Georgian Culture Ruseishvili and Co Chapter 20 24 Page 41 73
Transcript of Georgian Culture Ruseishvili and Co Chapter 20 24 Page 41 73
FOCUS ON CIVILIZATIONS AND CULTURES
GEORGIA THROUGH ITS
LEGENDS, FOLKLORE
AND PEOPLE
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FOCUS ON CIVILIZATIONS AND CULTURES
GEORGIA THROUGH ITS
LEGENDS, FOLKLORE
AND PEOPLE
MICHAEL BERMAN
KETEVAN KALANDADZE
GEORGE KUPARADZE
AND
MANANA RUSIESHVILI
Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
New York
Copyright © 2011 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Georgia through its legends, folklore, and people / Michael Berman ... [et
al.].
p. cm. Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-61209-641-4 (hardcover)
1. Folklore--Georgia (Republic) 2. Legends--Georgia (Republic) 3. Georgia (Republic)--Folklore. I. Berman, Michael, 1951-
GR279.G46 2011
398.2094758--dc22 2011002540
Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York
CONTENTS
Introduction and Acknowledgments vii
Chapter 1 The Republic of Georgia in Pagan Times and Today 1 Chapter 2 The Doctor Lukman 7 Chapter 3 Folk Cures 9 Chapter 4 Belief in the Evil Eye 21 Chapter 5 Natsiliani (Magical Birthmarks) 29 Chapter 6 The Meaning of Dreams 31 Chapter 7 Tamar's Eternal Spring 41 Chapter 8 The Building of Gergeti Trinity Church 45 Chapter 9 The Father's Prophecy 47 Chapter 10 The Magical Control of the Rain 49 Chapter 11 The Magical Control of the Wind 63 Chapter 12 When Lightning Strikes 67 Chapter 13 How Tbilisi Got its Name 73 Chapter 14 The Legend of Paliastomi 77 Chapter 15 Christ‘s Robe in Georgia 79 Chapter 16 Nino Converts Kartli to Christianity 81 Chapter 17 The Legend of Amirani 83 Chapter 18 Ochopintre and Tkashmapa 95 Chapter 19 The Legend of Kashueti Church 99 Chapter 20 The Legend of Lake Abudelauri 101 Chapter 21 Dali – The Female Goddess of Nature, Animals
and Hunting 105 Chapter 22 The Legend of Bebristsikhe (The Castle of the Old Man) 109
Contents vi
Chapter 23 Prayers to the New Moon 111 Chapter 24 Kopala and Iakhsar 115 Chapter 25 Dzyzlan, The Abkhazian Mother of Water 121 Chapter 26 The Georgian Table 129 Chapter 27 The Fourth Glass Is the ―Devil‘s‖ 139
Appendix: What Being Georgian (Or a Friend of Georgia)
Means to Me 147
Index 155
INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Figure 1. Borjgali - ancient Georgian symbol of the sun.
Everything shifts in the Caucasus, blown by some of the strongest winds
on earth. Even the ground moves, splintered by fault lines. In early Georgian
myths, it is said that ―when the mountains were young, they had legs – could
walk from the edges of the oceans to the deserts, flirting with the low hills,
shrouding them with soft clouds of love" (Griffin, 2001, p.2).
But what about those aspects of life which remain relatively constant – the
traditional practices of the people, the practices that are reflected in their
legends and their folklore? It is these constants that this study concentrates on.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. viii
Figure 2. Jason and the Golden Fleece.
From the beginning of history until the Middle Ages the Caucasus
mountain range was regarded as the boundary of the world. Beyond, all was
mystery and fable, and for that reason the ancients made the Caucasus the
scene of much mythological activity and the home of many marvels. They
called the country Colchis, and it was the land where Noah‘s Ark is said to
have settled, Jason and the Argonauts found the Golden Fleece, and
Prometheus was chained to one of the peaks by the gods to punish him for
giving fire to the mortals.
The countries of the South Caucasus have always been the ―lands in-
between.‖ In between the Black and the Caspian seas, Europe and Asia,
Russia and the Middle East, Christianity and Islam and, more recently,
democracy and dictatorship. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia and the
territories around them have the mixed blessings of being at the crossing-
place of different cultures and political systems. These fault lines have made
their region a geopolitical seismic zone (De Waal, 2010, p.1).
It is with good reason then that the Caucasus has been called geopolitical
pivot about which everything sways - American economic interests, Russian
territorial interests, and Islamic religious interests. Yet, at the same time, it is
relatively unknown. The only Georgia most westerners are familiar with, for
Introduction and Acknowledgements ix
example is the state of Georgia in America. It can also be taken for granted
that the majority of us would be unable to locate the area on a map, name the
capital cities of each of the countries, know which languages are spoken in
them, or have any idea of the various peoples‘ religious affiliations either.
Hopefully this collection of legends and folklore will go some way to
changing this.
Being able to identify the different languages spoken by the various
peoples living in the Caucasus is no easy matter though. ―The Arabs called the
Caucasus djabal al-alsun, or the ―mountain of languages,‖ for its abundance of
languages, and the North and South Caucasus together have the greatest
density of distinct languages anywhere on earth‖ (De Waal, 2010, p.7).
The Georgian language, known to Georgians as kartuli, is the chief
member of a distinct language family, written in a unique alphabet, and has
been the main unifying force in Georgians‘ expressions of national identity.
Georgian is unrelated to any other languages, apart from its close relatives
Mingrelian, Svan, and Laz … Its exploding ―ejective stops‖ and fearsome
consonant clusters – as in vprtskvni (―I am peeling it/them‖) and
gvb(r)dghvnit (―you [plural] tear us to pieces‖) – scare away all but the
bravest (De Waal, 2010, p.33).
A favourite story of the Georgian people relates how God only came upon
them after he had already allocated land to all the other nationalities. The
Georgians were in typically festive mood and so invited the Creator to join
them in their drinking and singing. And the Lord so enjoyed himself that He
decided to give these merry and carefree people the one spot on the earth that
was still available, the very spot He had reserved for Himself - the sunny
valleys and hills that lie to the south of the Great Caucasus Mountains. The
Lord has lavished great bounties on this land. It is a land of contrasts, of
savage mountains snow-topped and swept with wild gales, of tumultuous
rivers and dark forests; and of vast, warm plains and pasturage and valleys soft
with tropical heat. Its mountains are stored with minerals and its valleys are
smiling with corn and flowers.
Ever since the time of the Argonauts empire-builders have been drawn to
the country of Golden Fleece. How is it, though, that this small nation held out
against invading armies assaulting it all through its history, when the greatest
civilizations and the most powerful empires were leveled to the ground? The
answer to this question must be sought in the peculiarity of the psyche of the
Georgians, their boundless love for their native land, their love for freedom
and their self-sacrifice, their optimism, their great desire to save and preserve
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. x
intact the cultural achievements, customs and traditions of their ancestors, and
it is the customs and traditions that form the focus of this book.
In Georgian villages, even today, you can hear and see magic incantations,
chants and rituals glorifying the weather deity, hymns and Perkhulis (round
dances) dedicated to the Sun, curative chants to please magic powers and other
ceremonial activities. Not only that, but the place and role of these pagan
chants and rituals in Georgian life is still almost the same now as it was scores
of centuries ago. However, with the spread of globalisation, one can only
wonder how much longer this will be the case, which is why it is so important
to record such activities and also for us to play our part in helping to preserve
them.
To find out more about this fascinating country, when you have finished
this book, you might also like to read Georgia though its Folktales, published
by O Books and available from www.amazon.co.uk
NOTES ON THE EDITOR AND TRANSLATORS
Michael Berman works as a teacher and a writer. Publications include The
Power of Metaphor for Crown House, The Nature of Shamanism and the
Shamanic Story for Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Shamanic Journeys
through the Caucasus for O-Books, and All God’s Creatures: Stories Old
and New and Journeys Outside Time for Pendraig Publishing. For more
information please visitwww.Thestoryteller.org.uk
Ketevan Kalandadze is the Director of Caucasus Arts, a company that
promotes both visual and performing artists from Georgia, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and the other independent states in the region. The company
also promotes artists from those countries now resident in the UK.
Ketevan hopes that Caucasus Arts will serve as a bridge between the
Caucasus and the UK, helping to develop an appreciation of the rich,
though relatively untapped, cultural heritage of the land where she was
born. For more information please visit www.caucasusarts.org.uk
George Kuparadze is Associate Professor in the Department of English
Philology at Tbilisi State University in Georgia, and was formerly a
visiting Professor at Tuscia University in Italy. His experience in the field
of English Language teaching also includes participating in various
international projects in the USA and the UK organized by Georgetown
and Cambridge Universities.
Introduction and Acknowledgements xi
Manana Rusieshvili is a Full Professor and the Head of English Philology at
Tbilisi State University. She is also the President of the English Teachers
Association of Georgia (ETAG). Her research interests include pragmatics
and sociolinguistics and she has published more than 40 articles, several
textbooks and a monograph on semantics and pragmatics of Proverbs.
Manana is also a teacher trainer approved by British Council and acts as
an advisor to the Ministry of Education of Georgia and to the Tbilisi
Municipal Government.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Original sources the translators made use of:
Akhvlediani, K. (1991) For you, housewives, Tbilisi: Xelovneba Publishing
House (For folk cures).
Kheteshvili, S. (2005) The Treasure of Health,Tbilisi: ―Khelovneba‖,
Publishing House (For folk cures).
Shataidze, N. (Ed.) (1990, 2nd
Edition) Efrem Verdi, Tbilisi: Merani Publishing
House (For dream interpretations).
REFERENCES
Berman, M., and Kalandadze, K. (2010) Georgia through its Folktales,
Hampshire: O-Books.
Griffin, N. (2001) Caucasus: In the Wake of Warriors, London: Headline
Book Publishing.
De Waal, T. (2010) The Caucasus: An Introduction, New York: Oxford
University Press, Inc.
Chapter 1
THE REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA IN PAGAN
TIMES AND TODAY
It has been ascertained from archaeological evidence that in pagan times
each tribe in what is now known as the Republic of Georgia had its own patron
deities, who were believed to possess supernatural power and who were
responsible for establishing order in nature and society. Rites and ceremonies
were organised in their honour, some of which have been preserved.
For instance, folk festivals and performances such as Berikaoba and
Keenoba that are held in different parts of Georgia up to this day and the
worship of icons. They represent transformed survivals of those ancient
religious rites.
The oldest religious notions are preserved in ancient Georgian myths and
tales. The heroes of Georgian fairy tales often go down into the nether world
or go up to the sky where they meet and speak with the sun, the moon, and the
stars. They look like human beings and have their features. The sun is a
woman to them, and the moon and the deity of the weather and clouds are
men.
When the Georgian tribes began to unite, their religious notions also
became closer and began to merge and certain order and hierarchy was
established. The moon deity became the highest deity of the Georgians. He
was pictured as a warrior. The bull was considered to be its sacred animal.
Therefore, a bull was often sacrificed to him. The bull‘s horns have the shape
of a crescent moon, so we often come across the pictures of a bull‘s horns in
cult buildings and people‘s dwelling places, or even bull‘s heads. That the
bull‘s cult was so widely spread in Georgia was the result of the development
of agriculture (Asatiani and Janelidze, 2009, p.32).
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 2
The Georgian astral pantheon was headed by a triad and the first king of
Kartli, Parnavaz, declared Armazi to be the official religion of the country.
The supreme deity, who established order, was the male deity, the moon.
The second one was the sun, or the sun woman, the deity of fertility and crops.
The third one was Kviria who, according to the rules established by the
supreme deity, ruled over the world. Separate branches of man‘s activities and
natural phenomena also had their patron deities (ibid. p.32).
As a result of syncretism, the moon deity of the ancient Georgians was
given the features of other deities as well. Armazi, in the Hittite language,
meant the moon deity, and both this name and many other cultural elements
were brought to Kartli by the Meskh tribes from Asia Minor.
A statue of Armazi was erected on a high mountain opposite Mtskheta. It
had previously been known as Kartli Mountain but after that, it was called
Armazi Mountain. The idol of the deity Armazi was made of copper and was
in the shape of a warrior with golden armour and helmet. It had precious
stones foe eyes and held a sword in his hand. Nobody dared to approach it, for
whoever touched the idol was doomed to death. People offered Armaz as
sacrifice not only animals, especially bulls, but also human beings. Besides
Armaz‘s, statues of other deities were erected too, these were Gats and Gaim,
made of gold and silver. They were male deities too, and were considered the
servants and guards of Armaz (ibid. p.32).
On the opposite mountain, at the beginning of the Aragvi Gorge, the idol
of the other main deity Zaden, whose name was also of Hittite origin, was
erected.
Not only were the main deities given official names, state festivities were
arranged in their honour too. For example, the day of the Moon deity Armaz
was celebrated at the end of summer, when worshippers from different parts of
the country, including the royal family, would get together in Mtskheta for a
ritual march and to offer a sacrifice to the deity.
Despite the fact that most Georgians today would describe themselves as
Orthodox Christians, folk customs with pagan origins, such as the use of songs
in rituals for healing purposes that are chanted over sick children, are still
practised alongside Christianity in the mountainous regions of the country.
The bat’onebi, for example, are spirits who are believed to live beyond the
Black Sea, and they are sent out by their superior in all directions in order to
test the loyalty of mankind. During the daytime, the bat’onebi move about on
mules. In the evening, however, they return to the houses of the sick and reside
in the bodies of the stricken. Bat’onebi are to be obeyed without question, as
resistance only enrages them.
The Republic of Georgia in Pagan Times and Today 3
Figure 3. The remnants of the Armazi idol pedestal.
Nonetheless, their hearts can be conquered with tenderness and caresses;
thus, it is possible to protect oneself from calamity. They are said to enjoy
gentle songs and the bright sound of instrumental music.
The blisters from chickenpox (qvavili, literally: flowers) and the redness
from measles (ts’itela, literally: redness) are said to be signs of the arrival of
the bat‘onebi. In preparation for the ritual, the patient‘s bed and room are
decorated with colourful fabrics and flowers. Visitors wear red or white
garments and walk around the sick person with presents for the bat’onebi in
their hands.
A table full of sweets and a kind of Christmas tree are prepared for them
too. If the illness becomes worse, the family of the patient turn to the ritual of
―asking-for-pardon‖ (sabodisho) and a mebodishe (a woman who has access to
the bat’onebi and acts as a mediator) is invited to contact them to find out
what they want and to win them over. Once the patient recovers, the bat’onebi
have to be escorted on their way, back to where they came from.
Local traditions and Orthodox traditions can often be seen to meet half
way in present-day Georgia, and the game Lelo, still played in Shukhuti, a
hamlet in the western region of Guria, provides a good example of this:
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 4
GEORGIA: VILLAGE CELEBRATES EASTER WITH
RUGBY-STYLE STRUGGLE ROR A BALL
Paul Rimple and Justyna Mielnikiewicz 4/10/10
While the rest of Georgia celebrated Easter on April 4 at home around the
dinner table, one village in western Georgia marked the day with a rugby-like
scramble that effectively blocked traffic for hours on the country‘s East-West
national highway.
The game, lelo ( "goal" or "try" or in Georgian), has no rules, no time-
outs, and no limit to the number of people (men only) who may play. The
"field" is the entire village of Shukhuti, a hamlet of about 2,000 in the western
region of Guria, not far from the regional seat of Lanchkhuti. Two creeks,
about 150 meters apart, mark the goal lines for two teams, made up of
residents from the upper and lower halves of the village. The aim is simple:
whichever side is the first to carry a 16-kilogram leather ball back to their
creek wins the game.
Victory means dedicating the ball to a deceased villager and placing it on
his grave after the match -- a reflection of Georgian Orthodox Church
traditions of visiting cemeteries on Easter to commemorate loved ones. Lelo
balls in various stages of decomposition can be seen on graves in both of
Shukhuti‘s cemeteries.
Nobody knows exactly when or where lelo originated.
Local journalist and armchair historian Tamaz Imnaishvili believes the
game commemorates an 1855 battle between the Ottoman and Russian
Empires that occurred in Shukhuti.
Other villagers, like 47-year-old Robinzon Kobalava, reckon the game
predates the battle; an ancient Georgian measurement equivalent to 16
kilograms - a puti -- is used to describe the ball‘s weight. It was once baptized
in a mixture of red wine, honey, pomegranate and other ingredients known as
aguna, a local concoction Kobalava claims dates to pagan times.
"Aguna was like the Red Bull of the past," Kobalava adds.
Cousins of the village‘s longtime family of shoemakers now have the
honor of making the lelo ball from leather. The empty ball is then brought to
The Republic of Georgia in Pagan Times and Today 5
the shoemaker family‘s house where neighbors fill it with a mixture of earth,
sand, water and wine as the village priest, Father Saba, stands by.
Father Saba, a former Greco-Roman wrestler and lelo participant, links the
game to the development of Georgia‘s Christian identity, which incorporated
local pagan traditions. This would explain why lelo is played on Easter
Sunday, he believes.
"Local traditions and Orthodox traditions met half way -- this is a good
thing. It‘s good to remember that these traditions have made us who we are,"
Father Saba says.
In addition to being part of western Georgia‘s Easter traditions, lelo also
provides respite from the difficulties of village life. Guria remains one of
Georgia‘s poorest regions and is largely dependent on sustenance farming.
Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Goga
Khachidze thinks the game has the potential to boost the local economy by
attracting visitors -- much like the La Tomatina tomato fight in Bunyol, Spain,
where thousands of participants throw tomatoes at each other every August.
Minister Khachidze‘s lelo promotion plan includes renovating Shukhuti‘s
derelict Soviet-era House of Culture and turning it into a museum about lelo
and regional culture.
"This in itself wouldn‘t do more than provide a few jobs, but what is
important is that people realize the potential they have to help develop their
community through lelo," Khachidze declares. "In the future, they could turn
lelo" into a weekend festival, with local music and crafts."
Journalist Imnaishvili has been lobbying a similar plan for four years; it
includes developing local guesthouses and making lelo Shukhuti‘s official
trademark, but he says he has not been able to attract much interest.
Shukhuti resident Kobalava says he would like to see more people come
to the village for the game, like they did when the economy was better. He
regrets that his family can no longer afford to host guests as in the past.
Meanwhile, he is infinitely proud of his village‘s game and no less proud that
his side won this year.
"There is a saying that one time seen is better than 100 times heard. You
can‘t understand what lelo" is until you see it with your own eyes," Kobalava
says.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 6
Posted April 10, 2010 © Eurasianet http://www.eurasianet.org
REFERENCES
Asatiani, N., and Janelidze, O. (2009) History of Georgia: From Ancient
Times to the Present Day, Tbilisi: Publishing House Petite.
Chapter 2
THE DOCTOR LUKMAN
Man had hardly appeared in the world, before he began to think how not
to die of hunger, how to get warm on a bitterly cold day and how to find
medicine against illness. The more people there were though, the more illness
appeared.
So, around that time, there also appeared a doctor by the name of Lukman.
He conceived the idea of relieving the suffering of people, of finding a remedy
for illness. Lukman searched for various medicinal herbs and roots in the
fields, in the ravines, along banks of rivers and streams, and in mountain
pastures. For the healing of wounds he found akhurbgits (plantain), for the
treatment of Siberian ulcers, ashkhardan (a medicinal root), for the relief of
malaria, adjakva (a winter multi-flowered plant), and he discovered the
medicinal properties of a great many other herbs. With flowers, with leaves,
with roots he cured people of all kinds of ailments. There was only one that he
did not know about: how to cure a toothache.
On one occasion a snake crawled to him and began to beg him, ―I
frequently have terrible headaches, cure me!‖ Lukman agreed to help him, but
at the same time he asked whether he knew a remedy for toothache. ―If it is
not possible to soothe the tooth with medicine, then it is necessary to pull it
out, since there is nothing worse than this suffering‖, answered then snake.
―Yes, I understand‖, said Lukman, ―but the trouble is that I do not know
with what and how one ought to pull the teeth‖.
―You can pull a tooth with something similar to my head, with a
contraption that would be able to open and close‖.
―That is good advice. In gratitude for it I will instruct you of the most sure
remedy for a headache. As soon as you have a headache, lie down on a
highway, rolling yourself into a ball, pressing your head to the ground and
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 8
closing your eyes. Simply lie motionless, trying to sleep, not paying attention
to anything. After about an hour the headache will pass completely.‖
―Thank you friend‖, said the snake, and it crawled into the bushes, in order
to instruct all the snakes of the remedy for headaches.
This is why snakes, even today, after rolling themselves into a ball, settle
themselves in the middle of the road; and people, creeping up to them, kill
them. On one occasion, Lukman, after pelting rain, wanted to get across a river
which was a swollen torrent. The narrow little bridge, thrown across it, was
slippery, since the water was coming up through the cracks from below.
Lukman slipped and fell into the river. With difficulty he managed to clamber
out on to dry ground. Most of the medicines, which he was carrying with him,
were lost, and only a few items were deposited by the current on to the bank.
Lukman gathered up the surviving medicines, and with them he cures people
even to this day.
This story was taken and then adapted from Bgazhba, Kh.S. (1985)
Abkhazian Tales, Translated from the Russian, with new Introduction by D.G.
Hunt. (Russian edition published by Alashara Publishing House, Sukhumi).
The collection can be found in the University College of London library, and it
was donated to the library by the translator.
The Abkhaz have shared their history with Georgians for at least a
thousand years but are a distinct ethnic group, related to the Circassian
nationalities from the North Caucasus such as the Cherkess, the Karbardins,
the Shapsug, and the Ubykh. The name Abkhaz most likely derives from the
ancient Greek Abasgoi. They call themselves Apsua and their country Apsny.
Their religious affiliation has changed over the centuries. Once Christian, as a
number of Byzantine churches in Abkhazia prove, most converted to Islam in
the nineteenth century, but many became Orthodox Christian again later in
the same century. But pre-Christian practices have persisted, leading the
Abkhaz historian and politician Stanislav Lakoba, only half in jest, to
describe his people as ―80 percent Christian, 20 percent (Sunni) Muslim and
100 percent Pagan (De Waal, 2010, p.148).
REFERENCES
De Waal, T. (2010) The Caucasus: An Introduction, New York: Oxford
University Press, Inc.
