ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> STORY: Thousands of Orthodox Christians congregated on Friday (January 20) at the site believed to be where Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist.<br/> On the muddy banks of the Jordan River many pilgrims thronged for the Epiphany festival, one of the most important religious events on the Orthodox Christian calendar, celebrated throughout the world.<br/> Bishops from the St. John the Baptist Church led the crowd in prayer on the site known as Qasr el-Yahud.<br/> One side of the river is the West Bank and the other Jordan.<br/> The Jordan River was a military restricted area for almost two decades, after the West Bank was occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.<br/> It has been a site of much conflict before a peace deal was signed between Jordan and Israel in 1994.<br/> For many worshipers the holy occasion is a chance to pray for solidarity and peace in the region.<br/> According to tradition, on Epiphany pilgrims exhausted from the rigors of the months-long journey, wrap themselves in the shrouds they hope to be buried in before wading into the Jordan seeking reassurance for the afterlife.<br/> The traditional throwing and retrieval of the cross is another high point of the day.
