WASHINGTON, Jan 2, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Scores of people hurled themselves into the icy waters of Boston Harbor Monday as part of the city's 120-year-old tradition of the New Years Day Polar Plunge.

Braving water temperatures of 44 degrees Fahrenheit (six degrees Celsius) and air temperatures just above freezing, the swimmers dived in as bagpipes played and people held up pictures of loved ones they had lost in the past year and who had participated in the freezing festival in the past.

Some of the swimmers from the sports-mad city wore hockey masks or the shirts of their favorite teams, while others donned festive outfirts like Santa Claus's red suit. One family even dressed as bees to honor their late father.

"To start off the new New Year this way, I feel like I get out of the water and I feel reborn. I really do. I mean, I'm freezing my ass off but I feel really good," 65-year-old Ruth Tannert, from Roslindale in Massachusetts, told AFP.

"Just having that as a way to kind of kickstart your new year, I can't think of any other way I'd rather spend it."

There are a number of such cold-water swim clubs in America, but Boston's so-called L Street Brownies claim to be one of the oldest, with their tradition dating back to 1904.