Epiphany celebrated in Karpasia’s Ayia Triada

Traditional Greek Cypriot epiphany celebrations were held in the Karpas peninsula village of Ayia Triada on Tuesday, with a holy cross thrown into the sea next to the Ayios Thyrsos church for churchgoers to catch.

The day began with a church service, before the ceremonial cross-throwing, with many churchgoers then visiting the Byzantine era Archangel Michael church and the local Greek Cypriot cemetery.

Ayia Triada was before 1974 an entirely Greek Cypriot village and remained one of a small number of villages in the north where Greek Cypriots resided after 1974.

There remains a small number of Greek Cypriots living in the village, though those numbers have dwindled in recent decades, while Turkish nationals, mostly from the Black Sea region, have moved into the village in the intervening period.