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119th Epiphany cross dive celebration in Tarpon Springs

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Updated  January 6, 2025 4:11pm EST
Pinellas County
FOX 13 News

119th Epiphany cross dive celebration in Tarpon Springs

FOX 13's Ariel Plasencia introduces us to the teen who retrieved the famous cross.

The Brief

    • The 119th annual Epiphany celebration took place Monday in Tarpon Springs.
    • Events include the cross dive, which promises a year of blessings, and a festival.
    • Luc Boillot, a 17-year-old from Plantation, retrieved the cross from the water this year.

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - A long-standing tradition in the Greek Orthodox community, the Epiphany celebration, took place Monday in Tarpon Springs. The 119th annual event began at 8 a.m. with a church service, followed by a procession to Spring Bayou at 9 a.m.

More than 65 teens jumped into the Bayou to find the wooden cross, which promises a year of blessings. This year's retriever of the cross dive was 17-year-old Luc Boillot from Plantation. 

As I kept going down, I saw a brown figure in the water and nothing else; It was just pitch black. And I stuck my hand down there and I got closer, and it was the cross," Boillot said. 

This is the teen's second year participating in the cross dive. Last year, he told us he tried diving down first and holding his breath, but he got nowhere close to the cross. 

This year, the high school senior said he just kept swimming and approached the cross from the top. 

17-year-old Luc Boillot from Tarpon Springs wins the cross dive during the annual Epiphany celebration.

"I cried when I got the cross. Me and [my uncle] cried together," Boillot said. "It was incredible. Emotional, spiritual feeling."

The 17-year-old has two uncles who each retrieved the cross many years ago, and Boillot's grandfather used to be the priest at St. Nicholas Cathedral for 30 years. 

"All the other boys are blessed to be in that water, too," Boillot said. "I'm very thankful to even have this opportunity to dive in that water."

The teen is in a band, owns a business and is also a lifeguard. And now, the Plantation teen will go down as the 2025 cross dive retriever for the 119th Epiphany Celebration. 

"It’s not a year of good luck, as some people say. They are blessed," dive coordinator Mike Kouskoutis said. "And not just the retriever being blessed, but the water is sanctified. Those boys are the first to be able to jump into water that has been sanctified. And the purpose of us sanctifying the water and blessing the water, is that water is the key to life. All living things need water. And they’re the first ones to jump into the water that’s been sanctified, so they’re all blessed. So the retriever, they say, gets a year of special blessings. But they’re all blessed."

After the ceremony and cross throw, the Epiphany Glendi Festival had food and live music.

Press play above to watch FOX 13 News. 

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