a third time in a row.
Moments before, sending eyes both ways as he waved the cross in hushed silence, Greek Orthodox Parish of Newcastle rector Father Nicholas Scordilis finally dropped the prize from an overhead cliff as about 20 young men and a girl plunged into the pool.
Mr Gore, of New Lambton Heights, was cheered, kissed and splashed as he held the cross aloft.
“I felt nervous this year, I was getting super shaky,” Mr Gore said.
“You’re going as hard as you can but you’re also looking for the cross, so part of it’s luck.”
Women in floral dresses had lined the pool stairs alongside swimmers, and men in tailored pants and loafers ignored signs about “unstable cliffs” to search them for vantage points.
The Bogey Hole’s closure last summer deprived the ceremony of its spiritual home, and a public safety cloud over Newcastle’s most scenic ocean pool threatened the 60-year-old Greek Australian rite of passage.
But $490,000 worth of bolting works to stabilise the cliffs above the pool – amid finger-pointing between the state government and opposition – allowed it to reopen before Christmas.
Angelica Rafty, 12, joined a select group of female participants in the blessing as she swam for the first time on Sunday.
“It’s a little nerve-racking, because you don’t know exactly when he’s going to throw the cross,” Ms Rafty, of Merewether, said.
“When I was standing there one of the boys asked ‘are you going to go for the cross?’ And my dad has won the cross three times, and it’s meant a lot to my family, so I wanted to dive down and find it as quickly as I could.”
Her mother, Rosanna Rafty, said she was proud of Angelica for emulating her father George.
“I’m proud, I’m really happy she’s done it,” Mrs Rafty said.
“I’m glad she’s had the guts to go and do it.”
The ceremony is partly held to mark the Feast of Theophany, which symbolises the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.
Participants in the blessing pray for prosperity and the safe return of those at sea.