Chapter 3
FOLK CURES
According to Georgian beliefs, infectious diseases are called forth by the
goddess of the sun Barbar Barbol, and her daughters and sons. The goddess of
the sun at the same time governs diseases of the eye. The sun itself, as is well
known, is associated with the eye. Besides, in the past it was specifically
infectious diseases, and especially smallpox, which often appeared as the
cause of loss of sight.
With the infectious illnesses were linked a certain ritual, attached to the
goddess of the sun Barbar or to one of her hypostases, the goddess Nana.
Included in this ritual was circling around the sick person by girls and young
men dressed in white and red clothes, the singing of ceremonial hymns or
prayers addressed to Barbar, the sprinkling of the sick person with infusions of
roses and violets, dances, the lighting of lamps with walnut oil, the prohibition
of knocking and loud talking and the use of cutting and pricking items, so as
not to alarm the unseen ones to be found near the sick man, ―batonebi‖, or
―lords‖ (taken from Georgian Folk Traditions and Legends by E.B.
Virsaladze, translated by D.G. Hunt. First published in 1973 by NAUKA
Publishing House in Moscow, and available in the British Library. P. 92).
Modern scientific medicine, on the other hand, is based on the principle
Contraria contrariis curantur (opposite cures the opposite). This approach
dates back to ancient Kolcheti, and the legendary Medea, acquiring its final
form in Greek medicine, and afterwards transforming into European medicine.
Georgian medicine originated at the crossroads of the East and the West,
resulting in a harmonious integration of eastern and western medical
traditions.
Georgian traditional medicine comprises the methods of diagnosis and
treatment which exist in Sumerian, Chinese, Indian, Tibetan, as well as in
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 10
Greek and Roman medicine. As practised today, it is based on research into
ancient written classical documents and folk medicine.
What we have in this Chapter, though, are the kind of folk cures that are
passed down from parents to children. Though not medically proven to be of
benefit, they have been tried and tested over generations, they cannot do you
any damage and, as with all such folk remedies, they could do you a great deal
of good. However, use your common sense, and if the symptoms persist, do
see a qualified allopathic doctor, naturopath or homoeopath about the problem
please.
In case of a headache:
Peel the skin of a lemon and place the strips on both temples.
Twice a day, apply 2-3 Aloe drops to each nostril.
Place fresh cabbage leaves on the temples, forehead and the back of
the neck (under your hair).
During migraine attacks, use a mustard compress, placing it on your
neck (under your hair) and on the soles of your feet.
In case of an earache:
Place a warmed up brick, wrapped in a cloth, over the ear, or apply a
cloth with heated salt in it.
Warm up the juice of cabbage and insert some drops into the affected
ear.
In case of a sty in the eye:
Use a compress made from the inside of a newly baked rye bread.
Soak cotton pads in strong tea and place on the affected eye
In case of Blepharitis (an ocular condition characterized by chronic
inflammation of the eyelid):
One spoonful of honey in two spoonfuls of warm water - use as drops
for the eyes or as a poultice
In case of a toothache:
To the inside of the wrist, apply crushed garlic. Then apply the
crushed garlic to the place where you can feel the pulse, and bind it
tightly with a bandage. If the tooth is on the left side of your mouth
put the garlic on the right side, but if the tooth is on the right side then
put the garlic on the left side.
Folk Cures 11
Use warm salted water to gargle with.
Insert a filling of beeswax into the painful tooth.
For whitening the teeth and to prevent caries:
Grind salt and add 2-3 drops of extra virgin olive oil to it. Then, with
your finger, brush your teeth once or twice a day for 5 minutes.
Massage it into your gums too.
To prevent your teeth from getting discoloured, twice a week brush
your teeth with a little baking soda plus a few drops of lemon juice.
In case of a loose tooth:
Soak 15 bay leaves in two teacupfuls of vodka and boil for to 2-3
minutes. Gargle with the warm liquid 2-3 times a day.
Place blackberry (or redcurrant) , walnut and mint leaves into a clay
container, pour hot wine vinegar into it, leave for 3 days, and then
gargle with the mixture several times a day.
In case of gingivitis (inflammation of the gums):
Dissolve half a teaspoon of salt (sea salt)in a glass of water and gargle
with it.
To strengthen the gums:
Chew blackberry leaves
In case of bleeding gums:
massage them with plantain juice.
Pour one tea cup of boiling water on to two tablespoonfuls of stinging
nettle leaves, leave for 15 minutes, then filter and gargle (for when
you have inflamed gums or a sore throat.
For swollen or irritated gums, apply thin strips of potato peel.
When suffering from inflammation of the lining of the mouth:
Gargle with a solution consisting of half a litre of filtered water and a
half litre of the juice of a fresh cabbage.
In case of a runny nose:
Before going to bed at night place a mustard compress on the sole of
each foot. Bandage well and wear thick woollen socks.
Add a spoonful of horseradish to your meal.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 12
Several times a day, inhale 2-3 drops of aloe or beetroot juice, or
some drops of the oily juice of an onion and garlic.
If your nose becomes really runny, every 2-3 hours swallow one
tablespoonful of honey mixed with onion (cut into small pieces or
squeezed).
In case of influenza:
To prevent the onset of flu, cut 2-3 cloves of garlic into small pieces,
pour 30-50ml of boiled water over them, leave for a couple of hours,
strain and use 2-3 drops in each nostril for one or two days.
Inhale an infusion made from grated garlic for 10-15 minutes twice a
day.
In case of a persistent cough:
Pour a few drops of wine vinegar on to a cube of sugar and suck this.
Cut an onion into small pieces, squeeze and strain. Take one
teaspoonful three times a day (this is also effective for tonsillitis).
Mix equal amounts of carrot juice and milk and drink a glass 5-6
times a day.
Eat a lightly baked onion with a sprinkling of sugar.
Smear a spoonful of honey on your chest and cover with a cloth. Your
body will absorb the honey and your cough will ease.
When feeling sick:
Stir crushed garlic into a glass of water and drink.
If you have a high temperature:
Soak a pair of socks in a solution of vinegar and water (1 part of
vinegar with 2-3 parts of water), wring them, wear them and cover
yourself with a warm blanket.
In case of bronchitis:
Add two or three drops of lemon juice to 50 grams of grated
horseradish. Take one teaspoonful twice a day (don‘t eat or drink for a
while after taking each dose).
In case of an asthma attack:
Place a bowl of ammonium chloride in the room.
Folk Cures 13
In case of pneumonia:
Soak two cloths in vinegar, wring and place one on the patient‘s back,
and one on the patient‘s chest. Repeat several times and then massage
the areas with goat‘s fat.
Mix together one tablespoonful of honey, one tablespoonful of
mustard powder, and one tablespoonful of vodka. Then warm up the
mixture, and apply this to a compress to place on the patient‘s chest
(leaving it there for the whole night).
In case of weakening of the heart muscle:
Liquidize the skins and juice of four lemons with four cloves of garlic
and 3 liters of filtered water in a mixer, and leave for 24 hours in a
warm, sunny place. Take 50 grams 3 times each day. If the symptoms
persist, you can repeat the treatment.
In case of high blood pressure:
Mix one cupful of honey, the same amount of carrot juice and
horseradish, and the juice of one lemon. Take one tablespoonful three
times a day.
Soak your legs up to the knees in hot water mixed with vinegar and
mustard. Soak a cloth in vinegar and place it on your forehead.
Add 5 bay leaves to 5 liters of cold water and bring to the boil. After
the liquid cools down, drain and drink instead of water.
Mix two spoonfuls of mustard in half a bucket of hot water and soak
your feet in it for 15 minutes.
Mix 2 liters of vinegar with 1 liter of vodka and massage into your
legs and arms, then your chest and back. You can also use a mix of
vinegar and warm water to soak your legs in for 15-20 minutes.
Crush 3 lemons and 3 cloves of garlic together. Mix in filtered water
and take one tablespoonful a day.
After having a warm bath, apply fig leaves to the soles of your feet,
and leave them in place until they dry and fall off.
When feeling tired and weak:
Take one or two tablespoonfuls of celery juice as a tonic (but not if
you are pregnant).
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 14
In case of radiculitis (inflammation of the spinal nerve roots):
Massage the back with the juice of a radish or wrap grated radish in a
cloth and apply it to your back.
In case of kidney pain:
Drink an infusion made from rosehip or blackcurrant roots.
If the problem is due to kidney stones, then take one tablespoonful of
onion juice 2-3 times a day.
In case of diarrhea:
Drink mint tea several times a day.
Boil the skin of a pomegranate in water, sweeten the liquid if
required, and drink.
In case of constipation:
Drink a class of carrot juice three times a day.
Take a tablespoonful of Aloe Vera three times a day.
Drink the juice of a sour cabbage.
Drink carrot and beetroot juice or boil dill in water (this should be
green in colour) and drink
In case of cystitis:
Drink tea made from the hairy bits on the outside of a cob of corn or
sour cherry twigs. Add a spoonful of honey to sweeten if required.
Add 200 grams of the roots of celery to one liter of water and boil for
2-3 minutes. Wait until the liquid cools, strain and drink this regularly
until the condition is cured.
In case of liver pain:
Add half a glass of the juice from a sour cabbage to half a glass of the
juice from freshly squeezed tomatoes and drink three times a day after
meals.
In case of jaundice:
Instead of water, drink tea made from boiled rosehip roots.
Folk Cures 15
In case of a stomach ache or duodenal problems:
Take freshly squeezed potato juice (¾ of a 200 gram glass) early in
the morning before breakfast
In case of gastritis:
Before meals drink one glass of freshly squeezed cabbage juice.
In case of high stomach acidity:
Grate a kilo of carrots and extract the juice. Take one tablespoonful of
the juice, twice a day, every morning and evening.
Mix 30 grams of honey in one teacupful of cold water and take twice
a day (100 grams each time) - in the morning before breakfast (40
minutes before), and in the evening five hours after supper (repeat
every five days).
In case of low acidity:
Stir 40 grams of honey into one teacupful of warm water and drink
before going to bed.
In case of heartburn, after meals drink one glass of cold water with
one tablespoonful of honey. If the level of acidity is high though,
drink the water with honey one hour before meals.
In case of a stomach ulcer:
Extract the juice from three large potatoes, (50-100 grams) and drink
it in the morning before breakfast. If the disease becomes chronic, you
can repeat this up to a maximum of twelve times.
Wash a potato, cut and boil it, but without any salt. Drink the boiled
water – one glass three times a day. Use a new potato each time you
make the liquid.
In case of a swollen intestine:
Take one spoonful of onion juice daily for two or three days.
In case of swollen legs:
Mix natural yoghurt and vodka, spread on to a cotton cloth, and cover
the affected areas with it.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 16
In case of rheumatism:
Apply slices of radish to the painful joint, bandage and leave on
overnight.
In case of joint pain:
Grind the leaves of blackcurrant, mix with water, and strain through a
sieve. Warm up the liquid, soak a cloth in it, and place over the
affected joint.
Before breakfast take a mixture of honey and aloe juice (one
tablespoonful of each).
Bring to boil tarragon roots and then drink the liquid.
Mix one tablespoonful of honey and one tablespoonful of vinegar.
Place on a cabbage leaf and apply with a bandage over the painful
joint.
Add the white of one egg to half a tablespoonful of lemon acid, and
massage into the painful joint.
In case of boils:
Fry an onion, cut it in half and place on the boil
In case of burns:
Peel a potato, grate it, spread the mixture on a cloth and place it over
the affected area. As soon as it warms up, replace with a fresh cloth.
Mix one tablespoonful of olive oil, two tablespoonfuls of sour cream
and the yellow of an egg. Place thick layer the substance over the burn
and cover with a bandage. Change the bandage once a day.
Wash the affected area with cold water and then place baking soda on
the burn.
Apple vinegar can be used to help relieve the pain caused by burns.
To help a wound to heal:
Cut a leaf of Aloe and place over the wound.
Apply castor oil to the wound.
If the wound contains pus, place grated carrot over it.
In case of a bee or wasp sting:
Dissolve baking soda in water and spread over the affected area.
Folk Cures 17
For a bee sting, apply parsley juice, but in the case of mosquito bite
use lemon juice or vinegar.
In case of Athlete’s Foot:
Remove the leaves from a stalk of mint, add sea salt and place
between the affected toes for an hour. Repeat the procedure as and
when required.
Wash the feet first, and then soak them in wine vinegar.
In case of insomnia:
Take a spoonful of honey before going to bed.
In case of diabetes:
Place 18 flowers of a lilac in a bottle and pour hot boiling water over
them. Drain the liquid through a sieve and take 100 grams 2-3 times a
day.
Place one tablespoonful of buckwheat in a mug, pour boiling water
over it, wrap the mug in a cloth and leave overnight. Pass through a
sieve in the morning, and then eat the porridge-like substance. Repeat
the process on a regular basis for a month.
In case of blackheads:
Clean the face with onion or garlic juice.
How to get rid of a wart:
Place half a raw onion on the wart, and keep doing so until the
problem is resolved.
Tie a silk thread around it and leave it in place until the wart falls off.
In case of a sore finger (containing pus):
Insert the finger into boiling hot water, as hot as you can take.
Afterwards, bind with a cabbage leaf.
In case of sprained or dislocated limbs:
Boil the leaves of walnut tree and pine needles and add to your bath.
Afterwards, place walnut, cabbage or plantain leaves on the affected
area and keep them in place with a bandage.
If you sweat excessively during the night:
Before going to bed, massage apple vinegar into your body.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 18
In case of halitosis or to deal with bad breath:
Chew parsley and mint, coffee beans, coriander seeds or the skin of a
lemon
Add water to strawberry leaves, bring to the boil, and gargle with it
when it cools down.
For strengthening the hair:
Massage warm corn oil into the scalp, soak a towel in hot water,
wring and cover the hair with it. Then wash the hair with a natural
shampoo. This will give you hair a healthy sheen.
Pour one teacupful of hot boiling water over one spoonful of stinging
nettle leaves. Leave for an hour until it cools down, strain through a
sieve and, after washing your hair, massage the liquid into the skin.
(Repeat once or twice a week).
Massage grated green apple into the roots of your hair.
To cure dandruff or a flaky scalp:
Make an infusion from stinging nettles and pour it over your head
after washing your hair.
Mix equal amounts of olive and sunflower oils with two eggs and
massage into your scalp. Then wash it out, but without shampoo or
soap. Rinse your hair with vinegar on the second day. Then repeat the
procedure a second time, but instead of vinegar use water mixed with
baking soda. On the third day rinse your hair with strong tea.
In case of greasy hair:
Add 2-3 teaspoonfuls of mustard to water to make a porridge-like
substance, massage your head with it and leave on for 10-15 minutes.
Then wash it off with warm water.
Cut 100-150 grams of black bread or the crust of the bread and pour
boiling water over it to make a porridge-like substance. When it cools
down, massage it into your head and leave it in place for 20-30
minutes. Then wash it off with warm water.
REFERENCES
‗Study of the History of Medicine in Georgia‘ by Ramaz Shengelia,
Department of the History of Medicine, Tbilisi State Medical University,
Folk Cures 19
Tbilisi, Georgia. In The Croatian Medical Journal, March 1999 (Volume
40, Number 1).
E.B. Virsaladze, E.B. (1973) Georgian Folk Traditions and Legends,
translated by D.G. Hunt. First published in 1973 by NAUKA Publishing
House in Moscow, and available in the British Library).
Turmanidze N, Shengelia R. Georgian traditional medicine in Turmanidze's
‖Medea‖ [in Georgian]. Tbilisi: Engadi; 1993.
Chapter 4
BELIEF IN THE EVIL EYE
The evil eye is a widespread belief that unlucky events can ensue if you
attract the attention of particular people. These people, sometimes
involuntarily, sometimes voluntarily, can cast a malignant spell on others
simply by looking at them. Belief in the evil eye is still active, and there are
many cultures which take it very seriously. Some believe the power is called
forth by the sin of envy. This explains why the primary victims are thought to
be babies and young children, because they are so often praised and
commented upon by strangers or by childless women.
People with the evil eye, are to be found in all stations of life.
Pope Pius IX, for one, was reputed to be possessed of the evil eye, and
the women, while kneeling for his blessing as he passed, would make a
counteracting sign under their skirts. This belief arises from the natural
reaction of simple people to the arrestingly piercing and vital qualities that
often illumine the eyes of men of strong personality, and is a response just as
much to the personality as to the eye itself. There are baleful glances, just as
there are malevolent men, and the superstitious imagination tends to run away
with itself (Trachtenberg, 1939, pp. 55-56)..
There is, however, believed to be another type of evil eye:
The second is the type the Germans denote with the words berufen or
beschreien. Its root is the pagan conviction that the gods and the spirits are
essentially man's adversaries, that they envy him his joys and his triumphs,
and spitefully harry him for the felicities they do not share. "Just as hope
never forsakes man in adversity, so fear is his constant companion in good
fortune, fear that it may desert him; he apprehends equally the envy of the
gods, and the envy of his fellow-men—the evil eye." The attention of the
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 22
spirit-world is cocked to detect the least word or gesture of commendation.
… A glance that expresses approbation is as eloquent as a speech, and just as
likely to arouse their malice. Such words and glances, in themselves perhaps
innocent, constitute the evil eye, which brings swift persecution in its wake.
We may say that this belief is a hypostatization of the evil which man
discerns in invidiousness, a translation of a profound poetic truth into the
language of superstition.
Rabbinic Judaism was acquainted with both aspects of the evil eye.
Several rabbis of the Talmud were accredited with the power to turn men into
"a heap of bones" with a glance, or to cause whatever their gaze fell upon to
burst into flames. But the second aspect was predominant. As has been
pointed out by several scholars, the jettatura proper seems to have been
introduced into Jewish thought by those Talmudic authorities who came
under the influence of the Babylonian environment. The Palestinian sources,
and in particular the Mishna, know the evil eye only as an expression of the
moral powers of envy and hatred. The Palestinian view prevailed in later
Jewish life, though the other was not unknown." In order to counteract the
"moral" version of the evil eye it has become customary over a very wide
area to append a prophylactic phrase, such as "May the Lord protect thee,"
"no evil eye," "Unbeschrieen," to every laudatory remark. Medieval Jewry
pursued not only this practice, but also the equally well-known device of
expressing its approbation in highly unflattering terms: "A man will call his
handsome son 'Ethiop,' to avoid casting the evil eye upon him," said Rashi.
Any act or condition that in itself may excite the envy of the spirits is subject
to the evil eye; taking a census or even estimating the size of a crowd,
possession of wealth, performing an act which is normally a source of pride
or joy—all evoke its pernicious effects. A father leading his child to school
for the first time took the precaution to screen him with his cloak. Members
of a family were reluctant to follow each other in reciting the blessings over
the Torah before a congregation. A double wedding in one household, or
indeed, any two simultaneous marriages were avoided for this reason. Even
animals and plants were subject to the evil eye; a man who admired his
neighbor's crop was suspected of casting the evil eye upon it (Trachtenberg,
1939, pp. 55-56).
Ashkenazi Jews, even today, routinely exclaim Keyn aynhoreh!, meaning
"No evil eye!" in Yiddish, to ward off a jinx after something or someone has
been rashly praised or good news has been spoken aloud.
Belief in the evil eye is found in Islamic doctrine too, based upon the
statement of Prophet Muhammad, "The influence of an evil eye is a fact..."
[Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Number 5427]. And authentic practices of warding
off the evil eye are commonly practised by Muslims. For example, rather than
Belief in the Evil Eye 23
directly expressing appreciation of a child's beauty, it is customary to say
Masha’Allah, that is, "God has willed it," or invoking God's blessings upon the
object or person that is being admired. In Islam, God is the only one who can
protect against the evil eye. No object or symbol can.
The concept of the evil eye is also evident in other World Religions. A
simple and instant form of protection in European Christian countries is to
make the sign of the cross with your hand and point two fingers, the index
finger and the little finger, towards the supposed source of influence or
supposed victim. And in the Republic of Georgia, where most people are
Orthodox Christians, the following prayer is still said over children to protect
them:
A prayer for protection from the evil eye:
Alisasa malisasa I will say the prayer to protect you from the evil eye
First of all, from my own evil eye
Then from those you know and from those you don‘t know
From the old or from the young
From the tall or from the short
From the green-eyed or from the black-eyed.
May who has looked at you with the evil eye have
ashes in their eyes and a sword in their heart (repeat this line three times)
Our lord you help my grandchild- Ketevan
One demon was asking the other
What can we teach this girl?
Let‘s place a sword, a dagger, a mirror and a comb under her pillow
May three hundred and sixty five St Georges‘s give their blessing to her
And the evil will depart.
Our lord help my grandchild- Ketevan
An axe was going to the forest
To cut a handle for itself
And if that handle will be useful for the axe
There is no reason why my prayer won‘t be useful for my grandchild
Our lord help my grandchild- Ketevan
I [Ketevan Kalandadze] come from the Republic of Georgia and I
remember my grandma saying this prayer over me when I was a child. She
used to hold a piece of coal and a safety pin in her hand during the recital of
the whole prayer, painting crosses on my forehead and the palms of my
hands. If she started yawning during the prayer it meant that I definitely had
caught an evil eye from someone. At the end of the prayer, she would attach a
safety pin to my dress and it had to be worn for two or three days.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 24
Despite the fact that Georgia has frequently been invaded by people from
outside Europe, including Arabs, Armenians, Turks, Iranians, and Mongols,
the people have somehow been able to retain their identity. This can be
attributed in part to the inaccessibility of the mountainous regions of the
country, and in part to the unique Georgian language and alphabet. Kartuli, the
Georgian language, is part of the Ibero-Caucasian family of languages and is
distinct from Indo-European, Turkic, and Semitic languages. It does not have
any connection to other Northern Caucasian language groups either, even
though it resembles them phonetically.
Above all, however, the way in which the Georgians have been able to
resist being assimilated into alien cultures can probably be attributed to their
Orthodox Christian faith, the faith that the people resolutely held on to even
when forbidden from openly practising it in Soviet times. As in other former
Soviet states, that faith is now flourishing perhaps as never before. However,
the situation was undoubtedly once very different, as we know from the
traditional folktales of the people as well as from the pagan rites still being
performed. And what we have in this prayer for protection from the evil eye is
the remnants of one such rite.
