C ANUK
DIVING FOR THE CROSS- TARPON SPRINGS
A three-day service celebrates Epiphany at Tarpon Springs, the Sponge Capitol. In a color-
ful ceremony the Archbishop, head of the Greek Orthodox Church of North and South
America, releases a dove of peace from a brightly decorated barge in Spring Bayou. He
then tosses a golden cross into the water and a crowd of husky Greek-American youths
dive and struggle for its possession. The lucky lad who retrieves it receives the blessing of
the Archbishop, and luck and good fortune are his for the year to come.