Thousands in Belgium were seen diving in the North Sea last Saturday as they took part in the annual New Year’s swim, and more than 3,000 people celebrated the start of the new year by taking a dip in the cool waters off the beach in the coastal city of Ostend.

Celebrating the New Year in Belgium

It’s a great feeling for the Belgians to party on the beach

One of the residents said, while diving into the cold water, “It is a wonderful feeling .. you cannot explain it .. a feeling that you must do and you must try it,” according to a video published by the “Reuters” news agency on Twitter, while a woman participating in the event said Celebrations: “Cold water is good for health… It is good for blood circulation, our skin, mental health and discipline,” according to the photos published by the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

WATCH: In other news – Thousands of people took a dip in the North Sea as part of an annual New Year tradition in the Netherlands pic.twitter.com/7gzZSMpbDw

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 8, 2023

The North Sea is located between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, and is connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north.

One of the participants in the celebrations in the North Sea

North Sea

The North Sea is more than 970 kilometers long and 580 kilometers wide, covering 570,000 square kilometers. The sea coast is a popular destination for leisure and tourism in neighboring countries. It is also a rich source of energy resources, including wind and wave energy. The sea hosts the main shipping lanes in the North Europe.

It is noteworthy that the German capital, Berlin, witnessed New Year’s celebrations in its own way, as citizens gathered to practice traditional swimming rituals for New Year’s celebrations, according to the European Agency, which published pictures of swimming in the ice water in Santa Claus costumes.

The revelers appeared, swimming in the cold waters wearing a Santa hat and a beard while attending the traditional Christmas swimming ceremonies at Lake Orange in Berlin, Germany, while lovers of winter swimming gathered in the lake waters at low temperatures, defying the cold weather to celebrate New Year’s Day by diving into the water. Frozen.