Here are two further prayers used for the same purpose:
Against the evil eye
I had a maize field in Jerusalem,
There was a black rock in the field,
Under the black rock there was a black snake
That black snake had one water eye and one fire eye,
The water poured out of the water eye and put out the fire eye,
Who looks at you with an evil eye
Will have both eyes put out!
Alisasa Malisasa, I will say the prayer to protect you from the evil eye of
kin and kith,
Of the known and unknown,
From the evil eye of the grey-eyed or the black-eyed,
It rained black rain on black grass,
A black rock cracked and a black cow appeared,
A black woman came out and milked a black cow
The one who will look at you with an evil eye will climb a black slippery
stone!
I am the one who prays and the high God who looks after you!
Belief in the Evil Eye 25
And prayers which clearly have pre-Christian origins are also said to drive
migraine away:
Against Migraine
Migraine has crept in at the end of the field,
Eating the blood vessels as the ox eats hay,
A small axe which has a wooden handle can cut down a big tree
May my prayer be medicine for you!
St. George will curse your migraine and make it creep out in
the morning!
On Monday morning,
Migraine embraced me,
What is the remedy?
Three clovers with three leaves,
Yet unused needle, red thread
Brush the forehead with them
And the migraine will hastily ride off into the distance!
(This was repeated 5-6 times while the forehead of the sick person was
being patted)
Although the traditional Georgian religion is commonly described as
polytheistic, in fact this is a fallacy as there is a clear distinction between the
Supreme God (Morige Ghmerti), creator and sustainer of the universe, and all
other divine beings, as there is in other so-called polytheistic religions such as
Yoruba. And many of the deities have taken on Christian names, as is the case
with Santeira in Brazil for example, so that as in some parts of Europe what
we find is that the worship of particular saints was actually founded upon the
worship of pagan deities. Among the principal figures, for example, are ―St.
George‖ (tsminda Giorgi), the ―Archangel‖.
Kviria served as mediator between the supreme god (ghmerti) and
humans, and was invoked as protector of human society and instrument of
divine justice. In some regions, he was also believed to be a deity of fertility
and harvest while, in the mountains of western Georgia, Kviria was worshiped
as the supreme deity. Special festivals, known as kveritskhovloba, were
organized to honour him.
Another way of avoiding the Evil Eye was by shape-shifting, the
technique the peasant‘s son uses in the following story to escape from the
devil‘s clutches:
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 26
MASTER AND PUPIL (OR THE DEVIL OUTWITTED)
ONCE upon a time there was a poor peasant who had one son. And it
came to pass that his wife said to him: 'He should learn some trade, for when
he is separated from thee, what will he do if he is left ignorant like thee?' The
wife importuned him; she gave him no rest. So the peasant took his child, and
went to seek a master for him. On the way they were thirsty. He saw a rivulet,
drank eagerly till his thirst was quenched, and when he lifted up his head he
cried out: 'Ah! how good thou art!' On saying this, there came forth from the
water a devil in the form of a man, and said to the peasant: 'What dost thou
want, O man! I am Vakhraca; what troubles thee?' The peasant told him all his
story. The devil, when he learnt this, said: 'Give me this son of thine: I will
teach him for one year, then come hither; if thou knowest him, it is well, he
will go with thee; if not, he is mine and mine alone, he shall be lost to thee.'
Now this devil had other children to bring up on the same conditions; and,
since in a year children change so much that their parents may no longer know
them, the devil always had the best of it. The peasant knew nothing about this;
he agreed to the proposal, and went home. A year passed by, and the father of
the child came to the devil; he did not find the devil at home. He saw in the
courtyard a multitude of boys, and looked again and again, but could not
recognise his boy. He was sad. However, his own son came up and knew him.
Then the boy said: 'Presently my instructor will come; he will turn us all into
doves, and we shall fly away; in the flight I shall fly before all, and in the
return I shall be behind all; and when my master asks thee which is thy son,
thou wilt point to me.' The peasant rejoiced, and awaited the master with a
hopeful heart. In a little while the master appeared. He called his pupils, turned
them into doves, and ordered them to fly away. The peasant's son flew before
all, and when they returned remained behind. The master inquired: 'Now, dost
thou know which is thy son?' The peasant pointed him out. The devil was
enraged when he perceived the trick his pupil had played him, but what did it
matter! The boy left him.
The father went and took his son with him. They came to a place where
nobles were hunting: some greyhounds were pursuing a hare, but they could
not catch it. The boy said to his father: 'Go thou into the wood, raise a hare. I
will turn into a hound, and will seize it before the eyes of these nobles. The
nobles will follow thee, and will be anxious to buy me. Ask a high price, and
sell me to them. Then I shall seize the first opportunity to escape, and overtake
thee on the road.' The father went into the wood and started a hare; his son
turned into a hound, pursued the hare, and, just before the eyes of the nobles,
Belief in the Evil Eye 27
he pounced on it. They crowded round the peasant, and insisted upon buying
the dog. The peasant asked a high price, which they paid in exchange for the
hound. The nobles attached a cord to the dog, and went away. When they had
travelled a little way along the road a hare started from the thicket. They let the
hound loose, and sent him after it. When he had chased the hare a long way,
and had lost sight of the nobles, he changed again into a boy, and followed his
father.
The father and son went on their way; the money seemed inadequate. 'I
must get some more,' said the son. They looked round; another party of nobles
were pursuing a pheasant; the falcons flew after it, but for some reason could
not catch it. The boy changed himself into a falcon, and sported with the
pheasant in the air, just before the nobles' eyes. He brought it down; they were
frantic with pleasure, and said to the peasant: 'Thou must sell this falcon to us.'
The peasant again fixed a high price, to which the nobles agreed, and this they
paid him in exchange for the falcon. The peasant went on his way. The nobles,
after travelling some distance, sent the falcon in pursuit of another pheasant.
The falcon flew after the bird, and, when he was out of the nobles' sight,
changed into a boy and joined his father.
The father and son went on with their money, but the son was not content
with it. He said to his father: 'Come, I will change into a splendid horse; mount
me, go into a town and sell me. But remember not to sell me to a man with
variegated eyes; if thou dost, do not give him the bridle, for then, thou
knowest, I shall not be able to free myself from his hands.' On saying this, the
boy changed into a splendid, spirited horse, his father mounted and rode into
the town. Here he saw many who wanted to buy it, but more eager than any
was a man with variegated eyes. Whenever any one added a manethi (rouble)
to the price, he added a thuman (ten roubles). Love of money conquered the
peasant, and he sold the horse to the man with variegated eyes. He bought the
bridle with it, mounted the horse and spurred it on. He went, disappeared, and
could no longer contain his joy that he had his pupil once more in his power.
He reached home, shut the horse in a dark room, and locked the door. His
pupil lay down and was sad; he thought and grieved, but there seemed to be no
help for him; time passed, and he could contrive no means of escape.
One day he noticed that a sunbeam entered the stable through a hole. He
changed himself into a mouse and ran out. His master saw him, however, and
pursued him as a cat. The mouse ran, the cat followed. Just when the cat was
about to seize him in his mouth, the mouse turned into a fish swimming in a
stream. The master turned into a net and followed him; the fish swam away,
but the net came after him. Just when the net was going to cover him, the fish
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 28
changed into a pheasant and flew away. The master pursued him as a falcon.
The pheasant flew on and the falcon followed. When the falcon was about to
put its claws into him, he turned into a red apple, and rolled into the king's lap.
The falcon changed into a knife in the king's hand. Just when the king was
going to cut the apple, it changed into a codi (80 lbs.) of millet spread on a
cloth. The devil changed himself into a brood-hen, and began to eat it. When it
had eaten almost all, and only left one grain, this grain turned into a needle,
and rolled in front of the hen, which changed into a thread in the eye of the
needle. As it was about to hold back the needle, the needle ran into the fire and
burned the thread. The boy thus escaped from the devil, went home to his
father, and lived happily ever afterwards.
(Taken from Wardrop, M. (1894) Georgian Folk Tales, London: David
Nutt in the Strand. Scanned, proofed and formatted at sacred-texts.com, July
2006, by John Bruno Hare. This text is in the public domain in the United
States because it was published prior to 1923.
REFERENCES
Trachtenberg, J. (1939) Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk
Religion. New York: Behrman's Jewish Book House. Scanned, proofed
and formatted by John Bruno Hare at sacred-texts.com, January 2008.
This text is in the public domain in the US because its copyright was not
renewed in a timely fashion at the US Copyright office as required by law
at the time.
Chapter 5
NATSILIANI (MAGICAL BIRTHMARKS)
The dictionary definition of a birthmark is a blemish on the skin formed
before birth, and they are part of the group of skin lesions known as naevi. The
cause of birthmarks is unknown, but may include cellular damage due to
radiation or chemicals, and some types seem to run in families.
Birthmarks are called voglie in Italian, antojos in Spanish, and wiham in
Arabic; all of which translate to "wishes" because, according to folklore, they
are caused by unsatisfied wishes of the mother during pregnancy. For
example, if a pregnant woman does not satisfy a sudden wish, or craving, for
strawberries, it is said that the infant might bear a strawberry mark.
In Dutch, birthmarks are called moedervlekken and in Danish
modermærke (mother-spots) because it was thought that an infant inherited the
marks solely from the mother. The Hungarian word for any flat mole (as
opposed to only congenital birthmarks), anyajegy, is also derived from this
belief.
Some myths or ―old wives‘ tales‖ associated with birthmarks say they are
caused when an expectant mother sees something strange, or experiences a
great deal of fear. In Iranian folklore, a birthmark appears when the pregnant
mother touches a part of her body during a solar eclipse. In Georgia, however,
the explanation is somewhat different:
A person may be born with a natsili (ნაწილი - a magic birthmark) on
their chest, shoulder blades or on their head. The birthmark on the shoulder
can be shaped like an eagle, a star or a cross. On the head the birthmark is
often covered with grey hair and may shine and glow at night.
People born with a magic birthmark were always lucky and powerful.
They were successful in wars, never got wounded or killed and the chainmail
worn by them could never be penetrated.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 30
Only the mother of the person knew about her son‘s magic power but she
would never reveal this secret as this would lead to her son losing his power
and maybe even to his death. Natsiliani himself was also unwilling to let his
secret out. This made him follow a solitary and secretive way of life, so much
so that he would even sleep with his clothes on.
Not only human beings but some animals such as a horse, a tiger and an
eagle may also be born with a magic birthmark. This means that such animals
are also immune to bullets and danger.
In one of the villages of Georgia, Gometsari, there lived a man by the
name of Mose Davituliani who was born with the magic sign on his shoulder-
blade shaped like an eagle. When young, this man was affluent and owned a
number of sheep and cattle. In his old age, when his days were numbered, his
daughters–in-law were advised by a certain person, an inhabitant of the same
village who apparently knew about Mose being natsiliani, to bite Mose on the
finger three times. According to the widespread belief, this would keep the
luck and power attached to the birthmark from leaving the family. The
daughters-in-law did not follow this advice, though – either because they were
scared or felt sorry for their dying father-in-law. Anyway, as a result, this man
took his magic birthmark (and luck) with him to the grave.
After the death of a Natsiliani,his magic birthmark belongs to the snake.
The snake will tear it off the skin of the dead person, either before or after the
time of burial. This happens because the magic birthmarkis classed as a
natvristvali (ნატვრისთვალი - a magic talisman). Afterwards, a shepherd
will usually steal the magic talisman from the snake and hide it in the
foundations of his dwelling place. Here, the magic talismanis usually found by
the snake-protector of the household, who looks after it and thus guarantees a
happy and carefree life to the family. However, if the snake-protector is killed,
the good luck will disappear as well.
The tradition of biting a dying person‘s finger in order to retain luck must
have been quite popular in Georgia. I (Manana Rusieshvili) remember that on
her deathbed my grandma called us and asked us to bite her small finger three
times. She explained this by reminding us of the common belief that
sometimes the luck of the whole family depends on one member of the family
and in case of their death luck also disappears. For the same reason, after a
death in some parts of Georgia, the coffin of the deceased was knocked against
the wall three times before leaving the house.
Chapter 6
THE MEANING OF DREAMS
A dream can be defined as a succession of images, sounds or emotions
that the mind experiences during sleep. Although the content and purpose of
dreams are not fully understood, they have been a topic of speculation and
interest throughout recorded history, and the scientific study of dreams is
known as oneirology.
Going right back to biblical times, people have sought meaning in dreams
or divination through dreams – Jacob‘s dream of a ladder of angels, for
example. Dreams have been described physiologically as a response to neural
processes during sleep, psychologically as reflections of the subconscious, and
spiritually as messages from gods, the deceased, and as predictions of the
future or from the Soul. Many cultures practise dream incubation, with the
intention of cultivating dreams that were prophetic or contained messages
from the divine, and Judaism has a traditional ceremony called Hatavat Halom
– literally meaning "making the dream a good one." Through this rite
disturbing dreams can be transformed to give a positive interpretation by a
rabbi or a rabbinic court.
Dreams were historically used for healing (as in the asclepieions found in
the ancient Greek temples of Asclepius) as well as for guidance or divine
inspiration. Some Native American tribes used vision quests as a rite of
passage, fasting and praying until an anticipated guiding dream was received,
to be shared with the rest of the tribe upon their return. And by entering trance
states – induced by repetitive drumming, dancing in circles like the Sufis, or
by taking psychoactive drugs – shamans journey into non-ordinary reality
(which can be regarded as a form of dreaming).
The recall of dreams is extremely unreliable, though it is a skill that can be
developed with practice. Dreams can usually be recalled if a person is
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 32
awakened while dreaming, and a dream journal can be used to assist dream
recall for psychotherapy or entertainment purposes. They also say that the less
you move after waking up and before noting down your dream, the more you
will be able to remember when you write up your account. And lot of people
these days hang Native American Dream Catchers above their beds, which are
believed to keep bad dream away during the night. At least 95% of all dreams
are not remembered, though. This is believed to be because certain brain
chemicals necessary for converting short-term memories into long-term ones
are suppressed during REM sleep, so unless a dream is particularly vivid and if
one wakes during or immediately after it, the content of the dream will not be
remembered.
However, for those dreams you are able to remember, in other words the
ones that are more likely to be significant to you, it is hoped the following
interpretations will prove to be of interest.
The dreams are presented alphabetically according to their key words for
ease of reference:
Seeing ants in your dream is a lucky omen whereas killing them is a sign
of bad news.
Eating an apple is a sign of victory.
Seeing an apple that has changed its colour is a sign of bad news.
Seeing an apple tree indicates a meeting with a celebrity.
Seeing ashes is a sign of sorrow and bad news to come.
A newly born baby in a dream is a warning of illness or that something
upsetting will happen.
A bank note is a lucky sign but loose change is just the opposite
The appearance of a bath in your dream is a good omen.
The sound of a bear roaring is a sign that good news is on its way to you.
An encounter with a man who has a white beard is a sign you have to
pray.
If you are beaten in a dream, you will visit a far away country.
Seeing a bed in a dream is a sign of ill health to follow.
Planting beetroot is a sign of good luck whereas eating it signifies great
misfortune.
Hearing the sound of a bell is a sign of good news.
Eating berries is a sign you will get seriously ill.
Seeing a bird of prey in a dream indicates bad luck.
The Meaning of Dreams 33
Birds generally bring good luck. However, if a bird tells you something, it
means you need to light a candle for a relative or friend who has passed away,
or that she/he is warning you about something.
The letting of blood is a sign of weakening or deteriorating health.
If you see a loaded boat in a dream, then a period of unhappiness is what
you face.
Taking or reading a torn book in a dream indicates that you are about to
fall ill.
Bread in a dream is an indication that your family is going to acquire
more wealth.
A broken bridge is a warning of death.
Seeing burned people points to the death of a head of a family.
Seeing a camel indicates that you will go on a journey, but if you are
sitting on a camel it means you are going to have an accident.
Seeing camels is an indication that there is going to be a war.
A burning candle means great happiness.
Lighting a candle in your dream signifies the birth of a new member of
the family.
Travelling by cart signifies the impending death of someone in your
family.
Seeing a cat in a dream indicates that there is resentment in your family.
If you are chained in a dream, it means you will have bad luck and
experience hardships.
Seeing ceramics or crockery is a good sign, and indicates that you‘ll buy
something.
Seeing or eating cheese is an indication of something bad to come.
Seeing a chest indicates you will be getting some money or that riches are
on the horizon for you.
A church in a dream indicates you need to go to church and light a
candle.
If you find yourself in a church lighting a candle in your dream, it means
you have been blessed.
Praying in a church is a sign of happiness.
New clothes are a portent of happiness
Losing one‘s clothes in a dream signifies failure.
Putting on or wearing black clothes is a good sign whereas putting on or
wearing white clothes is an indication that something bad will happen to you
or someone in your family.
Seeing a cloud is a sign of happiness.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 34
Making a coffin is a sign of happiness and respect.
Feeling cold in a dream indicates impending fights with one‘s friends.
Cotton is an indication of good being done.
Seeing and milking a cow in a dream is a sign of wealth and a good life to
look forward to.
A cradle is a sign of happiness.
A cradle in a dream is a sign of sincerity and honesty too.
Taking a cross from someone by force suggests something bad is about to
happen to you.
Sitting cross-legged in a dream signifies sorrow and problems.
Hearing a crow crowing or seeing it in a dream is a warning that a relative
will die.
Seeing a crystal is a reason for gladness.
Sitting in darkness is the sign of very bad news.
Seeing dead people in a dream indicates that certain people are going to
turn against you.
Burying a dead person is a sign a wish will be fulfilled.
If you see a dead person taking something from your home or he/she is
asking for something, this is always a bad omen. However, if you see a dead
person bringing something to you or reassuring you, this is regarded as a good
sign.
If you see a dead person in a good mood it is a sign of good luck to come,
but if you see a dead person in a bad mood, you need to be extra vigilant and
to take better care of yourself.
If you see a dead person dressed in white or colourful clothes, it can be
regarded as a lucky omen, but black or dark clothes indicates the opposite.
The death of an old man indicates that you will live a long life.
Finding a diamond in a dream can indicate marriage is on the horizon.
If you die in a dream, it means you have a long and healthy life to look
forward to.
If a dog bites you but you feel no pain, it is a sign that your enemies
cannot harm you, but if the bite is painful then the opposite is the case.
Seeing a dog in a dream indicates that you are about to meet an enemy.
Seeing a mad dog in a dream signifies bad luck and misfortune to follow.
A white dog in a dream means you have to pray to St George.
Stepping back through your doorway after having left your house
indicates that misfortune will be averted.
A crowd of people dressed in black is not a good sign either.
The Meaning of Dreams 35
A man dressed in white in your dream is good sign as he represents Saint
George.
A woman dressed in white is good sign too as she is believed to be Saint
Mary.
Drowning in a dream points to the loss of something that is precious to
you.
An eagle in a dream is a portent of good news.
Seeing an earthquake in a dream is an omen of bad news.
Seeing an egg indicates something bad is on its way to you.
Seeing an emerald is the sign of something good to come, and buying it
points to great happiness.
Washing one‘s face in a dream is a portent of bad luck and misfortune..
Getting fat is not a good sign (in the same way as it is not in this reality).
Eating fat means that you will fall sick.
Washing one‘s feet in a dream signifies distant travel to far off lands
Seeing a fig tree in a dream generally means the weather will change for
the worse.
If you are pregnant and see figs in your dream, you will give a birth to a
baby girl.
A crackling fire with red flames brings good luck but a fire with black
flames brings the opposite- bad luck.
Seeing a fireplace is a sign of wealth and success to come.
Eating fish is a bad sign.
Seeing a fish means that your friend is gossiping about you and also that
the new will reach you.
Seeing a white fleece in a dream is a sign of benefits to be gained while
seeing a black fleece is a sign of unhappiness and misfortune in the future.
Seeing flour in a dream is a sign of increasing wealth.
Seeing a flower in a dream is a sign of joy.
A fly in a dream points to a quarrel between you and a friend.
Flying in a dream means success is on the cards, as does wandering
around an unknown place.
Sour food in a dream (like onion, pepper, or vinegar) is a portent of death.
A fountain in a dream is an indication of good news to come.
Seeing a frog indicates a meeting with a devoted friend, but killing a frog
is a sign that bad weather is on its way.
Eating an apple, a pear, or any other type of fruit indicates illness is on its
way.
A goat, a squirrel, or a turkey in a dream brings bad news.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 36
Seeing grease and oil is a lucky omen.
Inviting and hosting a guest is an omen of good luck or an indication of
good news to come.
Hearing the sound of a gun or a shot foretells good news.
A loud gunshot is a warning of an argument.
Seeing a gun indicates a wish of yours will be fulfilled.
Seeing a gun or a knife mean you will have a baby boy.
Long hair in a dream means you are about to acquire something new.
A thick head of hair is a sign of might and reinforcement.
Having a haircut in a dream is a warning of illness or some kind of loss.
Seeing a hen is an indication of great misfortune to come.
Seeing or eating honey is a sign of misfortune.
A horse in a dream means you will either travel or get ill.
Mounting a black horse signifies good news.
Building a house indicates marriage and happiness.
Re-roofing a house is a sign that a business which has failed will recover.
Seeing a lump of ice is an unlucky omen.
Seeing jewelleryor a shoe is a sign that marriage is on the horizon.
Seeing a full jug in a dream is a good omen, but seeing an empty jug is a
sign of trouble and that bad luck is likely to follow.
Killing a man is a sign of grief and sorrow.
Kissing a beautiful person in a dream signifies good luck.
Kissing a dead person in a dream is a sign of impending trouble.
Kissing a living person in a dream is a sign of wealth and riches to come.
Seeing a lamb is a sign that you have a good life to look forward to
Leaves falling from a tree signify wars and sad events.
Lemon in your dreams is a sign of happiness to come.
Eating a lemon in a dream is a warning that your health is poor and that
you are likely to fall ill.
Swept and collected litter is a sign that material benefits and wealth are on
the horizon.
Seeing a lock in a dream is a sign of wealth and / or riches to come.
