2020 is officially here and with it come a wave of new year’s traditions. One of them is a Sibenik tradition in which people jump into the sea at exactly midday on the new year’s maiden day.
As Morski writes on the 1st of January, 2020, for the eighth year in a row now, the people of Sibenik have been jumping into the cold sea at exactly noon on new year’s day and the aim of today’s action is to raise awareness about the protection of the Adriatic fishery fund, as well as the ever concerning threat of climate change.
Several hundred people gathered today at a beach in Sibenik where the bravest of Sibenik locals and one Split woman, boldly rushed out into the sea at noon, marking the beginning of a brand new year, according to local portal SibenikIN.
”I came back here after eight years, when I was the only woman to swim in Sibenik on January the 1st. This year, I’m once again the only woman doing the New Year’s swim and I can’t wait to enter the sea,” said the Sibenik native Jelena Bura who now lives in Split and as such normally swims in Split’s Firule in the winter, and all that matters to her is that she has enough sun.
Kresimir Ivancevic made sure not to miss out on the Sibenik tradition of jumping in for a new year’s swim at noon either.
”I think there are 18 of us, and the sea is seven degrees. My fitness team didn’t drink tonight, so we didn’t have to sober up. We want to always be ready, and we already went swimming here a week ago to assess the situation. There are really a lot of people here today,” Kresimir said in conversation with SibenikIN.
The youngest swimmer taking part in this Sibenik tradition today was four-year-old Noah, for whom it was not at all cold. His parents added that they had even swam in the Cetina river three times in December, and nobody caught a cold.
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