SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Thousands of Orthodox Christian worshippers in Bulgaria on Monday braved the freezing winter weather to plunge into icy waters as they observed centuries-old Epiphany traditions.
Young men plunged into rivers and lakes across the Balkan country, which is primarily Orthodox, to retrieve crucifixes tossed by priests in ceremonies commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ.
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Believers jump in the icy lake to retrieve a wooden cross thrown by Bulgarian Patriarch Danail, in Sofia, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarian Patriarch Danail throws a wooden cross in the icy lake as believers jump to retrieve it, in Sofia, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarians sing and dance in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarians hold a wooden cross in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgariana sing and dance and hold a wooden cross in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarians sing and dance in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarians hold a wooden cross in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarians sing and dance while holding Bulgarian flag in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
It is believed that the person who retrieves the wooden cross will be freed from evil spirits and will be healthy throughout the year. After the cross is fished out, the priest sprinkles believers with water using a bunch of basil.
In the tiny city of Elin Pelin, situated in a rural area east of the capital, Sofia, dozens of men jumped into the wintry waters of the Lesnovska River to catch the blessed cross.
The peak of the celebrations was the slow “mazhko horo”, or men’s dance, performed by men dressed in traditional white embroidered shirts who waded into the river singing folk songs and waving national flags.
The celebration of Epiphany, or the Apparition of Christ, as Bulgarians call it, began on Monday in Sofia with a water blessing ceremony.
Senior clergymen of Bulgaria’s Orthodox church said prayers for the prosperity of the people and blessed the colors of representative army units in a tradition that was abandoned in 1946 but re-established following the fall of communism in 1992.
Epiphany marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas, but not all Orthodox Christian churches celebrate it on the same day.
While the churches in Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Romania celebrate the feast on Jan. 6, Orthodox Churches in Russia and Serbia follow the Julian calendar, according to which Epiphany is celebrated on Jan. 19, as their Christmas falls on Jan. 7.
Believers jump in the icy lake to retrieve a wooden cross thrown by Bulgarian Patriarch Danail, in Sofia, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarian Patriarch Danail throws a wooden cross in the icy lake as believers jump to retrieve it, in Sofia, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarians sing and dance in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarians hold a wooden cross in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgariana sing and dance and hold a wooden cross in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarians sing and dance in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarians hold a wooden cross in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Bulgarians sing and dance while holding Bulgarian flag in the Lesnovska River during Epiphany Day celebrations in the town of Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — As residents fled, firefighters scrambled to corral flames churning along Los Angeles hillsides as winds gained strength Tuesday across Southern California, where forecasters said “life-threatening, destructive” gusts could last for days while toppling trees, creating dangerous surf and bringing extreme wildfire risk to areas that haven't seen substantial rain in months.
Fire crews responded Tuesday morning to a handful of small blazes across the region, including one that prompted evacuation orders for neighborhoods of large homes in the foothills of the Pacific Palisades area in western Los Angeles. The Palisades Fire swiftly consumed more than 200 acres (81 hectares) of dry brush and sent up a huge plume of smoke visible across the city.
The erratic weather caused President Joe Biden to cancel plans to travel to inland Riverside County, California, where he was to announce the establishment of two new national monuments in the state. Biden will deliver his remarks in Los Angeles instead.
The National Weather Service said what could be the strongest Santa Anawindstorm in more than a decade began Tuesday across Los Angeles and Ventura counties and peak in the early hours of Wednesday, when gusts could reach 80 mph (129 kph). Isolated gusts could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills.
The actor James Woods posted footage of flames burning through trees on a hill above his Pacific Palisades home.
“Standing in my driveway, getting ready to evacuate,” Woods said in the short video on X.
The weather service warned of possible downed power lines and knocked-over big rigs, trailers, and motorhomes. Strong offshore gusts will also bring dangerous conditions off the coasts of Orange and Los Angeles counties, including Catalina Island, and potential delays and turbulence could arise at local airports.
The Los Angeles Unified School District said it was temporarily relocating students from three campuses in the Pacific Palisades area due to the fire.
Utilities said they were considering preemptively cutting power starting Tuesday to about a half-million customers across eight counties. In recent years, California utilities have routinely de-energized electrical lines as a precaution against weather conditions that might damage equipment and spark a fire.
The winds will act as an “atmospheric blow-dryer” for vegetation, bringing a long period of fire risk that could extend into the more populated lower hills and valleys, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California, Los Angeles and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
“We really haven't seen a season as dry as this one follow a season as wet as the previous one,” Swain said during a Monday livestream. “All of that extra abundant growth of grass and vegetation followed immediately by a wind event of this magnitude while it's still so incredibly dry," elevates the risk.
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there’s been very little rain so far this season.
Southern California hasn’t seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May. Much of the region has fallen into moderate drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Meanwhile, up north, there have been multiple drenching storms.
Areas where gusts could create extreme fire conditions include the charred footprint of last month’s wind-driven Franklin Fire, which damaged or destroyed 48 structures, mostly homes, in and around Malibu.
The blaze was one of nearly 8,000 wildfires that added up to scorch more than 1,560 square miles (more than 4,040 square kilometers) in the Golden State last year.
The last wind event of this magnitude occurred in November 2011, during which more than 400,000 customers lost power across LA County, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“The grid is built to withstand strong winds,” said Jeff Monford, a spokesperson for the utility. “The issue here is the possibility of debris becoming airborne and hitting wires ... or a tree coming down.”
Associated Press writer Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Smoke from a wildfire is seen from the Venice Beach section of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Smoke from a wildfire is seen from the Venice Beach section of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A firefighter battles the advancing Palisades Fire around a structure in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
A firefighter battles the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
A field catches fire under a tree during the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
A firefighter battles the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
A pair of firefighters try to protect themselves from flying embers from the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
Firefighters try to protect themselves from flying embers from the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
Firefighters stage in front of the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
A firefighter battles the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles,Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
People wait with some belongings while fleeing the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
A firefighter battles the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
A person flees from an advancing wildfire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Smoke from a wildfire is seen from the Venice Beach section of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A woman cries as the Palisades Fire advances in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
A firefighter tries to extinguish a fire as it damages a property in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Heavy smoke from a brush fire in the Pacific Palisades rises over the Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia)
Smoke from a brush fire in the Pacific Palisades rises over the 405 freeway in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
FILE - Flags fly under heavy winds before sunset as a plume of smoke from the Franklin Fire rises over the ocean Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes,File)
Tall palm trees sway during extreme gusty winds in the Van Nuys section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
A tree blocks a street after falling amid strengthening winds Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Northeast Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Christopher Weber)
FILE - Marvin Meador walks on the remains of his fire-ravaged property after the Mountain Fire swept through, Nov. 7, 2024, in Camarillo, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File)