Meat is a sign of illness or can indicate the loss of something or someone.
Eating roast meat suggests that you are about to hear something to your
advantage.
Drinking medicine signifies bad luck as well as the beginning of
something bad.
Eating or seeing a melon is a warning of impending illness.
Buying or drinking milk signifies good health.
The Meaning of Dreams 37
Entering a mill in a dream is a portent of poverty and hardship.
Seeing a mill in your dream indicates great happiness.
Borrowing money is a sign of grief and paying off debts means adding to
the grief.
Seeing a mother is a lucky omen.
Get dirty in mud or walking through mud is a sign of illness.
Picking mushrooms signifies good luck whereas eating them brings bad
news.
Seeing a mute person in a dream signifies a future joyous event.
Seeing or collecting nails indicates that good news is on its way to you.
Seeing nails growing in a dream is a sign of poverty.
Seeing a needle signifies a minor misfortune to come.
Hearing bad news in a dream means you will hear good news in this
reality.
Seeing an orange tree in a dream is a warning that sad news is on its way
to you whereas eating oranges in a dream signifies good news to come.
Seeing an owl means that a nasty and cruel person will do something bad
to you.
A pig in a dream suggests that you are going to fall ill.
Seeing a plum tree or eating plums in a dream indicates bad luck and sad
news to follow.
Seeing a pomegranate is a good omen and a sign of family happiness.
Bathing in a pool signifies bad news that ends well.
Seeing a pool filled with water in a dream is a sign of happiness to come.
Seeing or buying a portrait is an omen of impending sorrow and bad
luck.
A clay pot in a dream means that you are going to have a new addition to
your family.
Seeing a full purse indicates your financial prospects look good or that
you have other benefits to look forward to.
Seeing a woman quarreling or with her hair loose is a sign of misfortune
to come.
Hearing rain in a dream is an indication that you will have a fight or an
argument with someone.
Seeing rice is a sign that good news is on its way to you, but eating rice
points to falling sick.
Watching yourself getting rich in a dream brings good news and good
luck.
A broken ring is an indication of misfortune to come.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 38
A dried up river bed (or any other source of water that has dried up) is a
sign of misery and infertility.
Seeing a rose is a sign of happiness.
Picking roses or bringing them into the house is a sign of something bad
to come.
A ruined house or church in a dream is a sign of a terrible disaster
A building in ruins indicates success will follow.
Buying or seeing a ruler is an indication that a wish will be fulfilled.
Eating salt is a sign of sorrow and bad luck to follow.
Bathing in the sea is a sign that a wish of yours will be fulfilled.
Seeing the raging sea is the sign of bad news.
Hearing screaming and shouting in a dream means gaining more
enemies.
Shaving in a dream brings sorrow and sadness.
A flock of sheep in a dream is a sign of changing weather.
Seeing a flock of sheep in a dream is a portent of great happiness.
Seeing a sheep in a dream means you owe something to God.
Seeing a fleet of ships is a sign of war.
Seeing ships moored is a sign that all is calm.
Seeing loaded ships is an indication of richness and wealth.
Putting on a shoe indicates an unexpected journey for you, but putting on
a shoe on someone else‘s feet is a bad omen.
A silkworm is a sign you will suddenly find yourself in danger.
Silver objects indicate good news to come.
A cloudless sky is a sign of happiness whereas a cloudy sky is a sign of
misfortune and bad news to come.
If a snake bites you and it is painful, this indicates something bad will
happen. If the bite is not painful though, this is a sign that your enemy cannot
hurt you. And if you kill an aggressive snake, it means you will defeat evil.
A snake is a sign that your guardian angel is protecting you or a warning
about some danger to come.
Killing a snake means a victory over your enemy, and talking with a
snake is a sign that something good is on its way to you.
Seeing a snake in a burrow means that your wife will become your
enemy.
Snow in a dream brings sadness.
Seeing a dried- up spring indicates bad news.
Drinking pure spring water indicates good luck as well as something
good to come.
The Meaning of Dreams 39
Seeing a star or a planet is a sign of happiness to come.
A dim star is a sign of sorrow.
Throwing stones in a dream means a big problem is going to return to
trouble you once again.
A clear stream or running water means good news is on its way, but
standing water or a pond indicates the opposite – bad news.
A dirty stream of water is a portent of death.
A disappearing sun or moon is a sign that something is going to upset
you.
Seeing the sun and moon together is a warning of bad news to come.
Seeing or eating sweets in a dream indicates sadness and sorrow.
If you break a tooth in a dream it indicates someone close to you will die,
and the pain caused by the broken tooth defines the degree of sadness
involved.
Extracting a thorn is a sign that your enemy will be defeated.
Being hit by a thunderstorm in a dream is an omen of happiness and
good news to come.
Hearing a thunderstorm is a sign that surprising news is on its way to
you.
A heavy thunderstorm indicates a hard and gloomy life ahead.
A heavy thunderstorm points to a mess, disorder and a quarrel.
Holding or seeing a lighted torch is an omen of great joy.
Seeing a town in a dream is a sign of joy and happiness.
Cutting down a tree or dead tree means a male in your family or a friend
will die.
Seeing a blossoming, fruit bearing, healthy tree is a sign of good news
and good health to come.
Bringing logs, branches or tree cuttings home indicates someone‘s death.
Seeing a trumpet or hearing its sound is a warning of bad news to come.
Seeing a turkey is the sign of a happy life to look forward to.
Entering a vineyard and picking the grapes there, is a sign that bad
weather is on the way.
Drinking vodka means hardship, but drinking wine means receiving
God‘s blessing and being blessed with good health.
Walking barefoot in a dream indicates bad news and hardship.
Walking at night in a dream is an indication of joy and happiness.
If you are pregnant and see a walnut tree, you will give a birth to a baby
boy
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 40
A walnut tree in your dream means you will live a healthy life with no
major illnesses.
Seeing walnuts in a dream is an omen of happiness and good news to
come.
Seeing war in a dream signifies overcoming obstacles and problems.
Running water in a dream brings good and joyful news.
Wading through water is a bad sign because it means you will have a
quarrel with someone.
Seeing a wedding is a sign of sorrow to come.
Weeping and mourning in a dream is a sign that great joy and happiness
will follow.
Drawing water from a well signifies good luck and success in business.
Falling into a well brings sadness and hardship.
Planting wheat signifies good luck and also good news to follow.
Hearing a whistle in a dream signifies learning about a dangerous event.
Wearing a white dress in a dream means good luck to come.
If you see a willow in your dream, then you can look forward to both good
luck and happiness.
Opening a window in a dream signifies bad news to come.
Drinking wine in a dream signifies good health.
Seeing winter is the sign of a good life to come.
Seeing a wolf in a dream is an indication that someone is trying to cheat
or deceive you.
Killing a wolf in a dream signifies defeating an enemy.
Buying wood in a dream is a sign of good luck.
A wound or blood (as well as anything red) is a portent of happiness.
Seeing a wounded or injured person indicates the sickness of a relative.
A swept yard is a sign of happiness.
A yoke is an indication of hardships and problems.
Chapter 7
TAMAR'S ETERNAL SPRING
Figure 4. Queen Tamar.
For some time Queen Tamar had a throne on the mount of Elbrus and her
kingdom was blessed with eternal spring. There was no winter and it never
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 42
snowed, either in the highlands and mountains or in the lowlands and valleys.
Time and again Tamar went to the lowlands to look after her kingdom and
returned to her palace in which she spent most of her time. In Tamar‘s eternal
kingdom there was no illness and death because time stood till there. This
happened because Tamar had captivated Shukurvasrskvlavi, the Bright Star.
This star was known as the Star of Dawn and was the creator of time and the
seasons of the year.
Once, when Tamar wished to visit her lowland kingdom, she left her most
devoted servant to guard her palace while she was away. Before setting off,
Tamar told him: ―I am leaving the Palace under your protection; here are the
keys to 12 rooms. You can open all of the rooms except for the twelfth one.
Remember, whatever you do, you must not open the twelfth room‖.
So, Tamar went to the lowlands and the Palace was left in the charge of
her servant. The servant was curious and very eager to know what was hidden
in the twelfth room. So when he could no longer hold back his curiosity he
opened the door of the forbidden room. As soon as the door opened, the
captive Shukurvarskvlavi flew out of it and disappeared high up into the sky.
All of a sudden, the sky became grey and overcast, a mighty storm broke, and
snow covered both the mountain and the Palace. The servant then understood
why Tamar had forbidden him to open the door of the twelfth room but what
could he do now? It was already too late for regrets or to change anything.
Meanwhile, Tamar was supervising the building of a church in the valley.
The roof of the building was being made when the masons reported to the
Queen that the stones were slippery from frost and the builders were not able
to lift them.
Tamar realised that the servant had not kept his promise and hastily left
for the mountains. When she reached the bottom of the Elbrus, she saw for
herself how the mountain was completely covered with snow. There was no
sign of the Palace either. Tamar was not able to climb up the mountain and so
she had to stay in the lowlands after that. Time then started to move the
seasons and ever since that time summer has been followed by autumn,
autumn by winter, winter by spring, and spring by summer. And this cycle
completes what we have come to call a year, with the seasons following on
and replacing each other.
*It should be noted that Queen Tamar is habitually referred to by
Georgians as ‗King Tamar‘ (Tamar Mepe), perhaps to emphasize that she
wielded the power of a king in spite of her feminine gender, and though
referred to as sovereign of Georgia, what she ruled at that time was in effect a
multi-ethnic and multi-confessional empire.
Tamar's Eternal Spring 43
Figure 5. Mount Elbrus (in present-day Turkey).
Etiologic tales are very close to myth, and some scholars regard them as a
particular type of myth rather than as a separate category. In modern usage the
term etiology is used to refer to the description or assignment of causes (Greek
aitia). Accordingly, an etiologic tale explains the origin of a custom, state of
affairs, or natural feature in the human or divine world. In Tamar’s Eternal
Spring it is the origin of the seasons that is explained.
Tamar (Georgian: თამარი) of the Bagrationi dynasty, was Queen Regent
of Georgia from 1184 to 1213. The first woman to rule Georgia in her own
right, Tamar presided over what is known as the ―Golden Age‖ of medieval
Georgian monarchy. She was proclaimed heir apparent and co-ruler by her
reigning father George III in 1178, but she faced significant opposition from
the aristocracy upon her ascension to full ruling powers after George‘s death.
Nevertheless, Tamar was successful in neutralizing this opposition, and then
set about consolidating an empire which dominated the Caucasus during the
period of her reign.
Tamar‘s association with this period of political and cultural revival,
combined with her role as a female ruler, has led to becoming an important
symbol in Georgian popular culture, and she has also been canonized by the
Georgian Orthodox Church.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 44
Figure 6. Queen Tamar as depicted on a mural in Betania monastery.
Chapter 8
THE BUILDING OF GERGETI TRINITY
CHURCH
Figure 7. Gergeti Trinity Church.
The kings of Kartli, Kakheti and Imereti had an argument about where to
build the church of Saint Trinity. In the city of Mtskheta, an old wizard gave
the kings the following advice: "My kings, kill a cow and throw its shoulder
bone to the end of the village. One black raven will come to eat it and the
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 46
place where the raven finally drops the shoulder bone, after it has pecked off
all of the meat, will be the proper place for the church.
The kings followed the advice of the old wizard. As was expected, the
raven appeared and took away the shoulder bone of the cow. The people
followed the raven and saw that for the first time it landed on the top of
Ananuri church. Noticing this, the people following the raven, built a Trinity
niche on this spot. Leaving Ananuri, the raven flew to Jvari pass and landed on
the mountain of Baidar, where the Trinity cross was later erected. From Mount
Baidar the raven headed for Gergeti where it finally dropped the dry bones of
the cow!
Now the kings started to argue about who should lay the foundations of
the future church. One kind man stood up and advised the kings that the
person who would first cover the distance from the cross to the place where
Trinity now stands, would be given the honour of laying the foundations of the
church. So they did this: all of these people ran on foot or rode on horseback
from Baidar to the designated place. Among them was one lame man, by the
name of Bachkhidze, from the village of Khurtisi, who was clever enough to
reach the place first, by using shortcuts and by-passes to get there. So, as
agreed before, he was presented with the honour of laying the foundation stone
of the church. By the way, this man‘s name is still blessed in the church first
every year on New Year‘s Day.
The building material was transported from the villages of Kanobi and
Khurtisi and a certain shepherd would bring water for the masons from
Gergeti. (Even now people can drink water from ―the mason‘s spring‖ in
Gergeti). This shepherd is believed to have his face carved on the belfry of
Gergeti Trinity. It is also said that his flock of sheep would graze on their own
without him, and had not fear of the beasts of prey either. And this particular
shepherd is mentioned first in the prayers of the priests on New Year‘s Day
each year.
Georgia is a hierarchical society in which age, position and power usually
earn respect. Elders are generally held in high esteem as can be seen from the
way in which they are introduced first when greeting. This also helps to
explain why the father in this story takes the attitude that he does.
Chapter 9
THE FATHER'S PROPHECY
A certain man was wont to tell his son, while thrashing him, that he would
never come to any good. The boy grew tired of these rebukes, and ran away
from home. Ten years later he had risen to the rank of pasha, and was set over
the very pashalik where his father lived.
On his way to his post, the new pasha stopped at a place twenty miles off,
and said to the Bashi-Bazouks of his guard: 'Ride to such and such a village,
seize so and so, and bring him to me.' The Bashi-Bazouks arrived at night,
dragged the sick old man out of bed, and took him to the pasha. The pasha
stretched himself to his full height, and, ordering the old man to look him in
the face, said: 'Do you know me?' The old man fixed his gaze on the pasha,
and cried: 'Ah, pasha! you are surely my son.' 'Did you not tell me in my
boyhood that I should never come to any good? Now look at me,' and the
pasha pointed to his epaulets. 'Well, was I wrong? You are no man, but only a
pasha. What man worthy the name would send for his father in the way you
have done? I repeat it, you have gained the rank of pasha, but you have not
become a good man.'
From Georgian Folk Tales, translated by Marjory Wardrop and published
by David Nutt in the Strand, London [1894]. Scanned, proofed and formatted
at sacred-texts.com, July 2006, by John Bruno Hare. This text is in the public
domain in the United States because it was published prior to 1923.
Notes: Pasha was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system,
typically granted to governors, generals, and dignitaries, and a pashalik was
the territory governed by a pasha. The bashi-bazouks were irregular mercenary
troops drawn from all over the Ottoman Empire, who were feared for their
ferocity. Originally they came from one of the tribal groups in Afghanistan.
They wore no uniforms and were usually mounted.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 48
Figure 8. Bbashi-bazouk.
Chapter 10
THE MAGICAL CONTROL OF THE RAIN
Sometimes when heat and drought were excessive in ancient Greece, the
most extreme of all sacrifices, a human sacrifice, was offered in the hope of
influencing the weather.
Two such sacrifices are recorded from historical times, one to Zeus
Lykaios and one to Zeus Laphystios. Zeus Lykaios received his name from the
high mountain in southwestern Arcadia, Lykaion, on the top of which he had a
famous sanctuary. Zeus Laphystios was named after the mountain Laphystion
in Boeotia, although his cult belonged to Halos in Thessaly. On Mount
Lykaion there was a well called Hagno. When there was need of rain the priest
of Zeus went to this well, performed ceremonies and prayers, and dipped an
oak twig into the water. Thereupon a haze arose from the well and condensed
into clouds, and soon there was rain all over Arcadia.
Zeus Laphystios is well known from the myth of the Golden Fleece,
according to which Phrixos and Helle, who were to be sacrificed because of a
drought, saved themselves by riding away on a ram with a golden fleece. Their
mother was called Nephele (cloud). At the bottom of this myth is weather
magic such as is known to have been practised at several places in Greece,
including Mount Pelion, not far from Halos. At the time of the greatest heat
young men girt with fresh ram fleeces went up to the top of this mountain in
order to pray to Zeus Akraios for cool weather. From this fleece, Zeus was
called Melosios on Naxos, and the fleece, which was used in several rites, for
example, in the initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries, was called Zeus' fleece
(Dios kodion). It is generally said to have been a means of purification and
propitiation, and so it was. But its origin is to be found in the weather magic
by which the weather god was propitiated. It had a place at Athens in the cult
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 50
of Zeus Maimaktes, the stormy Zeus, who gave his name to the stormy winter
month of Maimakterion.
We are told that in other places, also, people went to the mountain of Zeus
to pray for rain. Ombrios and Hyetios are common epithets of Zeus, and we
hear of sanctuaries of Zeus on Olympus and on various other mountaintops,
such as the highest mountain of the island of Aegina, where he was called
Zeus Panhellenios. In this sanctuary a building was erected to accommodate
his visitors. Probably the weather god Zeus ruled from the highest peak in
every neighborhood.
It is supposed that Hagios Elias, who nowadays has a chapel everywhere
on the mountaintops, is his successor (Nilsson, 1940, pp.7-8).
Like other peoples, the Greeks and Romans sought to obtain rain by
magic, when prayers and processions had proved ineffectual. For example, in
Arcadia, when the corn and trees were parched with drought, the priest of Zeus
dipped an oak branch into a certain spring on Mount Lycaeus. Thus troubled,
the water sent up a misty cloud, from which rain soon fell upon the land. A
similar mode of making rain is still practised, as we have seen, in Halmahera
near New Guinea. The people of Crannon in Thessaly had a bronze chariot
which they kept in a temple. When they desired a shower they shook the
chariot and the shower fell. Probably the rattling of the chariot was meant to
imitate thunder; we have already seen that mock thunder and lightning form
part of a rain-charm in Russia and Japan. The legendary Salmoneus, King of
Elis, made mock thunder by dragging bronze kettles behind his chariot, or by
driving over a bronze bridge, while he hurled blazing torches in imitation of
lightning. It was his impious wish to mimic the thundering car of Zeus as it
rolled across the vault of heaven. Indeed he declared that he was actually Zeus,
and caused sacrifices to be offered to himself as such. Near a temple of Mars,
outside the walls of Rome, there was kept a certain stone known as the lapis
manalis. In time of drought the stone was dragged into Rome,and this was
supposed to bring down rain immediately (Frazer, 1922, pp.70-71)
Examples of Native American prayers or chants for rain can be found too,
such as the Navajo chant presented below.The Navajo, or Diné, of the
Southwestern United States are the second largest Native American tribe of
Northern America. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent
governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the Four
Corners area of the United States. The traditional Navajo language is still
largely spoken throughout the region, although most Navajo speak English
fluently as well. Navajo refer to themselves in their native language as Diné,
which is translated as "the people" in English.
The Magical Control of the Rain 51
Song of the Rain Chant
Far as man can see,
Comes the rain,
Comes the rain with me.
From the Rain-Mount,
Rain-Mount far away,
Comes the rain,
Comes the rain with me.
O‘er the corn,
O‘er the corn, tall corn,
Comes the rain,
Comes the rain with me.
‘Mid the lightnings,
‘Mid the lightnings zigzag,
‘Mid the lightnings flashing,
Comes the rain,
Comes the rain with me.
‘Mid the swallows,
‘Mid the swallows blue,
Chirping glad together,
Comes the rain,
Comes the rain with me.
Through the pollen,
Through the pollen blest,
All in pollen hidden,
Comes the rain,
Comes the rain with me.
Far as man can see,
Comes the rain,
Comes the rain with me.
Prayers for rain or other weather conditions are also found in other World
Religions. In Judaism, for example on the Festival of Shemini Atzeret, (the
day after the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles), the musaf service (an
additional service held on the Sabbath and holidays) begins with a special
prayer for Rain (geshem). From then on, throughout the winter months until
the first day of Passover, in the Amidah (the central prayer in each daily
service), the words Mashiv haruach umorid hageshem -- Who causes the wind
to blow and the rain to come down – are said in the second blessing. On the
first day of Passover a similar prayer is recited for Dew ("Tal").
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 52
The reason for these special prayers is understandable enough; the rain in
the winter and the dew in the summer, are vitally needed to sustain life. And
since Jews recognize that it is God, the Master of the world, who is the Master
over the wind and clouds, who makes it rain whenever and wherever He
desires, they turn to God with their prayers for rain and dew in their proper
seasons: Geshem on Shemini Atzeret, at the beginning of the winter season;
Tal on the spring festival of Passover, at the beginning of the summer season.
The Prayer for Rain consists essentially of two moving prayer-poems,
composed by the famous paytan, Rabbi Elazarha Kallir, who lived about 1300
years ago. The first of these begins with the word Af Bri, which is the name of
the angel of rain, and the second part consists of a poem beginning with the
words zechor av, Remember our father Abraham. It is an alphabetical acrostic,
each line beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet (excluding the word
"Remember" at the beginning of each stanza), and finishing with the word
mayim -- Water. It refers to the good deeds of the ancestors Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Moses and Aaron, and lastly the twelve tribes, and the miracles that
were shown to them in connection with water. In their merits, and for their
sakes, Jewish people pray to God for rain
Deities associated with Water play a central role in numerous myths,
legends and practices. From Anahit, the Persian Goddess of rain and
abundance, to the Afro-Brazilian Goddess Yemanjá, the Egyptian Mother
Goddess Isis as portrayed in Dion Fortune's The Sea Priestess and Nimue in
the Arthurian Legends, the power of Water is ever present. Aphrodite, the
Greek Goddess of Love is born from the foam of the oceans, and many of the
Vodou Lwa including Agwe, Mambo La Sirene, Erzulie Freda, Damballah
Wedo and the Simbis also have strong associations with it too.
Water is an essential of life, and in most countries the supply of it depends
upon showers. Without rain vegetation withers, animals and men languish and
die. Hence in savage communities the rain-maker is a very important
personage; and often a special class of magicians exists for the purpose of
regulating the heavenly water-supply.
The methods by which they attempt to discharge the duties of their office
are commonly, though not always, based on the principle of homoeopathic or
imitative magic. If they wish to make rain they simulate it by sprinkling water
or mimicking clouds: if their object is to stop rain and cause drought, they
avoid water and resort to warmth and fire for the sake of drying up the too
abundant moisture (Frazer, 1922, pp.62-63).
