Standing round an ice hole watching Druid-like figures prancing about in the snow might not be everyone's cup of tea for weekend entertainment.

But it seemed that this particular hole had a lot going on in it, and it obviously impressed the hundred or so spectators who gathered to watch, shivering and wrapped to their noses in fur and scarves.

Both local and French TV crews, happily stuck around in the freezing wind for hours to see the Theater of Metaphysical Reality perform various exotic dances for the Russian ice-hole swimming society's - Walruses - yearly shindig and awards ceremonies.

The Theater of Metaphysical Reality, formerly the Theater Metamorphose, is a theater group devoted to the unearthing of ancient Slavic rituals. They were there to remind us all, that before the Walruses, before the Tsar's ritual drinking from the Neva and even before the Orthodox Blessings of the Water, Russians took the plunge, so to speak, as part of the worship of the Sun God.

Ceremonies began quietly enough with the lady MC giving out awards to various Walrus societies and individual members for outstanding service and ice swimming feats.

Things got more fun as new members tried their first dip to polite applause. Two Englishmen were among this brave group that plunged into the black strip of water below the hardened surface of the lake, and swam about 10 meters to the end.

They were asked what they thought of their first dip, and one said as he shivered beneath a towel, "I am really cold, and completely exhausted!" The other, "Bill from London," who looked as though he liked it, said "I was surprised at how black the water gets under the ice."

He was followed by an old gent in a swimsuit and crown of Neptune with a naked toddler in his arms, and a bevy of bikini-clad lady-Walruses holding a cutout dragon.

After dipping the tot in the water (the last of the new initiates) he set fire to the paper dragon which symbolizes the destruction of the initiate's fears. Then he and the ladies swam too.

The ceremonies got stranger but more entertaining as they went on. There was a tug of war where the losing team ended up in the water, there were relay races, in which Bill from London also participated, and dips by groups of seniors and kids.

There were dances where fairy tale witch Baba Yaga resolved (in rhyming couplets no less) to adopt ice-swimming for health and beauty benefits, and then quickly emerged from the water as a buxom bikini-clad redhead.

A group of Rusaluchki (mermaids) in plastic home-made costumes persuaded some hunky young men to dip by throwing them in the hole before them. Two men dressed in the style of Alexander Nevsky swam in full costume with pasteboard helmets, their (tablecloth) capes floating behind them.

And finally, to the tune of Mendelssohn's Wedding March, two recently married Walrus couples, and their wedding parties swam the length of the hole together to receive champagne and group applause on the other side. And then the "real" theatrical performance began, as if this all wasn't theatrical enough for viewers already.

Wearing simple linen shifts, the company danced about with a huge sun totem, engaged in foolery with masks, and performed minor feats like catching a flaming arrow in mid-air, as it was shot out of a bow.

A bonfire was set, the men peeled off their shirts, shamanic drums were beaten, and the two lead players, Yuri Maikov and Konstantin Soilev ritually thwacked each other's chests with flaming twigs. And then a bevy of linen-clad women from ages four to 40, came rushing towards the men who, after leaping into the water and splashing the spectators, arose and individually dipped the ladies in by their arms.

The performance ended with the actors pummeling the audience with snowballs, and the Walruses, spectators, and even film crews, wildly whistled and applauded what must be the codest theater performance in history.