More than 3,000 people swim naked in the freezing sea

More than 3,000 people attended the annual event held at Long Beach in Sandy Bay on the island of Tasmania, Australia, on Friday morning (June 21), braving cold conditions to swim in temperatures of 7 degrees Celsius.

The winter solstice is celebrated around the world with festivals and events in the northern and southern hemispheres to mark the shortest day of winter or the day with the least amount of sunlight.

The winter solstice swim is held annually by the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) as part of its bizarre festival, also known as Dark Mofo.

The event has grown over the past 10 years, with just 300 people braving the cold waters for a nude swim in the first year. That has since grown to 2,000 participants in previous years and more than 3,000 by 2024.

"Every year we get countless messages from people who wanted to take part expressing disappointment at missing out on a nude swim," said Melissa Edwards, who runs Dark Mofo.

The festival generates around $20 million for the state economy each year and was awarded $7.5 million in funding by the Tasmanian government in 2021 over a three-year period.

The Tasmanian government says it will continue to work closely with organisers to implement nude swimming by 2025.

Below are photos taken at the nude swimming event that took place today, June 21, in Australia:

More than 3,000 people swam in the freezing waters to celebrate the winter solstice and is one of Dark Mofo's iconic events.

Many people are ready to go into the water.

Nude swimmers line up along Long Beach, with Mount Wellington in the background.

Then flooded into the sea

Take a selfie before diving into the sea.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hon-3000-nguoi-boi-khoa-than-trong-bien-gia-lanh-185240621144313887.htm