Frazer then goes on to provide illustrations, including these from the
Caucasus:
The Magical Control of the Rain 53
Women are sometimes supposed to be able to make rain by ploughing,
or pretending to plough. Thus the Pshaws and Chewsurs of the Caucasus
have a ceremony called ―ploughing the rain,‖ which they observe in time of
drought. Girls yoke themselves to a plough and drag it into a river, wading in
the water up to their girdles. In the same circumstances Armenian girls and
women do the same. The oldest woman, or the priest‘s wife, wears the
priest‘s dress, while the others, dressed as men, drag the plough through the
water against the stream. In the Caucasian province of Georgia, when a
drought has lasted long, marriageable girls are yoked in couples with an ox-
yoke on their shoulders, a priest holds the reins, and thus harnessed they
wade through rivers, puddles, and marshes, praying, screaming, weeping, and
laughing. In a district of Transylvania when the ground is parched with
drought, some girls strip themselves naked, and, led by an older woman, who
is also naked, they steal a harrow and carry it across the fields to a brook,
where they set it afloat. Next they sit on the harrow and keep a tiny flame
burning on each corner of it for an hour. Then they leave the harrow in the
water and go home (ibid. pp.70-71). [And] in Mingrelia, when the crops are
suffering from want of rain, they take a particularly holy image and dip it in
water every day till a shower falls (ibid. p.77).
In the Caucasus, in both Circassian and Abkhazian mythology, water is
mostly connected with female symbols. For example, Psiguashe is the goddess
of water in Circassian mythology and Dzyzlan was the goddess of water in
Abkhazian mythology. Moreover, there are not only goddesses but also
ceremonies related to the relationship between female figures and water. One
of them was connected with the belief that if a person had gone to the water
when ―the Rainbow drank from it‖, in other words when there was a rainbow
in the sky, he or she would become seriously ill. In this case, a respected old
woman and a prayer woman would lead the patient to the stream and would
take with them two roasted capons, two filled loaves of unleavened bread, and
other food supplies. The patient was covered with cotton material, and the
prayer woman walked around him with a doll. The doll was set into a gourd
with a candle, and then given up to the river. Finally, the old woman would
pass her hand over the back of patient, and tell him or her to go home, but
without looking back.
Another ceremony was known as Hantse Guashe in Circassian and Zivava
in the Abkhazian language, and was traditionally performed with a puppet in
the form of a princess to ask for rain. In this ceremony young girls and boys
wandered around the village with the puppet, while they collected raw food -
such as flour, corn, eggs or dried meat - from the villagers. While touring the
village, the young boys and girls would chant ―We are parading the Hantse
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 54
Guashe. Our God please bring us rain‖. And those who gave food, while
sprinkling water on the Hantse Guashe, would also recite the words ―Our God
please bring us rain‖. The boys would cook the food by the riverside and pray
to the God for rain. They then paraded around the village singing songs. The
Abkhazians similarly prayed for rain. In the Abkhazian version the girls, who
wore their newest costumes, would gather near a river. They then walked with
the puppet, which was made from a shovel.
After burning its handle, they would leave the puppet on a raft to drift
away with the current. Zivava, the puppet princess, was carried only by girls.
(Papşu, 2004, p. 112).
A similar ritual was performed among the Greeks of Thessaly and
Macedonia until recent times:
When a drought has lasted a long time, it is customary to send a
procession of children round to all the wells and springs of the neighbourhood.
At the head of the procession walks a girl adorned with flowers, whom her
companions drench with water at every halting-place, while they sing an
invocation, of which the following is part:
―Perperia all fresh bedewed,
Freshen all the neighbourhood;
By the woods, on the highway,
As thou goest, to God now pray:
O my God, upon the plain,
Send thou us a still, small rain;
That the fields may fruitful be,
And vines in blossom we may see;
That the grain be full and sound,
And wealthy grow the folks around.‖(Frazer, 1922, p.69).
The Waters have been described as the reservoir of all the potentialities of
existence because they not only precede every form but they also serve to
sustain every creation. Immersion is equivalent to dissolution of form, in other
The Magical Control of the Rain 55
words death, whereas emergence repeats the cosmogonic act of formal
manifestation, in other words re-birth (see Eliade, 1952, p.151).
And, following on from this, the surface of water can be defined as ―the
meeting place and doorway from one realm to another: from that which is
revealed to that which is hidden, from conscious to unconscious‖ (Shaw and
Francis, 2008, p.13).
The idea of regeneration through water can be found in numerous pan-
cultural tales about the miraculous Fountain of Youth, and water can be seen
to be both purifying and regenerative. So pervasive were these legends that in
the 16th century the Spanish conquistador Ponce de Leon actually set out to
find it once and for all -- and found Florida instead.
In Georgia prayers for rain and other weather conditions have been used
since pagan times, and here are some examples:
I
Rain, go away, go away
Disappear behind the ninth mountain.
On a hill behind the ninth mountain
A donkey was ploughing a vegetable garden.
Hey donkey, whose field is this?
- It belong to Asi, it belongs to Basi.
It belongs to Kutatela.
That Kutatela set his dog on me
It couldn‘t bite me, and it bit me
So I am covered in blood.
The reference to nine mountains can be traced back to pre-Christian
Georgian cosmology, in which the universe was believed to be sphere-shaped
and to consist of three vertically superposed worlds. The highest world or
zeskneli was above the earth and populated by the gods, the lowest world or
qveskneli was below the earth and populated by demons, evil spirits and
dragons, and in between these two worlds was this reality. Each world had its
own colour, white for the highest, red for the middle and black for the lowest.
Beyond this universe was gareskneli or the world of oblivion, darkness and
eternity. There were two bodies of water and fire, celestial and subterranean.
The sun made its voyage between the two extreme worlds, the celestial and the
subterranean. The moon made the same journey as the sun but in the opposite
direction. The moon and the sun were, respectively, brother and sister. The
earthly world had a centre which divided it into two regions, anterior (tsina
samkaro, tsinaskneli) and posterior (ukana samkaro or ukanaskneli). The three
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 56
vertical worlds were separated by ether but connected by the Tree of Life, a
tower, a chain or a pillar.
As for the various lands of the earthly world, they were usually separated
by seven or nine mountains or seas. To travel between these lands a hero had
to undergo a spiritual transformation (gardacvaleba) and seek the help of
magical animals, the equivalent of the shaman‘s Animal or Spirit Helpers.
After the spread of Christianity, pagan cosmology amalgamated with Christian
teachings, and the zeskneli became heaven and abode of the Trinity while
qveskneli turned into hell and the abode of the devil. As for spiritual travel to
these worlds, it became associated with death.
II
I am my mother‘s number one;
I am the cure for the wind.
Wind stop! Stop!
I am my mother‘s number one,
I am the cure for the wind,
Don‘t ruin the crops
Gained form a man‘s hard work!
When the wind blew, people used to pour water over the threshold outside
the front door and say this prayer or, in case of a particularly strong wind, they
used to place ghomi (maize straw) on the stairs and then recite it.
III
Lazaria [Lazarus], Lazaria,
Lazare has come to our door,
He is rolling his eyes,
God, give us rainwater
Hide the sun‘s rays for us!
Amen!
(The children of the village would gather, make a cross from sticks, put a
dress on it, take this doll and go around their neighbourhood. The villagers
would give them butter, eggs and flour. Finally, they would gather in one of
the families‘ houses and prepare a feast.)
IV
Gonja has come to our door!
He is rolling his eyes,
We do not want parched earth any more,
The Magical Control of the Rain 57
Splash Gonja with water,
He will make mud
And this will make the fields fertile!
(In one of the regions of Georgia, Imereti, during periods of drought the
inhabitants of the village would perform the ―Gonja‖ ritual. The inhabitants
would smear one of the women with soot and the procession, with ―Gonja‖ at
the head, would walk along the roads of the village. The women and children
would walk barefoot and sing this song until one of the housewives threw
water at the singers with a sieve. Then, in the evening, all of them would get
together and have a feast).
V
Ah, Barbare [Saint Barbara], Barbare,
I have grouped nine clouds together,
Let the rain come,
Bring it here,
We do not want parched earth
We do want mud!
Barbare was a female deity of fertility and harvest, also known as Barbale,
Babari, or Barboli. She is said to have been the daughter of a rich pagan
named Dioscorus who, to protect her from the outside world, kept her shut up
in a tower. Unknown to her father, Barbara secretly became a Christian, which
is why she rejected an offer of marriage that she received through him.
Before going on a journey, he commanded that a private bath-house be
erected for her use near her dwelling, and during his absence Barbara had three
windows put in it, as a symbol of the Holy Trinity, instead of the two
originally intended. When her father returned and learnt she had become a
Christian, he drew his sword to kill her. But her prayers created an opening in
the tower wall and she was miraculously transported to a mountain gorge,
where two shepherds watched their flocks.
Dioscorus, in pursuit of his daughter, was rebuffed by the first shepherd,
but the second betrayed her and was turned to stone. She was then dragged
before the prefect of the province, Martinianus, who had her cruelly tortured,
but Barbara held true to her faith.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 58
Figure 9. Saint Barbara.
During the night, the dark prison was bathed in light and new miracles
occurred. Every morning her wounds were healed, and torches that were to be
used to burn her went out as soon as they came near her. Finally she was
condemned to death by beheading. The father himself carried out the death-
sentence, but in punishment for this he was struck by lightning on the way
home and his body consumed. Barbara was buried by a Christian, Valentinus,
and her tomb became the site of miracles. Although she remains a popular
saint, there are doubts as to the historicity of her legend and even her
existence.
In Georgia, Saint Barbara's Day is celebrated as Barbaroba on December
17 (which is December 4 in the old style calendar). The traditional festive food
is lobiani, flat bread baked with a bean stuffing.
The Magical Control of the Rain 59
VI
Ah, Lazare [Lazarus], Lazare!
Lazare has come to our door,
Soared over the mountain,
Looked around on the plateau,
Turned into the moon!
Oh, Lord! Irrigated land for all
No drought any more!
You‘ll give us rain,
We‘ll kill the kid!
In the lane, mud,
In the field, grass
We‘ll present you with a white cow,
A white, childless cow
We‘ll present you with a white goat,
A white goat with her kid
Oh, Elia [Elijah], Elia,
Why so sad?
As the magician thinks he can make rain, so he fancies he can cause the
sun to shine, and can hasten or stay its going down. … in ancient Egypt the
king, as the representative of the sun, walked solemnly round the walls of a
temple in order to ensure that the sun should perform his daily journey round
the sky without the interruption of an eclipse or other mishap. And after the
autumnal equinox the ancient Egyptians held a festival called ―the nativity of
the sun‘s walking-stick,‖ because, as the luminary declined daily in the sky,
and his light and heat diminished, he was supposed to need a staff on which to
lean (Frazer, 1922, p.78).
The ancient Mexicans conceived the sun as the source of all vital force;
hence they named him Ipalnemohuani, ―He by whom men live.‖ But if he
bestowed life on the world, he needed also to receive life from it. And as the
heart is the seat and symbol of life, bleeding hearts of men and animals were
presented to the sun to maintain him in vigour and enable him to run his
course across the sky. Thus the Mexican sacrifices to the sun were magical
rather than religious, being designed, not so much to please and propitiate him,
as physically to renew his energies of heat, light, and motion. The constant
demand for human victims to feed the solar fire was met by waging war every
year on the neighbouring tribes and bringing back troops of captives to be
sacrificed on the altar. Thus the ceaseless wars of the Mexicans and their cruel
system of human sacrifices, the most monstrous on record, sprang in great
measure from a mistaken theory of the solar system. No more striking
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 60
illustration could be given of the disastrous consequences that may flow in
practice from a purely speculative error. The ancient Greeks believed that the
sun drove in a chariot across the sky; hence the Rhodians, who worshipped the
sun as their chief deity, annually dedicated a chariot and four horses to him,
and flung them into the sea for his use. Doubtless they thought that after a
year‘s work his old horses and chariot would be worn out. From a like motive,
probably, the idolatrous kings of Judah dedicated chariots and horses to the
sun, and the Spartans, Persians, and Massagetae sacrificed horses to him. The
Spartans performed the sacrifice on the top of Mount Taygetus, the beautiful
range behind which they saw the great luminary set every night. It was as
natural for the inhabitants of the valley of Sparta to do this as it was for the
islanders of Rhodes to throw the chariot and horses into the sea, into which the
sun seemed to them to sink at evening. For thus, whether on the mountain or in
the sea, the fresh horses stood ready for the weary god where they would be
most welcome, at the end of his day‘s journey (ibid. p.79).
And here, to conclude this Chapter, are two Georgian examples of magical
attempts to control the Sun:
Prayers for the Sun and against the rain
I
Sun and angel accompanying the Sun,
May your way and home be blessed
Come and look after us with a kind eye and kind heart!
Bringing us our fate, bless us - people and cattle,
Make our cows and calves healthy and produce milk in abundance!
II
Sun come to our valley,
I will kill a pregnant ewe for you,
I will salt it, roast it and feed you on it,
Warm yourself and us!
REFERENCES
Cronyn, G. W. (Ed.) (1918) The Path on the Rainbow: An Anthology of Songs
and Chants from the Indians of North America, New York: Boni and
Liveright, Inc. [1918] Scanned, proofed and formatted at sacred-texts.com,
The Magical Control of the Rain 61
May 2009. This text is in the public domain in the US because it was
published prior to 1923.
Dumanish, A. (2004). Хьэнцэ гуащэ - Hantse Guashe: A Ceremony of the
Puppet Princess. Retrieved March 2, 2008, from http://www.ci
rcassianworld.com/HantseGuashe.html
Eliade, M. (1991) Images and Symbols, New Jersey: Princeton University
Press (The original edition is copyright Librairie Gallimard 1952).
Frazer, J. (1993). The Golden Bough, Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth
Editions Ltd (first published in 1922).
Georgia: Past, Present and Future: http://rustaveli.tripod.com/mythology.html
[accessed 14/9/2010]
Nilsson, M. P. (1940) Greek Popular Religion, New York: Columbia
University Press. Scanned at sacred-texts.com, November 2005. This text
is in the public domain in the United States because it was not renewed at
the US Copyright office in a timely fashion, as required by law at the time.
These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this
notice of attribution is left intact in all copies.
Shaw, S. and Francis, A. (eds.) (2008) Deep Blue: Critical reflections on
Nature, Religion and Water, London: Equinox Publishing Ltd.
Chapter 11
THE MAGICAL CONTROL OF THE WIND
For the ancient Egyptians, Shu was seen as the God of Wind and Air and
therefore closely associated with weather prayers. Shu was one of the Ennead,
the nine original deities of the cosmogony of Heliopolis (the birthplace of the
Gods) in the creation myths and legends. With his twin sister Tefnut, the God
of Water, and their offspring (the Earth God, Geb and the Sky Goddess, Nut)
the four made up the quartet of major elements: earth, air, sky and water. The
Egyptians believed that Shu was the second divine pharaoh who ruled after
Atum Ra but he abdicated the throne, allowing his son Geb to rule, and Shu
himself returned to the skies. Shu was also the God of Punishment in the Land
of the Dead and the bridge between life and death.
In Greek mythology, the Wind gods were known as the Anemoi. They
were each ascribed a cardinal direction, from which their respective winds
came, and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions.
They were sometimes represented as mere gusts of wind, at other times were
personified as winged men, and at still other times were depicted as horses
kept in the stables of the storm god Aeolus, who provided Odysseus with the
Anemoi in the Odyssey. Of the four chief Anemoi, Boreas was the north wind
and bringer of cold winter air, Notus was the south wind and bringer of the
storms of late summer and autumn, Zephyrus was the west wind and bringer of
light spring and early summer breezes, and Eurus was the east wind.
Additionally, four lesser Anemoi were sometimes referenced, representing the
northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest winds. The deities equivalent to
the Anemoi in Roman mythology were the Venti. These gods had different
names, but were otherwise very similar to their Greek counterparts.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 64
In pre-Christian times in what is now known as Georgia, Morige Ghmerti
(―God the Director‖) or Dambadebeli (―the Creator‖) – as the supreme
divinity, head of the pantheon of gods, chief architect and lord of the universe
– would ultimately have been responsible for controlling nature, and he lived
in the ninth sky on a golden throne. His son and daughter, the Sun and the
Moon, were responsible for illuminating the earth while it was the job of his
other offspring, the khvtis-shvilni*, to wander the earth and to provide us with
protection against evil. Not only did Ghmerti control nature and animals, but
he also had the power to determine the length of each individual‘s life.
Ghmerti later came to be identified with God the Father, and the word
―ghmerti‖ is still used in the Christian tradition even today.
There was, however, a whole pantheon of gods, to members of whom
prayers like the example below would have been addressed:
You are the wind, black wind
You are the wind, red wind
You are the wind, yellow wind
You are the wind, blue wind
You are the wind, white wind
You are dancing on the roots of the fields
And the world is frozen,
There is a church in that icy land.
Three stories of the Lord are written.
You, wind with the broken mouth, with your face deformed,
Where were you brought up? Where were you let out?
I was brought up in a huge field
And let out in Tskhenistsqali.
Puff, wind get winded.
Puff, wind get winded.
Puff, wind get winded.
Come on wind, stop blowing. Go to your lover!
Your wife Mariam
Gave birth to three children;
The first one is lame,
The second one is blind,
Only the last one is good.
And even that one, the best of the three,
Is now ill too
If you go early the child will survive,
But if you go late the child will die!
The Magical Control of the Wind 65
***
*Khvtis-shvilni were a group of semi-divine heroes who protected
humans. They assured good crops and milk-yields, and fought against both
devi (ogres) and kudiani (wicked witches, able to shape-shift). While there are
a great many of these deities, the most popular of them were Kopala, Iakhsari,
Giorgi and Amirani. Folk epics describe how the khvtis-shvilni, led by Kopala
and Iakhsari, declared war on the devi, and drove them from the land. Another
raiding party led by Giorgi destroyed the hitherto impregnable fortress of the
kaji (evil spirits), and carried off their treasures, cattle and women.
Chapter 12
WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES
As an unpredictable, dangerous, fire- and sometimes death-bringing bolt
from the sky, lightning is featured in the religious thought of many peoples the
world over. … There is evidence from ancient texts that the Greeks considered
the spot where lightning struck [ene:lúsion] as ábaton "not to be trodden [by
profane feet]" or ápsausta "untouchable, sacred", and the victim killed by a
thunderbolt … became hierós — which like Latin sacer means both "holy" and
"taboo" —, as was said of the body of Kapaneus, struck down by Zeus at the
walls of Thebes [Euripides Suppliants, 935]. The hero Herakles was elevated
to the status of an Olympian immortal after a thunderbolt thrown by his father
Zeus onto his funeral pyre burnt away his mortal parts [Cook 1965 II: 23-29;
Nagy 1990: 139-141] (This and the other extended quotes in this Chapter were
all taken from the following paper: Tuite, K. (2000) ―Lightning, sacrifice and
possession in the Caucasus: The Choppa ritual in the traditional religions of
the Caucasus.‖ Kevin Tuite. Université de Montréal.www.mapageweb.
umontreal.ca/tuitekj/caucasus/Choppa.htm)
An important figure from traditional Georgian religion and folklore is the
Pkhovian xvtisshvili ("child of God") K'op'ala, the storm god celebrated for his
prowess as an ogre-slayer, who rid the Georgian highlands of the fearsome
man-eating giants who had until then oppressed the human population. He is
generally depicted as being armed with a mace and an iron bow made
especially for him by the blacksmith god Pirkusha.
Should a person die of drowning or hanging, or be killed by an avalanche,
the oracle of K'arat'is-Jvari, the Khevsur shrine dedicated to K'op'ala, is
summoned to the scene. (This shrine is also known under the name "Soul-
saver" [sultamqsneli]). The Pkhovians believed that a soul trapped under a
surface of water or snow, or stuck within a cadaver with the throat constricted
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 68
by a noose, could not escape and risked capture by demons. Bearing the
banner of the shrine, the oracle would call upon the patron deity of K'arat'is-
Jvari to liberate the victim's soul and slay the demons that threatened it. A goat
was slaughtered with a back-handed stroke of the knife, as is considered
appropriate by the Pkhovians for an appeasement sacrifice to demons, and its
meat left uneaten on the spot, as an offering in exchange for the soul
[Mak'alatia 1935: 216]. Consistent with his function as a liberator of ―trapped‖
souls, K'op'ala was also invoked to treat certain physical and mental illnesses
attributed to possession by demons, especially cases of insanity [Charachidzé
1968: 405-422; Mindadze 2000: 202-206].
The image of K'op'ala, massacrer of ogres, considerably overlaps that of
St. George, and the identification of K'op'ala and St. George in Pkhovi can be
compared to the representations of the various Elijahs and St. Georges in the
western Caucasian belief systems.
The Choppa ritual is the name given to an Ossetic ceremonial dance
around a victim struck by lightning, a refrain sung at the burial of a victim
struck by lightning, and a rite performed at the time of drought, in honour of
the lightning and fertility deity Choppa (also known as Elliri Choppa) among
the Balkars and Karachays of the northwest Caucasus.Similar ceremonies have
also been described for the Abkhazians [Akaba 1984] and Kabardians
[Kantaria 1964, 1982], and there follows an account of one such ceremony.
The traveller Stöder was in Digor Ossetia in 1781 when
A powerful thunderbolt killed a young woman. After the strike those
who came upon her cried out in joy, and began to sing and dance around the
dead body. All residents of the village joined in the dancing circle, showing
no concern that the lightning continued to flash. Their single, simple refrain
was 'O, Elia, Elia! Ældari coppay'. They danced a round dance in synchrony
with the words, sometimes in this, sometimes in reverse order, as one person
sang out and the chorus took up the refrain. They dressed the dead girl in new
clothes, laid her in the same spot and in the same position as when she was
killed, and sang without interruption until night. Her parents, sisters and
husband danced, sang and seemed as happy as if it were some festival.
Grieving faces were considered a sin against Elijah. This celebration lasted 8
days. They had a youth who had been hit by lightning brought here. All those
struck by lightning who survived became servants and messangers of Elijah.
Even livestock that was struck by lightning was set free. The young man sang
and danced in a circle, then fell and began beating himself convulsively.
