Jordan Entrance

Categories / Capital/Imperial Court
JORDAN ENTRANCE (Twelfth Tide Parade), a ceremony which took place on the 6th (19th) of January, in Twelfth Tide. Between 1732 and 1914, it was annually held in St. Petersburg, on the frozen Neva, in front of the Winter Palace, with the participation of the monarch. After a public prayer at the Winter Palace Cathedral, the Emperor and his entourage went out to the Neva's Jordan Stairs (hence the name), where a blessing of the water was performed in a special ice-hole. Festive amphitheatres were built, and the area was surrounded by guard units in parade formation, who performed a threefold rifle and gun salute at the moment of the blessing of the water.

G. V. Kalashnikov. Winter Palace