Thousands of swimmers celebrate the winter solstice in Tasmania

For the purpose of commemorating the winter solstice, hundreds of people on the island of Tasmania in Australia stripped down to their swim caps and plunged headfirst into the icy waves.

It is the end of the night that is the longest of the year in the southern hemisphere, which is historically the reason why many people in Australia run about nude and jump into the River Derwent in Hobart just before daybreak.

According to reports, there were around 2,000 persons present this year.

In light of this, the temperature of the air outdoors was only five degrees Celsius early on Wednesday morning, but the temperature of the water was at least eleven degrees.

According to Australian broadcaster ABC, the peculiar tradition of taking part in an annual nudist swim during the winter solstice is supposed to provide “renewal and rejuvenation” to individuals who are ready to strip naked outdoors during the cold months in Tasmania.

A “genuine party atmosphere,” according to one of the participants, was there.

However, because of the low temperatures, the majority of them simply entered the icy water for a very little period of time before quickly wrapping themselves back up in towels.

Since 2013, the completion of the two-week-long winter celebration known as “Dark Mofo” in Tasmania has been commemorated by participants swimming naked in a pool to celebrate the lengthening of the days.

After the authorities threatened to arrest participants for public indecency at the time, it was so close to falling into the ocean that it nearly did. Because of the widespread Coronavirus outbreak in 2019, the event was forced to be postponed, and in 2018, it was only held in a scaled-down version.