Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Long time no post....







I have been wanting to share some of the pictures I took from last Sunday's Greek Orthodox Church Epiphany Ceremony here in Tarpon Springs but time has gotten away from me. The ceremony was beautiful, well attended and joyous. There were 59 young men between the ages of 16 and 18 who dive into Spring Bayou, swim to the tied boats and wait to dive for a cross thrown by the Archbishop of North and South America. The boys were so excited and they had to be cold from the water. The funniest part was when police divers had to enter the water and chase away three manatee who were investigating the goings on right where the boys were to swim and dive.

I am hoping that next year we can stay for the Glendi (hope I spelled that correctly) which is the festivities that follow the ceremony. The boy who finds the cross is believed to receive a special blessing for that year. This is the 102nd. Epiphany Dive for Tarpon Springs and the largest event of its kind in the nation.

3 comments:

:Jayne said...

That looks like fun! We had a ceremony here too. You can read about it http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880106011
Not long til WR!

Cindy Marchant said...

Wow, how impressive!

Pam in Moncton said...

That looks like an interesting ceremony for sure and it must be quite an honour for the boys to dive in the presence of the Archbishop. Greek Orthodox know how to do vestments as well! Very impressive.
Pam