Every year on the evening of December 5th, from the Church of Saints Nicholas and Eleutherios in Tinos, a funerary procession takes place for Saint Nicholas on his feast with the kouvouklion and epitaphios, symbolic of the tomb and body of the Saint. From the church they go to Kalamia Beach, where they enter the frigid waters in order to bless them, since Saint Nicholas is the patron of those who travel by sea, and there they says prayers for those who travel by sea and say memorial prayers for those who have drowned. When this is done, they process back to the church while chanting Lamentations in honor of Saint Nicholas.