Between convulsions he became alert and with open eyes recounted what he
had seen in the company of Elijah, and named previous lightning victims who
were at Elijah's side. Then he transmitted Elijah's orders concerning the dead.
When Lightning Strikes 69
The most significant was the command to keep a fire burning 8 days around
the body and abstain from all work and industry. The dead girl was placed in
a coffin set atop a platform for 8 days. On the 8th day they put her on a new
oxcart, which a pair of oxen with white spots were to pull. Young people
along with the relatives of the victim went in procession to neighboring
villages, singing and collecting gifts of livestock and other food products.
The gifts were for the victim, or the festivities, or for her relatives. The coffin
was finally set on the cart, to which the oxen were harnessed, and they pulled
it where they willed; the victim was to be buried at the spot where they
stopped. This time the oxen stopped at the nearest grass. Straightaway they
laid out a rectangle of stones to a height of a couple feet, set the coffin on it
and placed stones around and upon it, making a mound about two meters
high. Next to this heap of stones they set up a pole with the stretched skin of a
goat and its head. Alongside it was a smaller pole on which they hung the
best clothing of the deceased, then by the tomb they consumed together the
gifts of food that they had gathered. The livestock of the victim were set free
on the steppes. These animals were marked, so that if one of them
approached the shepherds, it was driven away again" (transl. fr. Russian
version in Abaev 1958: 314-5).
The principal features of the ceremony are that the lightning-strike
victim's family were expected to act as though they regarded the event as
fortunate, or as a sign of divine election, a platform was erected on the spot of
the accident made of the wood of certain trees and covered with leaves and
branches from the same type of tree, the corpses of lightning-strike victims
and sacrifice animals were left on the spot of their death or in the forest, the
preferred type of animal to be sacrificed was a goat, and the solemn occasion
would generally be marked by round dancing.
The choppa ritual and its variants may also be performed in the hope of
causing rain in times of drought, or, conversely, to ward off damage from
excessive rain or hail. … Several descriptions associate the choppa complex
with the gift of prophecy, and with temporary or chronic mental derangment.
On the one hand, survivors of a lightning strike are said to acquire the capacity
to convey messages from the lightning god to the human community. The last
fortune-teller (dashni) of the Ossetian village Lesgor, who died in the early
20th century, began his service after being struck by lightning no less than
three times and surviving [Basilov and Kobychev 1976: 138]. … When a deity
is invoked in the performance of the choppa ritual, it is in most cases one of
the local avatars of Elijah (Ilia, Elia, Wac-illa); other names mentioned include
Abkhaz Afy and Circassian Shyble, who are likewise gods of lightning,
thunder and storms. Akaba mentions similar rituals being performed in honor
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 70
of the chief Abkhaz deity Antswa, as well as the shadowy "one who knows us
but whom we cannot know". These are powerful deities, who assure the
prosperity of the community by sending down life-giving rain, but whose
thunderbolts can wreak death and destruction. Those struck by their bolts,
however, are not so much punished as appropriated: those who survive enter
the god's service as prophets, those who succumb are believed to be in the
deity's company in the afterlife.
In the traditional Mingrelian religious system, prayers and offerings
(especially of roosters or goats) are made to Antar,/ Zhinishi Orta or Jgege (the
Mingrelian St. George) in times of lightning strike, excessive rain or drought;
to insure a good harvest; and for healing from certain illnesses, especially
psychological ones.
Lightning was believed to be the preferred weapon of St. George for
pursuing unclean spirits, punishing those who offended him, and for selecting
individuals as "servants" (These servants always wore white or colored
clothing, even when in mourning. Abak'elia notes that "servants of the one
above" [zhinishi maxvameri] are called upon to pray for the protection of
people and property from lightning). The place where lightning struck is called
najvarleni in Mingrelian (lit. "spot where a cross [jvari] had been"), since
lightning was believed to fall either in the form of a cross or that of a split-
tipped arrow [bordzal], another weapon associated with St. George. Objects
struck by lightning were not to be used or even touched. for fear of provoking
the deity's anger [Abak'elia loc. cit.].
A Prayer to stop aThunderstorm
Iron head, brave heart,
Our field is well-fed,
Lezgin‘s field is rotten,
My back is strong.
Lezgin‘s waist is rotten.
When the first storm broke each spring, people would wear an iron object
on their chests and attach one to their waists, and say this prayer.
The Lezgin, most of whom live in rugged mountain regions, are a
Dagestani people numbering in total about 370.000. Of these about 160.000
live in the Republic of Azerbaijan, on the north-eastern zone, bordering the
Russian Republic of Dagestan, in Qusar and near Zindanmuruq, Shirvanovka,
Laza and Maka. The rest of the Lezgin population lives in southern Dagestan
just across the Russian border.
When Lightning Strikes 71
The Lezgin formerly lived in free societies comprised of extended family
units known as 'tukhum'. The societies were patriarchal, and they were headed
by male elders. These elders were responsible for making all the major
decisions concerning the clan. Today, because of modernization and increased
migration to the cities, the tukhum have lost a lot of their importance.
Most Lezgin marry within their own clans, and the elder women are very
influential in such decisions. The custom of paying 'kalim' (bride price) is still
followed by some, but is now more of a symbolic payment than a requirement.
The Lezgin women are famous throughout the Caucasus for their woven
carpets. These fine carpets can easily be recognized by their geometrical
designs.
Although the Lezgin are Sunni Muslims, there is a strong Shia minority.
Both groups mingle many animist superstitions with Islamic practices. For
example the names of many pagan deities have become synonymous with
Allah, and they still practise ancient rituals connected with spring planting and
autumn harvesting seasons. They also make journeys to local pilgrimage sites
that predate Islam; and believe that animal bones have magical and healing
powers.
REFERENCES
Abaev, Vasili I. 1958-1989. Istoriko-etimologicheskij slovar' osetinskogo
jazyka. (vols I-V). Moskva: Akad. nauk SSSR.
Abak'elia, Nino. 1991. Mif i ritual v Zapadnoj Gruzii. Tbilisi: Mecniereba.
Akaba, Lili X. 1984. Istoricheskie korni arxaicheskix ritualov abxazov.
Suxumi, Alashara.
——. 1991. Ancva. MNM I: 90
Basilov, V. N. and Kobychev, V. P. 1976. Nikolaji kuvd (Osetinskoe
prazdnichestvo v chest´ patrona selenija). Kavkazskij ètnograficheskij
sbornik VI: 131-154.
Charachidzé, Georges. 1968. Le système religieux de la Géorgie païenne:
analyse structurale d'une civilisation. Paris: Maspero.
Hamayon, Roberte. 1996. Shamanism in Siberia: from partnership in
supernature to counter-power in society. N. Thomas and C. Humphrey,
eds. Shamanism, history and the state, Ann Arbor: U Mich Press, pp 76-
89.
Inal-Ipa, Shalva D. 1965. Abxazcy. Istoriko-ètnograficheskie ocherki. Suxumi:
Alashara.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 72
——. 1971. Stranicy istoricheskoj ètnografii abxazov. Suxumi: Alashara.
Kantaria, Medea. 1964. sameurneo q'opis ist'oriidan q'abardoshi. [From the
history of agricul-tural practice in Kabardia]. K'avk'asiis etnograpiuli
k'rebuli I: 53-99. Tbilisi: Mecniereba.
——. 1982. q'abardoelebis sameurneo q'opis ist'oriidan. [From the history of
Kabardian agricultural practice]. Tbilisi: Mecniereba.
Mak'alatia, Mzia. 1979. mesakonleobastan dakavshirebuli rc'mena-
c'armodgenebi samegreloshi. [Beliefs and representations related to
livestock breeding in Mingrelia]. Masalebi samegrelos etnograpiisatvis,
62-85. Tbilisi: Mecniereba.
Mindadze, Nunu. 2000. kartuli xalxuri samedicino k'ult'ura [Georgian folk
medical culture]. unpublished PhD thesis, Georgian Academy of Sciences,
Institute of History and EthnographyCook, A. B. 1965. Zeus: A study in
ancient religion. New York: Biblo and Tannen.
Nagy, Gregory. 1990. Greek mythology and poetics. Ithaca: Cornell University
Press
Tuite, K. (2000) ―Lightning, sacrifice and possession in the Caucasus: The
Choppa ritual in the traditional religions of the Caucasus.” Kevin Tuite.
Université de Montréal. www.mapageweb.umontreal.ca/tuitekj/caucasus/
Choppa.htm
Chapter 13
HOW TBILISI GOT ITS NAME
Figure 10. Lermontov, Tiflis, 1837.
The most popular legend in Georgia says that the town was founded when
the king of Iberia, Vakhtang Gorgasali, was hunting and wounded a deer
sometime around the year 450. The deer fell into a hot spring and was healed.
Another version of the legend says King Gorgasali was hunting with his
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 74
falcon. When his falcon caught a pheasant, both fell into a sulphur spring and
were cooked. The king feasted on them for lunch. Tbili means ―warm‖ in
Georgian, so the extrapolation becomes obvious. The hot springs that King
Gorgasali found still exist throughout the area. There are more than 30 hot
springs on the northeastern slopes of Mt. Tabori, which produce about a half-
million gallons of water a day. Still, the truth is probably a bit more mundane.
A fourth-century map drawn by the Roman geographer Castorius sited
―Tphilado‖ between Rustavi and Mtskheta, and a bridge was built over the
Kura river at the spot of ancient Tbilisi (Kaeter, 2004, p.131).
The residents of Tbilisi takes great pride in its old bathhouses, and despite
the sulphur odour a lot of visitors still go the sulpur bathhouses to enjoy a
refreshing bathe and just to soak up the special atmosphere.
Sulphur springs have long been reputed to have therapeutic qualities
having a constant temperature of 38-40 C .They are said to be good for skin
diseases, such as psoriasis and eczema, for bones, in cases of osteoporosis and
rheumatic arthritis, and are also said to be beneficial for people suffering from
urological problems. The composition of the water consists of minerals,
hydrogen sulphide and hydrocarbon.
Figure 11. A view of Old Tbilisi.
How Tbilisi Got Its Name 75
A mekise ( masseur ) rubs you with a special sponge full of foam and
scrubs off the old skin with a glove that is made of a horse‘s mane. Among the
massage procedures you can enjoy either a shower or a sauna, depending on
what you prefer. The bathhouses, as in other old cities, were always gathering
places for people, where they exchanged the news of the day and simply
enjoyed each other‘s company, and the situation is the same today. The
bathouses are not merely a tourist attraction either, but popular with the locals
too.
REFERENCES
Kaeter, M. (2004) The Caucasus Republics, New York: Facts on File Inc.
Chapter 14
THE LEGEND OF PALIASTOMI
In the west of Georgia, between Guria and Samegrelo there is a unique
lake. Its uniqueness is caused by the fact that until 1924 it was filled with
sweet water. It is extremely rare to have such a big lake filled with fresh water
so close to the sea. I have mentioned 1924, because that year by means of a
specially dug canal, Paliastomi was connected to the Black Sea. Later, because
of the force of the current and the huge waves, the canal was widened.
Nowadays, the lake flows into the sea through a much wider channel.
Consequently, the water has become salty. Now I would like to you a legend
about the creation of the lake and its name.
The leader of Zan, whose name was Palia, had a daughter of indescribable
beauty. Her name was Arania. Many wanted to be betrothed to her, and a lot of
brave fellows tried to capture her heart, but it was all in vain. Palia was also
asked for his consent, but according to Zan tradition, he was not able to
command his daughter to get married. It had to be her own will and choice.
As a sweetheart for her was not found, Arania, at her father‘s request,
asked all her admirers to undergo an ordeal. Everybody gathered outside the
palace. A caged tiger was brought into the middle of the square, the beast was
then let out, and Arania was the first to approach it. The tiger started to roar,
the crowd got frightened, but Arania was not deterred. She approached even
closer, stood face to face with him, and looked into its eyes. The beast kept on
roaring, but lowered its eyes and stared at the ground. Very soon the tiger was
tamed. It sat back on its haunches and became as playful as a pussycat.
―Whoever repeats what I have done, will be the one to become my
husband‖, said Arania, and she then sat down on the throne beside her father to
see what would happen next. The fellows, not surprisingly, got worried. It
turned out that none of them had the courage to approach the beast and so their
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 78
hopes were all dashed. In silence, and feeling very foolish, they mounted their
horses and rode back to their native lands in shame.
One fellow though, named Jaushi, seeking revenge for the humiliation he
had been subjected to, returned to Zaneti with an army and, in the dead of the
night, launched a surprise attack in which all the Palia were massacred – men,
women, and children too. He made sure the beautiful Arania and her father
were captured alive though, and then had them thrown into a well where he
left them to die. After the carnage, to celebrate his victory, Jaushi held a big
feast in the palace. He filled up Palia‘s golden bowl with wine and was just
about to drink from it when suddenly the earth began to shake, the land
beneath his feet split into two, and Jaushi and his army disappeared into the
crack, never to be seen or heard of again. The gaping hole that was left quickly
filled with well water and turned into an enormous lake, which has existed
ever since in the place.
And this is the legend of Paliastomi Lake. Although the mainland and the
islands in the lake still hold a great many more unknown secrets, these will
have to be left for another occasion.
Chapter 15
CHRIST’S ROBE IN GEORGIA
Despite the fact that there were followers of Christ everywhere in the
world, including Georgia, none of these countries recognized Christianity as
an official religion. The fact was that Christians of that time were forced to
hide their religion. Even now, archeologists are still finding artifacts decorated
with secret symbols that were used by the first Christians to help them to
recognise each other in the street.
Figure 12. Mtskheta, where Christ's Robe is said to be buried.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 80
At that time in the city of Mtskheta there lived one Jew by the name of
Elias. He was sent to Jerusalem by his mother to learn about the doctrine of
Christ. Elias arrived in Jerusalem when Christ had been sentenced to death,
was present at the crucifixion and wept bitterly watching the execution. Later
he returned to Mtkheta and brought Christ‘s Robe to Georgia.
He was met by his sister, Sidonia, and as soon as she heard about the
crucifixion, she took the Robe, held it closely to her, and died of grief. Nobody
was able to take the Robe away from her. Therefore, Sidonia was buried with
the Robe in her arms. Later, a beautiful fir tree grew on the grave. Christ‘s
Robe was not a common piece of clothing and as it was buried in Georgian
soil, it meant that Christ had already come to this land in a way, albeit secretly.
The time would come when his arrival would be announced to each and every
person! This is the main thrust of this legend. And in the 530s, Nino, who is
regarded as the equivalent to a disciple, came from Jerusalem to Mtkheta to
preach Christ‘s doctrine.
Chapter 16
NINO CONVERTS KARTLI TO CHRISTIANITY
One distinguished Commander-in-Chief, Zebulon, had a daughter named
Nino. When the girl was 12 years old, Zebulon and his wife Sosana gave away
all their belongings and property to the poor and took Nino to the home of one
of their relative‘s, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, to be taken care of. This gave the
parents the opportunity to lead a Christian life and to look after their souls
better. The Patriarch brought Nino up with Christ‘s love and when she became
older, the Patriarch ordered her to travel to other countries and to rekindle the
love of Christ there too.
While in Jerusalem, Nino learnt that the Robe of Christ was kept among
pagans in a far off Northern country, in the city of Mtskheta. Nino realised that
she had to start preaching in that part of the world, and to those people,
because they had been secretly keeping Christ‘s Robe for such a long time.
Nino set off and found the journey very difficult because the pagans were
not used to meeting Christ‘s followers in a friendly way. In spite of this, Nino
still continued on her way from Jerusalem carrying her cross and following
Christ. Nino reached Mtskheta, met Elias‘ descendents and learnt from them
where Christ‘s holy Robe was buried.
Settling close to the city walls, Nino constantly prayed to God to help her
to open the pagan Georgians‘ hearts to the supreme belief and she became
well- known and acquired followers.
Everybody was astonished at the boundless kindness of this solitary
woman and felt amazing serenity and calmness coming from her. Looking at
her, they felt their hearts filling up with love towards each other. Nino treated
all the visitors as Christ had done; she gave hope to the desperate, cured the
sick and restored terminally ill people to good health. Everybody saw that
Nino was able to perform such miracles only with the help of a completely
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 82
unknown God. And her God was clearly very merciful, which made many
people believe in this God.
Once the Queen of Kartli, Nana, fell ill and in spite of the efforts of the
best doctors of the country Nana‘s health became worse and worse. In the end,
people from Mtskheta took Nino to the Queen. Nino was very sorry for the
Queen and prayed ardently to her God. God took mercy on her and cured the
Queen. No wonder that Nana became a Christian after this event.
King Mirian was delighted to hear about his Queen‘s good health but was
still not able to believe in the power of Nino‘s God. After a while, the King
went hunting to the mountains. An eclipse of the Sun then came to pass, and a
terrible darkness fell over the land. Mirian was scared and prayed to his pagan
gods to bring him back light, but the gods did not hear his prayers. Next,
Mirian prayed to Nino‘s God to help him and the light came back to him! So
Mirian was convinced that Nino‘s God was the most powerful and true god
and he started to believe in him too!
Nino remained in Georgia and converted many people to Christianity.
When she died she was buried in the village of Bodbe . On her grave King
Mirian built a chapel which is named after Nino. And ever since then the
Christian name Nino has become widespread in Georgia.
Chapter 17
THE LEGEND OF AMIRANI
Amirani (Georgian: ამირანი) is the name of a Georgian hero-figure who
resembles the Classical Prometheus, son of the goddess Dali and renowned as
a hunter.
Figure 13. Amirani-the Georgian Prometheus.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 84
Georgian myths describe how Amirani fights devi (ogres), challenges the
gods, kidnaps Kamar (the daughter of gods)*, and teaches metallurgy to
humans. In punishment, the gods chain Amirani to a cliff in the Caucasus
Mountains, where the titan continues to defy the gods and struggles to break
the chains; an eagle ravages his liver every day, but it heals at night. Amirani‘s
loyal dog, in the meantime, licks the chain to thin it out, but every year, on
Thursday or in some versions the day before Christmas, the gods send smiths
to repair it. In some versions, every seven years the cave where Amirani is
chained can be seen in the Caucasus.
Scholars agree that this folk epic about Amirani must have been formed in
the third millennium BCE and later went through numerous transformations,
the most important of them being the fusion of pagan and Christian elements
after the spread of Christianity. It is possible that the myth could have been
assimilated by the Greek colonists or travellers and then embodied in the
corpus of the famous Greek myth of Prometheus. In Georgian literature and
culture, Amirani is often used as a symbol of the Georgian nation, its ordeals
and struggle for survival, which is why it was decided to present an extended
version of the legend in this volume.
There was, there was, and yet there was not. There was a hunter by the
name of Sulukmakhi and he had two sons: Badri and Usup. Sulukmakhi was
an experienced and well-known hunter. One day, as usual, he went hunting but
could not get back home in time. It was getting dark and he had to find a place
to stay overnight. He came upon a cave under a cliff. The Goddess Dali lived
on that cliff. At midnight he heard the terrifying cries of a woman, and he
jumped up to find out what was going on. He walked all around the cliff, but
could not find any stairs to climb up. In the morning, he went to the village
and asked a stonecutter to make some steps for him. The stonecutter obliged so
that Sulukmakhi could scale the cliff, and when he reached the top, he found a
woman lying there.
―Why are you crying so?‖ He asked her.
―I‘m the famous Goddess Dali. One night, when I was asleep, a hunter by
the name of Tsamtsumi sneaked into my bed, and because he was holding me
by my golden plaits I couldn‘t get away from him. Now the time of my death
has come. So take this knife, cut my stomach open – there is a live child there
– and take him. For it would be a crime for me to take a live child to the grave
with me. If this child had a chance to stay in my womb as long as normal
children do, he or she would have been a great hero. As for the child, if it‘s a
boy you must call him Amirani but, if it‘s a girl, you can call her whatever you
like. You have to keep the child in the body of a pregnant dead cow for three
The Legend of Amirani 85
days and nights and one day and night in the corpse of a buffalo. That way the
child will be able to grow.‖ – So said Dali.
Sulukmahi cut Dali open straight away and took a beautiful boy from her
womb. He called the child Amirani as Dali had told him to. Then he took the
child home, kept him for three days and nights in the corpse of a cow and one
day and night in a buffalo, just as he had been instructed to do. After that, he
brought him up with his other two sons. The brothers and the mother loved
little Amirani dearly. Sulukmakhi was a poor man, and his wish was to
somehow find a rich godfather for his child. His wish was granted, For at the
boy‘s christening, God came and said to Sulukmakhi, ―I would like to christen
him.‖
Sulukmakhi couldn‘t say no to God. So God christened him and blessed
him to be as quick as the rough river Mtkvari, to have knees as strong as a
wolf, and to have the strength of an ox. And this is how Amirani grew up to be
as strong as he did.
Before his death, Sulukmashi said to his sons: ―When I die, I have to warn
you that some devi will start fighting with you. You have to leave this place
and move to another.‖ Then he gave them the directions of the place they were
to move to. Soon after that, Sulukmakhi passed away and the children became
orphans.
We, Badri, Usup and Amirani
Became orphans
Frightened by Devis
Moved to Chabalkhi
When Amirani grew up, this is what he said to his brothers: ―We need to
go and do something or else we‘ll starve to death here.‖ And the brothers
agreed that it was the only sensible thing to do.
Three brothers Badri, Usup and Amirani
Crossed the nine mountains
Came to the tenth- Mount Algeti.
They saw a castle there
Built out of crystal, it was.
For nine days and nights
They went round and round it in circles
But couldn‘t find the door.
So Amirani kicked at the castle wall
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 86
And that became the door.
Behind the door
They found a body
Pitiful and poor,
In his hand a book
And this is what was written in it:
―If you can kill Devi-Baq‘baq,
You can have my rashi;*
If you can kill Devi-Baq‘baq,
You can have my castle;
If you can kill Devi-Baq‘baq,
You can have my wife and all my gold;
And if you ask who I am
I can tell you
I‘m the nephew of Usup.‖
―Let‘s go and kill Baq‘baq‘ Devi, and then we can have all his
wealth,‖ Amirani said to his brothers.
Usup refused, though. ―We‘ll be accused of robbing the dead if
we do that,‖ he said.
