In Lefkada town the benediction of the waters takes place with grandeur . Once the churches have conducted the holy ritual of the day, the Metropolitan starts out from the church of Evangelistria, at the head of a crowd of believers, the entire devout procession decked with the hexapteryga (discs showing seraphim) lanterns and ‘skolas’ (banners of the guilds) and of course the holy icon of the Baptism.
They reach the harbour where the cross is cast into the sea. Some of the faithful dive in to recover it and others, the majority, hold oranges with their stalks joined to a string which they submerge in the sea three times at the same moment as the Metropolitan casts the cross. These blessed oranges are then hung on icons. (or taken home & hung up)
