ere the bishop
throws a little wooden cross, held by a long blue ribbon, into the water,
withdraws it dripping wet, and sprinkles the bystanders. This is done
three times. At Nauplia and other places a curious custom prevails: the
archbishop throws a wooden cross into the waters of the harbour, and the
fishermen |103| of the place dive in after it and struggle for its
possession; he who wins it has the right of visiting all the houses of
the town and levying a collection, which often brings in a large sum. In
Samos all the women send to the church a vessel full of water to be
blessed by the priest; with this water the fields and the trees are
sprinkled.{33}

The sense attached to the ceremony by the Church is shown in this
prayer:--

"Thou didst sanctify the streams of Jordan by sending from Heaven Thy
Holy Spirit, and by breaking the heads of the dragons lurking there.
Therefore, O King, Lover of men, be Thou Thyself present also now by
the visitation of Thy Holy Spirit, and sanctify this water. Give also
to it the grace of ransom, the blessing of Jordan: make it a fountain
of incorruption; a gift of sanctification; a washing away of sins; a
warding off of diseases; destruction to demons; repulsion to the
hostile powers; filled with angelic strength; that all who take and
receive of it may have it for purification of souls and bodies, for
healing of sicknesses, for sanctification of houses, and meet for
every need."{34}

Though for the Church the immersion of the cross represents the Baptism
of Christ, and the blessings springing from that event are supposed to be
carried to the people by the sprinkling with the water, it is held by
some students that the whole practice is a Christianization of a
primitive rain-charm--a piece of sympathetic magic intended to produce
rain by imitating the drenching which it gives. An Epiphany song from
Imbros connects the blessing of rain with the Baptism of Christ, and
another tells how at the river Jordan "a dove came down, white and
feathery, and with its wings opened; it sent rain down on the Lord, and
again it rained and rained on our Lady, and again it rained and rained on
its wings."{35}

The Blessing of the Waters is performed in the Greek church of St.
Sophia, Bayswater, London, on the morning of the Epiphany, which, through
the difference between the old and new "styles," falls on our 19th of
January. All is done within the chur