Anyway, Amirani and his brothers left, and on the way they met
Baq‘baq devi.
―Where are you going?‖ The brothers asked him.
―I was told the hunter Tsumtsumi has passed away and so I‘m
going to eat him.‖
―Go back home at once. Nobody will let you eat human flesh,‖
Amirani said to him. But he refused to, so Amirani and Baq‘baq‘ Devi
started to fight:
Amirani and Devi are fighting
The fields are trembling
Amirani throws Devi down
Makes him cry out in pain
Because he falls down
On a rock
And breaks his shoulder.
Then this was what the devi said:
―Wait, wait, Amirani don‘t kill me
And I‘ll tell you about the most beautiful woman
The Legend of Amirani 87
She lives on the other side of the river
Her name is Kamar
Go and fight for her
If you really want a fight.
I‘ll send my guide to you
Who will show you
How to get to her.‖
The devi had ten heads and Amirani cut off nine of them.
―Can you leave me with my last head on?‖ The devi asked.
―No, I have to cut that off too.‖ Amirani replied.
―Then I have one last request,‖‘ continued the devi. ―From my
last head three worms will appear. Let them go free at least.‖
Amirani cut off his tenth head and let the worms go free, as the devi had
requested him to do.
Then his brother Usup said to him: ―Kill the worms too. You got rid of
one problem, now get rid of the second one.‖‘
―The first evil could not harm me, so I don‘t suppose the second
one can either!‘ Amirani responded. .‖
The worms turned into dragons, though, and when he brothers continued
on their way, they were confronted by these dragons.
―Don‘t say I didn‘t warn you. You can go and fight with them on
your own now!‖ Usup said to his brother. .‖
Amirani killed one dragon, then the second one, but the third one
swallowed him. Usup got angry and shot an arrow at him, so removing a metre
off the dragon‘s tail. The dragon left to digest Amirani, but his tail couldn‘t
reach his mouth any more so it was difficult for him.
―I‘ve got a stomach ache.‖ The dragon complained to its mother.
―Did you swallow Darejan‘s son then?‖ His mother replied. ―If
you did, that would explain things. You‘ll find digesting him is
impossible!‖
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 88
Meanwhile, Amirani has a knife in his pocket. He cuts through the dragon
from inside, and manages to get out that way. Then he killed the dragon‘s
mother too. His brothers Badri and Usup now join him. They have a meal
together, a little rest, and then continue on their way in search of Kamar.
Baq‘baq‘ devi‘s guide, though, was intentionally making their journey
more complicated then necessary. Usup realised this and at the crossroads, he
marked a log with his arrow. On the third day, they came to the same place
again and Usup found his arrow. He said to Amirani:
Amiran, can‘t you see
What he‘s doing to us?
This is the third time
We‘ve come back to the same place –
The place where I left my arrow
So Amirani killed the guide. and then they came to a castle. A lot of noise
was coming from inside. Amirani called out to the host to open the gates.
The castle belonged to the devi, who sent their sister to see who was there.
―Go out and see who calls us,‖ they said to her. ―We need to be
careful though, in case those people are Darejan‘s sons. You‘ll be able
to recognize Amirani easily because he has huge eyes and a golden
tooth.‖
The woman goes out to try to find out who they are. She is smiling at
Amirani, and this is what he says to her:
―Why are you smiling at me, devi woman,
Why are you showing me your white teeth?
You‘re walking up and down
To check my face and teeth, aren‘t you!‖
When the woman saw his golden tooth, she ran into the castle to warn her
brothers. But Amirani follows after her and fights with the devi, killing all of
them. The door is locked though, and the room fills up with blood. Amirani is
drowning. So he picks up one of the devi and throws him against the door. The
door bursts open and the blood flows away. Amirani is saved.
The brothers came to a river. Amirani knew Usup had a great Tetrovana
[the name for a white horse] so he asked if he could borrow it. At first Usup
The Legend of Amirani 89
did not want to give it to him because he said he was tired of looking for
Kamar, but in the end he agreed. Amirani sat on the horse and crossed the
river on it. Kamar is sitting in the castle. Amirani goes up to her and says:
―You‘re are coming with me because I am marrying you.‖ Kamar was a
daughter of the king of the elephants. Her father had the legs of a human but
the body of an elephant. Kamar was doing the washing up while she spoke to
Amirani:
―Put the dishes away, but be careful not to break anything or else
my father will be told.‖
Amirani dropped one late three times, though, which made him angry, so
he took the plate and threw it on the floor. One of the broken pieces spoke to
another broken bit, the whole to the whole, and word of what had happened
reached the king that way. Meanwhile, Amirani left the castle, taking Kamar
away with him. Kamar took a pinch of salt, a comb and a mirror with her, and
the Elephant King gathered his army to follow them both.
While Amirani and Kamar were crossing the river, a strong gale started to
blow. Kamar knew that it was her father who was causing this. ‗It‘s my my
father, he is following us,‖ she said. She then took the comb and threw it
behind her, making a thick forest appear. But the king managed to cross the
forest, and the strong gale started to blow again. This time Kamar threw a
pinch of salt behind her, making a bare cliff appear. The king managed to
cross this too, though, and then the wind started up once again. This time
Kamar threw the mirror, making an enormous sea appear. But this did not
work either,as most of the king‘s soldiers managed to cross this too. So
Amirani and Kamar went back to the castle they had come from and very soon
the King‘s army followed them there.
―Come on Usup. Surely you have to fight with them now,‖ said
Amirani. And Usup agreed.
―But don‘t you start fighting until my sword stops shining, and as
long as it shines then don‘t,‖ Usup said.
Usup fought bravely for a long time, but when the brothers saw that his
sword was not shining any more, then Badri joined the fight. He said the same
thing to Amirani that Usup had said to him, and Badri fought ferociously for a
long time too. When Kamar saw that Badri has also been killed, she woke up
Amirani, and this time he went to fight with the army.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 90
Now the King of the Elephants had a lathe which he was turning himself
and more and, as he did so, more and more new solders appeared. Amirani
fought until he got to the lathe, then struck it with his sword and broke it. That
stopped the soldiers from multiplying, and so he managed to kill them all off.
Finally Amirani and the Elephant King started to fight. With the king having
the hide of an elephant instead of skin, Amirani‘s sword could do nothing.
Kamar saw this and shouted down to Amirani from the castle wall from where
she was watching the battle take place:
―Come on Amirani,
Everyone admires your bravery
And can see you can fight really well,
But use your brain too.
Don‘t strike the elephant on its back,
But strike him down below.‖
Amirani heard what she was saying, and with just one blow of his mighty
sword, sliced off both the king‘s legs.
―Look at that cruel Kamar,‖ the king cried out in pain,
―And look at who she chooses over her father!
If I get to you,
I‘ll slit your throat.‖
But Amirani cut up the king of the elephants and went to join Kamar. But
she told him that there was still work to do, and sent him off to find his
brothers.
So Amirani looked for his brothers among the dead solders on the
battlefield, found them both, and placed their bodies together, side by side.
―Now I have to die with my brothers‖ he says. He tries to kill himself with his
own sword but try as he might, he just cannot do it. At that point a kaji
appears, and this is what he says to him
―If you want to die, you need to cut your little finger with your sword and
let the blood flow out. And that‘s the only way to do it.‖
So Amirani cut his finger, the blood poured out, and it worked just as the
kaji told him it would. On seeing the man she loved die before her own very
eyes, Kamar broke down and wept uncontrollably. Then a little mouse crept
The Legend of Amirani 91
out of its hole, and started to drink the blood of the dead. Kamar struck the
mouse with a whip and killed it, though. At that point a second mouse
appeared on the scene, and this is what he said to her:
―Hey, you cruel woman, because of you so many people have died, and
even your husband and your brothers-in-law are now lying dead in front of
you. And although I‘m only small and seemingly insignificant, I can bring the
mouse you killed back to life easily, without any problem. Just watch me.‖
And this is what he did. The mouse found a three-leafed clover, picked it,
rubbed it over the mouse that Kamar had killed, and brought it back to life
again. So Kamar, on seeing that, did the same with Amirani, and brought him
and his brothers back to life this way.
They all left for the castle together. After that, Amirani showed even more
bravery. He killed loads of Devi and other evil spirits too, and there nobody
who could defeat him.
One day Amirani met the sister of a famous hero called Ambri. She was
carrying her dead brother, and taking him to be buried. One of Ambri‘s legs
was sticking out and and dragging along the ground.
―Lift his leg for me please, and place it back on the cart,‖ Ambri‘s sister
asked Amirani.
Amirani tried to lift the leg but he was not able to. Then the sister tried,
and she did it by herself in the end. And this is what she said to him:
God knows Amirani,
That you cannot compare to Ambri
When he was alive he was better than you,
And dead he still is.
Nobody could defeat Amirani on this earth, though. He killed all the devi
so there was not one single one left. One day he was walking on Mount Ialbuz
[Elbrus] and met his godfather, God, on the way. And this is what Amirani
said to him:
―Why did you give me such power so that there is nobody in this world
who can defeat me? So come on, you fight with me now!‖
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 92
God is an old man with a stick in his hand
―I will hammer my stick in the ground and let‘s see if you can get it out,‖
God said. He hammered the stick into the ground and Amirani pulled it out
without any problem. For a second time God hammered in the stick, and
Amirani pulled it out again.
―Why you are playing games with me?‖ Amirani asked God. Then God
said a prayer and made the stick grow roots into the earth. Now Amirani tries
to pull it out but he cannot. Then God threw a chain over this stick and chained
Amirani to it. Every day he is allowed one loaf a bread and a glass of water,
and he is guarded by q‘ursha [a dog‘s name].
The dog licks at the chain constantly, day after day, year after year.
Amirani has a hammer in his hand. Every Good Friday, a wagtail flies to the
top of the mountain and sits on the chain. Amirani tries to hit it with the
hammer, but the wagtail flies away and the stick is driven even deeper into the
ground.
Q‘ursha keeps licking at the chain, and when the chain is nearly ready to
break, on ―Red Thursday‖ [the day before Good Friday], all the blacksmiths
strike their anvils with their hammers and then the chain becomes whole again.
Ever since that time, Amirani has remained chained to Mount Ialbuzi. And if
he should succeed in breaking the chain, for sure he will destroy everything,
and first on his list will be all the blacksmiths.
***
*Kamar was believed to be the daughter of the god of nature and sky. She
was famous for her beauty, which enchanted Amirani, resulting in him
kidnapping her from her heavenly abode.
*A rashi is a magical winged horse. Rashi can be of different kinds. Those
of land were well disposed to humans and heroes and could foretell the future.
Rashi of the seas were more hostile to humans but could take heroes to the
depth of the sea while their milk was believed to cure many illnesses.
Heavenly rashi were winged and fire-breathing animals, very difficult to
subdue but then forever loyal to their riders.
***
The Legend of Amirani 93
Georgian paganism is perhaps best described as a revealed religion, not
one that was revealed at the beginning of historical time by means of speech
that has been preserved orally or in writing, as is the case with Judaism or
Islam, but one that is made manifest each time the soul of a human being is
possessed by a Hat´i (a divinity). That person, who is then regarded as being
officially possessed, becomes a sort of shaman and is known as a Kadag.
―When the Kadag goes into trance, on the occasion of a religious ritual
or an event marking individual or collective life, he speaks, and it is then the
god who is speaking through his mouth‖ (Bonnefoy, 1993, p.255).
The priest-sacrificer is similarly chosen by what can be termed divine
election made manifest through possession. His function however is multi-
purpose, not only to perform rites but also to act as the political and military
chief of the community.
―Horizontal‖ inspirational practices – those which are available, in
principle, to any member of the society, and which are marked by trance and
possession – became marginalised in this way over time, in favour of the
institution of "vertical" inspiration, which is based on esoteric knowledge
controlled by priest-like specialists, a phenomenon which often accompanies
increasing sociopolitical complexification and centralization (see Hugh-Jones
1996).
A shamanic initiation is one in which the shaman symbolically dies and is
reborn, and the healing of the protagonist in many legends and folktales
parallels what takes place in shamanic initiation rites. The legend of Amirani,
who is brought back to life with the help of a mouse that can be regarded as a
spirit helper, provides just one of numerous examples.
In the archaic mythological mindset illness was the loss of the wholeness
of the body whereas healing was seen as the regaining of wholeness [much the
same way as many practitioners of alternative medicine see illness today]. In a
series of Armenian folktales [and this can be applied to legends and folktales
in general] the hero is killed, dissected, and then parts of his body are collected
by some magic helpers and put together after which he comes back to life
(often with the help of apples of life or water of life). In fact, illness is seen as
an equivalent to death, and recovery is regarded as resurrection (Zaqarian,
2009, p.66).
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 94
REFERENCES
Bonnefoy, Y. (comp.) (1993) American, Africanand Old European
Mythologies, Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press.
Hugh-Jones, Stephen. (1996)‗Shamans, prophets, priest and pastors‘In N.
Thomas and C. Humphrey, eds. Shamanism, history and the state, Ann
Arbor: U Mich Press, pp 32-75.
Zaqarian, Yeva. (2009) ‗A Mode of Ritual Healing‘ in Voske Divan: Journal
of fairy-tale studies, 2009 vol. 1, Yerevan: Hovhannes Toumanian
Museum.
Chapter 18
OCHOPINTRE AND TKASHMAPA
In the old days, when the Earth was new, animals had their own protector
– the King of the Beasts, and his name was Ochopintre. Without him not a
single hunter was able to kill anything. Ochopintre was not only a shepherd
but he was also the owner of all the beasts‘ souls, and he was invisible.
In order to be successful, a hunter should pray to him to have mercy on
him and help him to hunt with the following prayer, ―Ochopintre, Shepherd of
the Beasts; I beg you to give me the head of a mountain goat! Let me hunt one
down! You are the owner of the animals‘ souls!‖ Only after such a prayer
could the hunter hunt and kill a mountain goat.
Once, a hunter killed a young deer. Furious when he found out what the
hunter had done without his permission, Ochopintre cried out: ―You deserve to
be blinded! Why did you kill that deer?‖ As soon as Ochopintre shouted these
words, the hunter actually went blind.
Hunters did their best not to get the ruthless Ochopintre angry. In order to
win him over, they used to sew little shirts and they would take them to the
forest and leave them on the top of trees as presents for him. A lot of hunters
have seen his footprints in the forest, and they are said to look like those of a
small child.
TKASHMAPA
There was one hunter by the name of Makhutela. Once he went to the
dense forest to hunt down a wild boar. When he got there, he climbed a high
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 96
oak tree and started to wait patiently for the dawn, as boars usually wander
around the forest at that time.
At dawn Makhutela heard a terrible noise, screams and screeches. Some
woman was shouting to Makhutela and urging him to help her. Crying and
weeping, the woman clad in white and with beautiful long hair, ran close by
the tree Makhutela was sitting in. She was being chased by an extremely hairy
Ochokochi. When Ochokochi came closer, Makhutela aimed carefully and
shot him. Ochokochi started to shout to him: ―Please please Makhutela, will
you shoot at me once more?‖ Makhutela knew that if he did so, he would have
to hit Ochokochi with 40 successive bullets. Otherwise his first wound would
be healed! This is why Makhutela did not shoot again. Disappointed,
Ochokochi disappeared, yelling and shouting.
Tkashmapa came back to Makhutela and ordered him to go home, to take
his bedding to the attic of his barn and wait for her as she wanted to pay for
Makhutela‘s help and kindness. Makhutela behaved as he was told and he and
Tkashmapa lived together for three consecutive nights.
After three nights, Makhutela‘s wife realised that something was going on.
She crept up to the attic of the barn and, seeing her husband and Tkashmapa
together, she went to the goat shed, milked the goats, poured the milk into a
bowl and washed Tkashmapa‘s beautiful loose hair with it. Afterwards she
took her heavy plaits up to the attic and placed them near her on the floor.
Tkashmapa woke up, saw her beautiful hair well-kept and well-looked after,
and blessed Makhutela with luck in hunting. From that time on, not a single
bullet shot by Makhutela ever missed its target, which made him a very
famous hunter indeed.
According to Georgian mythology, Tkashmapa is a beautiful woman with
amazingly long hair reaching down to her ankles. She never does any harm to
women but does have a keen interest in handsome young men.
***
A deity of wild animals, Ochopintre is described as having attributes
similar to those of Pan the Greek god. Born with the legs and horns of a goat,
he helps the goddess of hunting Dali in herding the animals. Hunters usually
made sacrifices in his name since no one was believed to be able to hunt
animals successfully without his help. The fate of a person entering the forest
was believed to be entirely in his hands.
Ochopintre and Tkashmapa 97
In Mingrelian myths, Tkashi-Mapa is the goddess of forests and animals.
With golden hair and unbelievably beautiful, any hunter who dared to enter
her domain would be seduced by her. The hunters, however, were supposed to
keep the details of their liaisons with Tkasi-mapa a secret, and those who
failed to keep their word, were turned into stone, along with their hounds. As
for Ochokochi, he was totally entranced by Tkashi-Mapa, and spent all his
time chasing after her. However, mortal hunters protected Tkashi-Mapa from
his advances. Tkashi-mapa is often associated with the cult of Dali (Dæl),
particularly widespread in mountainous regions of Georgia.
Chapter 19
THE LEGEND OF KASHUETI CHURCH
There is a legend about David, one of the Asurian fathers, and it is
connected with his activities in the area of Tbilisi.
What does the legend tell us?
After having left the residence of his spiritual director – Ivan Zedazneli –
Confessor David, according to the legend, went off to Tbilisi and settled down
in a small cave on the ledge of a mountain. Nowadays this place is known as
St. Mountain (Mtatsminda), or Father David‘s Mountain. And this is the direct
result of the events described in the legend that follows.
Father David, once a week used to come downhill and preach Christianity
and about Christian morals to the people of Tbilisi. In those days in Tbilisi, the
people worshipped mostly fire and other idols. St David‘s passionate and
emotive speeches were nothing but a nuisance as far as those worshippers
were concerned. That is why they decided to do their best to get rid of him
once and for all. As this monk had a good reputation and the respect of so
many people, the worshippers made up their minds to embarrass him so as to
weaken his influence.
The worshippers decided to offer a pregnant woman a certain amount of
money to accuse the confessor in public of having had sex with her during one
of his services. And that is what they did. They paraded the woman in front of
the congregation and she confirmed that he had been an accomplice to the sin.
Her accusation, not surprisingly, stunned everyone present as they could never
have imagined Father David capable of such a disgusting and unforgivable act.
Father David did nothing to prove his innocence, though, for as an
obedient Orthodox monk, he was ready, patiently and calmly, to endure all
kinds of personal injuries and humiliation, however undeserved they may have
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 100
been. So he said nothing to the Magi, but the problem was that Father David
had always been regarded as a model Christian, and this slur on his character
was likely to severely impact on his efforts to spread Christianity among the
people in future.
So he felt a great burden of responsibility on his shoulders, and it became
evident that the only solution was in fact to tell the truth to the public.
According to the legend, St. David took his mace, placed it on the stomach of
the pregnant woman and exclaimed loudly: ―Boy, cry out, if I‘m your father!‖
Suddenly, to everyone‘s astonishment, from inside the woman they heard a
cry: ―No, no…‖ was what they heard. It was a real miracle that not only
affected the audience deeply, but left his sworn enemies, the Magi, at a loss for
words too.
Apparently, after what they had seen, the Magi started to throw stones at
her, and the crowd joined in too. Covered by the stones that had felled her to
the ground, the slanderer was just left to lie there. From this comes the name
of the church – Kvashveti or Kashueti (left among the stones).
Another version says that the wrath of the Lord passed on to the slanderer
and that when she gave birth, she delivered a stone instead of a baby in the
end. (The translation of kvashveti is to deliver a stone).
REFERENCE
Salaghaya E. (2010) “How Kashueti Church was built and why people call
Mtatsminda Father David‘s Mountain‖ From the magazine “Tbi- liselebi”
No. 27. 2010-07-21.
Chapter 20
THE LEGEND OF LAKE ABUDELAURI
Figure 14. Lake Abudelauri.
Lake Abudelauri is located in Khevsureti, above the village of Roshki, at
the base of steep cliffs. People say this lake was the shelter of the last Devi
who had run away to escape from Iakhsari‘s whip. Before hiding himself in
the lake, the Devi had been attacked by Iakhsari, but he managed to avoid the
lashes of his whip by sheltering behind the cliff. The whip lashed the cliff
instead and a splinter of stone broke off and pierced one of the Devi‘s eyes
(This cliff still stands at the entrance of Roshki). With his one eye, the Devi
then disappeared into the lake. Iakhsari followed him into the water and killed
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 102
him, but the Devi‘s impure blood covered the surface of the lake and, as a
result, Iakhsari was not able to surface. He stayed there until a four-horned and
four-eared sheep was sacrificed and its blood was spread over the surface of
the lake.
The blood of the sheep cleared the surface, and in this way provided a
means of escape for Iakhsari. People say that the Virgin, in the form of a white
dove, flew up out of the water at that point. A relieved and extremely grateful
Iakhsari thanked Broeli by promising to help him three times in return. ―When
you need assistance, call me and I‘ll be with you‖- he said.
Iakhsari then flew away and sat down on the top of Liqoki. Since then
Iakhsari‘s grotto and a bell tower have been built in that place. Later he moved
to Ubistavi and landed on the top of the high hill, where a grotto and a bell
tower were also built in his honour. Finally, he moved down to Shuapkho and
settled there forever.
Iakhsari first helped Broeli‘s family when they suffered from an unknown
incurable disease. In return for ensuring his family‘s survival, Broeli promised
to visit Iakhsri‘s residence with gifts and also to light candles for him. And
Iakhsari obliged by saving them all.
Later Broeli‘s family caught another infection and once more he called on
Iakhsari for help. Again he came to the family‘s aid and, as before, to give
thanks Broeili presented him with an offering.
The third occasion he asked for help was at harvest time, when suddenly
the weather changed for the worse. Broeli again appealed to the Lord‘s son for
help, this time to make the weather clear up, and promised eternal attention
and offerings in return.
