Central Florida is home to the Greek community of Tarpon Springs, best known for its sponge industry. Read through collections of Greek folktales, folksongs and other folklore:
Annual Epiphany Cross-Diving Celebration (1939)
"It is the Twelfth Night! Candles gleam through the stained glass windows of the little white church of St. Nicholas to greet the dawn. Priests bedecked in white robes, with stoles and capes, intone their chants: the same chants and responses that Emperor Justinian and his court heard as they knelt fourteen centuries ago under the golden dome of Saint Sophia in Constantinople..
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On a barge in the bayou is enacted the symbolic rites that give the services the name of 'Greek Cross Day.' Here, after invocations, the priest releases a white dove and flings a tiny gold cross into the blue waters. A score of lithe young divers plunge after it. The fortunate one to retrieve the emblem receives a blessing that endures for the ensuing year, and the ceremonies are concluded. From then on worldly pursuits are in order: merrymaking festivities that last throughout the afternoon and night, often the next day." 1
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1 Royce, M. W. "Greek Colony, Tarpon Springs, Florida. "National Greek Study, Florida Writers Project, 1939: pp. 5-6. |
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