However, Iakhsari was away visiting the Lord at that time, helping to
solve an urgent problem that had come up, and he had to cut his visit short to
come to Broeli‘s aid. Upon returning and seeing that nothing serious was
wrong with the man, he fell into a rage and killed not only Broeli but his entire
family too for having wasted his time.
Iakhsari is the Lord‘s son in East Georgian mythology (mainly in Pshav-
Khevsureti). He was considered to be the direct messenger of the Lord who
generally appeared in the form of a cross or a pillar. He was renowned for his
battles against the Devi and other evil forces, and was always ready to help
those who needed it. He was worshipped in practically the whole of East
Georgia by all mountain-dwellers.
The Legend of Lake Abudelauri 103
A devi is an evil giant, comparable to the ogres found in Western
European myths. With horns and a wicked appearance, the devis often had
multiple heads that just grew back again if severed. Devis were believed to
live in the underworld or remote mountain areas, where they hoarded treasures
and kept captives. In the myths they often live together in families, with nine
brothers being the most common number. Bakbak-Devi was regarded as the
strongest and most powerful of the devis, and the only way to overcome them
was by making use of various tricks or games.
REFERENCES
Kiknadze, Z. (1996) Georgian Mythology, Tbilisi, Georgia.
Chapter 21
DALI – THE FEMALE GODDESS OF NATURE,
ANIMALS AND HUNTING
According to those who have seen her with their own eyes, Dali always
wears white clothes, has golden hair, and lives in a golden cave. She shines
like the sun or even stronger then the sun. If she doesn‘t like a person she kills
them, disposes of the body, and that way nobody finds out. With those she
takes a fancy to, she has liaisons, but then warns them not to say a word about
her to anyone. Dali is said to be immortal, she looks after wild goats and cattle,
and she sends the herds in her care wherever she decides is best. Hunters can
kill as many as she allows them to. Those hunters who are stubborn and
obstinate, she makes fall from a cliff and die. Dalis divide the herds of wild
animals and caves among themselves, but each one lives in a separate cave.
In Svaneti the goddess of hunting is called Dali. She rules the animals and
also the fate of hunters. All animals obey her and she lives in mountains. She
attracts the hunters, and sometimes she falls in love with them but if a hunter
betrayed her, she would send an avalanche or made him fall from a cliff. At
the same time, she is a loving mother. In Svanatian myths there are several
faces of Dali. Most of the time, she sits on a cliff and combs her golden hair
with a golden comb, singing or complaining that a wolf stole her baby. A
hunter passes by, kills the wolf, Dali picks up her baby with her golden hair
and, as a grateful mother, she asks: ‗Tell me whatever wish you have and I
will make it come true. If you wish me to be your mother I will be your
mother, if you wish me to be your sister I will be your sister, if you wish me to
be your lover, I will be your lover. But I suggest you‘d be better off choosing
me as your mother because there is no danger to you that way. One hunter
chooses her as a lover and experiences her love. Dali keeps her promise and
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 106
every year grants him 8 goats with three inch horns and on Barbaroba (St
Barbara‘s day) she gives him 7 goats.
Dali is a devoted lover and a kind friend; she becomes furious and
revengeful only if a hunter makes the mistake of breaking his promise to her.
And even if a hunter doesn‘t ask her to be his mother, sister or a lover, she still
grants him a goat or a chamois.
Many legends from different parts of Georgia say that if the goddess falls
in love with a hunter, she gives him a sign, a gift with her magical powers.
This gift helps him to be successful in the hunt but, at the same time, the
hunter has to follow the strict rules she sets him. First of all, he has to keep the
gift and his relationship with Dali a secret. And if a hunter doesn‘t keep his
word, he not only loses all his good luck but he dies soon afterwards too.
The cult of Dali (Dæl), a female goddess of nature, animals and hunting,
was particularly widespread in mountainous regions of Georgia. She was
believed to be of extraordinary beauty, with long, golden-coloured hair and
radiant white skin. She dwells high up in the mountains, usually out of the
reach of humans, where she watches over the herds of wild animals under her
protection. She sometimes shared animals from her flock with hunters, as long
as certain conditions and taboos were respected. Hunters were not to kill more
than they could carry back to the village nor could they take aim at specially
marked animals believed to be a transformation of the goddess. In some
myths, Dali entered in intimate relations with a hunter, but if the latter
revealed details of the liaison, he risked being punished with death. Some
myths describe an encounter between Dali and a mortal hunter that produced
Amirani.
As for the Georgian mythical hero Amirani, he was the son of the goddess
Dali and a hunter. According to the Svan version, the hunter‘s wife learned
about her husband‘s affair with Dali and killed her by cutting her hair while
she was asleep. On Dali‘s death, the hunter extracted from her womb a boy
that he called Amirani. The child had marks of his semi-divine origins with
symbols of the Sun and the Moon on his shoulder-blades and a golden tooth.
The Georgian myths describe the rise of the titan Amirani, who challenges
the gods, kidnaps Kamar (a symbol of divine fire), and teaches metallurgy to
humans. To punish him, the gods chain Amirani to a cliff in the Caucasus
Mountains, where the titan continues to defy the gods and struggles to break
the chains; an eagle ravages his liver every day, but it heals at night. Amirani‘s
loyal dog, meantime, licks the chain to thin it out, but every year, on Thursday
or in some versions the day before Christmas, the gods send smiths to repair it.
In some versions, every seven years the cave where Amirani lies chained can
Dali – The Female Goddess of Nature, Animals and Hunting 107
be seen in the Caucasus. Scholars agree that folk epic about Amirani must
have been formed in the third millennium BCE and later went through
numerous transformations, the most important of them being the morphing of
pagan and Christian elements after the spread of Christianity. The myth could
have been assimilated by the Greek colonists or travellers and embodied in the
famous Greek legend of Prometheus. In Georgian literature and culture,
Amirani is often used as a symbol for the Georgian nation, its ordeals, and
struggle for survival.
REFERENCES
Akhmeteli, N. and Lortkipanidze, B. (2000) The World of Georgian Myths,
Tbilisi: Logos Press.
Silagadze, A. (Ed.) (1992) Georgian Mythology, Tbilisi: Merani Publishing
House.
Chapter 22
THE LEGEND OF BEBRISTSIKHE
(THE CASTLE OF THE OLD MAN)
Let me tell you about the legend of Bebristsikhe.
Mtskheta (the former capital of Georgia) was well secured from all the
sides and was considered to be an ideal capital, from a strategic point of view
as well. One of its guard-posts was Bebristsikhe. It is so old that based on the
excavations carried out what remains of it, scholars think that it dates back to
the period when human beings only knew how to make primitive weapons like
bows and arrows. But as with all such castles, it was built and rebuilt so many
times that the exact date of its original construction will probably always
remain unknown to us.
This castle was built by someone named Simony on the extremely narrow
site of a ravine, so narrow that nobody was able to pass by it without being
noticed by the sentries who permanently stood guard there. That man had two
children – a loving and virtuous daughter Makrine and a stone-hearted,
inapproachable son whose name was Mamuka.
After their father‘s death, Mamuka set high taxes on the slaves. Makrine
begged him to take pity on those poor people, But Mamuka turned out to be
ruthless even towards his own sister, and responded by locking her in the
tower.
One day, when a meal was being cooked for the slaves, some crows fell
into the pot. The slave poured out the water from it and incured Mamuka‘s
anger on themselves. He ran to punish his slaves, but snakes came out of the
pot and coiled themselves around him. Having looked death in the eyes,
Mamuka begged the Lord to save him and promised to build a church in return
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 110
for his help. From the tower window, Makrine had seen all that had taken
place and started to pray with all her heart, asking the Lord for her brother‘s
survival too, and the Lord answered her prayers.
So this is how the prince was saved from almost certain death. To express
his gratitude, he gave up all his wealth, had it distributed among the slaves
who had previously been treated so cruelly by him, and then left the castle to
became a monk. His sister Makrine chose to devote her life to the church too,
and became a nun in Mtskheta.
About 70 years after that event, Makrine died. At the funeral an old,
white-haired man came. He got down on his knees in front of the dead woman,
kissed her on the forehead and, with his head lowered, said to her cold body:
―My sister, we have done what we two promised to do.‖ Having said these
words, he fell down motionless by her side, and that‘s why, according to the
legend, people call this castle Bebristsikhe even today.
Chapter 23
PRAYERS TO THE NEW MOON
I
You with a sister, I with a brother,
You with a bald head, I with a hairy head,
You with a goat, I with a sheep
II
I‘ve seen the moon in all her splendour,
A cause for rejoicing
- What have you brought us, dear moon?
- A full year, a full heart,
And a fertile harvest
Our treasure chest is full,
Our enemy is gloomy,
Our produce – more delicious than sugar
According to the medieval Georgian chronicles, the deity of the moon
Armazi was the supreme deity in the pre-Christian pantheon of Kartli (Iberia
of the Classical sources). Georgian literary tradition credits the first king of
Kartli, Parnavaz (assumed to have reigned c. 299-234 BC), with the raising of
the idol Armazi – reputedly named after him – on a mountain near Mtskheta,
and the construction of a similarly-named fortress.
The 9th
/10th
century hagiographic work Life of Nino describes the statue of
Armazi as "a man of bronze standing; attached to his body was a golden suit of
chain-armour, on his head a strong helmet; for eyes he had emeralds and
beryls, in his hands he held a sabre glittering like lighting, and it turned in his
hands." The same account asserts that its subject, a 4th-century female baptizer
of Georgians Saint Nino, witnessed the celebration of a great feast of
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 112
dedication for the idol, and as she began praying, by the grace of Jesus the idol
was struck and burnt by lightning.
Modern scholars are divided as to the origin of Armazi. It would appear to
be connected to the Zoroastrian supreme god Ahura Mazda (Middle Persian
Ohrmazd, Armenian Aramazd) and contemporary archaeological evidence
does suggest the penetration of Zoroastrianism in ancient Georgia. On the
other hand, the name could well be a local variant of Arma, the god of the
moon in Hittite mythology. Additionally, we know that early Georgians
venerated the moon as their chief deity, and this cult subsequently fused with
the Christian St. George, which has been regarded as Georgia‘s patron saint
since the Middle Ages. Thus, Armazi might well have been a syncretic deity
representing a combination of local Georgian, Iranian, and Anatolian elements.
The name of the city and its dominant acropolis, Armaz-Tsikhe (literally,
"citadel of Armazi"; არმაზციხე), is usually taken to derive from Armazi, the
chief deity of the pagan Iberian pantheon.
Figure 15. The ruins of the Armazi citadel.
According to a collection of medieval Georgian chronicles, Armaztsikhe
was founded, in the 3rd
century BC, by the semi-legendary King Pharnavaz I
Prayers to the New Moon 113
of Iberia. This fortress stood on the modern-day Mount Bagineti, on the right
bank of the Mtkvari River (Kura), the largest river in Transcaucasia, at its
confluence with the Aragvi. Among the surviving structures are the royal
palace, several richly decorated tombs, a bathhouse and a small stone
mausoleum.
REFERENCES
Shioshvili, T. (1994) Georgian Folk Beliefs, Ajara News Press.
Chapter 24
KOPALA AND IAKHSAR
Kopala is the pre-Christian deity of lightning worshipped by the mountain
people in Georgia. His main temples were situated in Pshavi (the village of
Udzilaurta) and Khevsureti (Likokiskheoba, Chalaisopeli). Kopala temples are
also found in Mtiuleti and Khevi and Kopaloba is a holiday still celebrated in
his honour. Kopala was believed to be born as a human but later elevated to
become a deity, and is usually portrayed as being armed with a mace and an
iron bow made especially for him by the blacksmith god Pirkusha. God gave
him and Iakhsar the mission to defeat the devi (magical creatures in old tales)
in Pshav-Khevsureti in ancient times. Kopala was also believed to fight with
the evil spirits who seized human souls and protect his followers and other
human beings from them. He was thus thought able to cure various forms of
madness, which were believed to be ―the disease of the soul.‖
As for Iakhsar, he was an angel and he descended from heaven in the form
of an angel. Where the church now stands in Shuapkho, there was the dwelling
of the devi. They called that place Avisgori, the Mountain of Evil. Iakhsar
descended and attacked the devi with his lakhti (a whip plaited from metal
strips, without handles and with a weight hung from the end; a kind of sling),
in this way wiping them out everywhere.
The Pshav-Khevsur religious cult is strongly connected to cultic sites
called khatebi (literally ‗icons‘) and assorted cult buildings in general called
salotsavebi (‗places for prayer‘ … Each settlement has its own cultic site,
often at some distance from the settlement in the woods, usually at a higher
elevation. These sites are each connected with a specific patron, a ‗child of
god‘ (khvtisshvili), associated with strong notions of ritual purity attainable
only by men, and the Pshav-Khevsurs, though never having had any feudal
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 116
overlords in fact, in general imagine themselves to be ‗serfs‘ (qmebi) of these
otherworldly ‗lords‘ (Tuite 2002).
… While some ruins are considered to be sacred …, other kinds of ruins
are attributed to agency of the devi, pre-human demonic others whose
destruction at the hands of shrine divinities, xvtisshvilebi, are celebrated in
mythic cycles (Baddeley 1940: 180).…
…Physically, the format of a mountaineer shrine begins with the central
point of the shrine, the holy of holies, usually a stone tower, indexically
marking the point where the Khvtisshvili came to earth, the k’vrivi (Kiknadze
1996: 12-19, Tuite 2002: 29). … In contrast to a church, entrance to the
k’vrivi is forbidden, partly because of its exceptional sacrality, partly for the
physical reason that it is often a building with no interior: ‗Its physical
impenetrability is a metaphor for its moral prohibitedness‘ (Kiknadze
1996:13). (Extracts taken from Manning, P., 2008, ‗Materiality and
cosmology: old Georgian churches as sacred, sublime, and secular objects.‘
Ethnos 73, 3 Pp. 327-360).
Figure 16. Shrine of Iakhsar, in Amgha Village, in the border zone between Georgia
and Ingushetia.
Unlike the typical Orthodox Christian Church, which stands as an integral
object apart from and in opposition to its surroundings, the shrine incorporates
Kopala and Iakhsar 117
these surroundings, often being located in a grove which is, in effect, part of
the shrine.
KOPALA
Kopala is one of the most frequently mentioned heroes in the legends
about God‘s children. Kopala is a handsome hero, who, besides being a good
hunter and an equally good ball player, terrifies both Devis and Kajis* to
death.
Fearless Kopala would turn up where the Devis were strong and thus kept
the local population in terror. In one of the legendary battles, Kopala and
Iakhsar managed to kill nine brothers of the Devis and their father. People
living in Pshav and Khevsureti were scared to go to the river Aragvi as,
besides killing and robbing them of their food supplies, the Devis demanded
children as ransom and tolls to use the water of the Aragvi. The people asked
Morige Ghmerti to help them and, out of all the Ghvtisshvilni (the children of
the God), it was Kopala who was given the honour to be chosen as their
representative to fight against the Devis. On his way to their dwelling place,
Kopala came across a Pshav person who was going to the Devis and carrying a
little child to be sacrificed to them. Kopala accompanied the Pshav and, on his
arrival, killed each and every Devi he found there.
Kopala liked to sit on one of the rocks, which was later stolen by a Devi.
When Kopala was told about this incident by a servant, he became furious and
ran after the Devi. The frightened Devi dropped the rock and ran for his life.
However, Kopala caught him and killed him and one can still see the very
same rock Kopala used to sit on at that place.
According to one of the legends, when God created Kopala, the Devis
were huge and very strong. And one particular Devi was so strong that he
could even wrestle with God himself. Kopala made an attempt to out-wit the
Devi by persuading him to let him help to shave his head. When Kopala was
shaving the Devi‘s head though, the Devi nearly broke Kopala‘s neck because
he was so powerful. Because of this, Kopala went to God and asked him to
make him stronger. Otherwise he would not be able to cope with all the Devis
as was his mission. God made Kopala so strong that he was then able to defeat
one of the Devis and his family, and take not only his cattle but also a lion
which he used in place of a dog.
One one-eyed Devi, Sumbat by name, was so very strong and
indestructible that he was considered to be nearly as strong as God. He looked
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 118
like a black moon and his ambitions would drive him to wrestle with God
himself. Sumbat managed to capture one of the Ghvtishvili named Giorgi
Naghvarmshvenieri and went to one of the streams to catch Baadur, another of
the God‘s children. At this time, Kopala was following the sun beam pillar
from the sky. Sumbat mistook Kopala for Baadur and started a fight with him.
As for Kopala, he thought it was in fact Baadur he was fighting with, and that
he had turned into the Devi for a joke. While wrestling, though, Kopla soon
realised that his opponent was the Devi, not Baadur. So, he flew up in the air,
spread out a gold cloth high up above the ground, stood on it and killed
Sumbat by shooting down fiery arrows at him. This made Baadur so happy
that he presented Kopala with a Rashi*
Kopala is associated with a number of sacred rocks and prayer places.
There are also folk poems dedicated to him. Here are two of them:
Kopala, the hero, rides a horse
Which trots and gallops
The hostile Devis gather
On the top of the mountain
They are terrified of Kopala,
As he has a mighty ball and chain
And can strike out viciously with it.
In another poem, Kopala is referred to as a Saint:
There are big ash-trees
In Saint Kopala‘s garden,
Angels dwell there and
Are visible at night
The Devis, seeing them,
Die standing on their feet.
IAKHSAR
Iakhsar was held in higher esteem than the other Children of God due to
his strength as well as his courageous, daring and charitable nature and for the
way in which he served his people. He was even granted audiences with
Morige Ghmerti and was able to discuss his problems and requests in person
with him.
Kopala and Iakhsar 119
Once all of the Children of God, the Rulers of all the different parts of the
country, got together at the Court of God and he organised a tournament. The
referee was Kviria. According to the rules of the competition, God‘s Children
had to compete and see who the strongest and wittiest was. First, they had to
shift one hundred litre weights that were normally used as wine scales. No
matter how hard God‘s Children tried though, they were not able to perform
the task. When Iakhsar‘s turn came, he embraced the weights with his huge
arms and lifted them up into the air as if they were as light as feathers. He was
equally successful when the weights were doubled and even tripled in size.
This meant that Iakhsar was the strongest and God presented him with a bow
and arrow as a prize.
Iakhsar is referred to as proud, free, courageous and, most of all, as a
pillar of light descending from the sky, sent by God to help his people. When
the Devis made an attempt to conquer and enslave the people, Iakhsar fought
against them. He drove the Devis out from their dens and killed every single
one of them. Only one lame Devi managed to escape by diving into Lake
Bazaleti. Iakhsar was daring enough to follow him into the bottomless lake.
Once submerged though, he was unable to break through the surface when he
tried to get out and found himself stuck there. The people he protected wanted
to help him so much that they found a four–horned and four–eared sheep and
sacrificed it to the Lake. Only after such a sacrifice was the water of the lake
purified from the filthy blood of the Devi and the way back opened for Iakhsar
again.
*Kaji are evil spirits, often portrayed as a race of magic-wielding,
demonic metalworkers. They lived in Kacheti and had magic powers that they
used against humans. Folk tales distinguished between land kajis, who lived in
the remote woods and harassed humans, and river kajis, who dwelt in rivers,
streams or lakes and were more benevolent. Female kajis were very beautiful,
easily tempted men and helped heroes on their quests. Kajis figure
prominently in Shota Rustaveli‘s Vepkhistkaosani, which describes the kajis
kidnapping one of the main characters and fighting heroes at the Kajeti
fortress.
*A Rashi is a magical winged horse. Rashis who lived on the land were
well disposed to humans and could see the future. Rashis of the seas were
more hostile to humans, but could take transport heroes to the depths of the
ocean while their milk was believed to cure many illnesses. Heavenly rashis
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 120
were winged and fire-breathing animals, difficult to subdue but always loyal to
their riders.
REFERENCES
Baddeley, John. (1940) The Rugged Flanks of the Caucasus. Two Volumes.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kiknadze, Zurab. (1996) Georgian Mythology I: The Cross and his People.
Kutaisi: Georgian Academy of Sciences.
Tuite, Kevin. (2002) ‗Real and Imagined Feudalism in Highland Georgia‘
Amirani, 7: 25-43.
Chapter 25
DZYZLAN,
THE ABKHAZIAN MOTHER OF WATER
There are many stories in mythology and folklore about marriage between
mortals and water-spirits, and the one presented in this chapter comes from
Abkhazia. First of all, however, some background information on the region
and on the beliefs and practices of the people who live there:
The people of Abkhazia live in a mountainous region that is situated on
the southeastern coast of the Black Sea.
According to legend, when God was distributing land to all the different
peoples of the earth, the Abkhazians were busy entertaining guests at the time.
Because it would have been impolite to leave before their guests, the
Abkhazians arrived late, and all that God had left by then was some stones.
Out of these it is said he created a land of mountains - hard to grow anything
on, but very beautiful.
Although these days the Georgians claim that Abkhazia is an integral part
of their territory, in the aftermath of the conflict that broke out in the summer
of 2008, the Russians, along with Nicaragua and more recently Venezuela,
have recognized the independence of Abkahzia. The rest of the world,
however, has not followed suit and the situation currently remains unresolved.
While the Abkhasians speak a north Caucasian language, their neighbours
belong to the Kartvelian linguistic family. ―Georgian nationalists, obsessed
with the danger of Russian interference, took a harsh line towards their own
non-Kartvelian minorities‖ (Ascherson, 2007, p.246) and this was undoubtedly
a factor that led to the current crisis. There were other factors that led to the
situation that now exists too.
The Russians, instead of helping the two neighbours resolve their
differences, exacerbated the situation by deliberately fomenting separatist
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 122
movements within Georgia. ―[W]ith the apparent aim of crippling the reality
of Georgian independence and reasserting Moscow‘s hegemony in the
northern Caucasus, the Russians supplied the Abkhazian side with heavy
weapons and supported their ground troops with air strikes‖ (Ascherson, 2007,
p.247). And now they clearly intend to use their military presence in
Abkhazia, and South Ossetia too, ―as a lever to apply pressure on Georgia, part
of the wider struggle between Russia and the United States for influence in the
southern Caucasus‖ (Ascherson, 2007, p.249).
For the Abkhaz and also the South Ossetians, Russian recognition in 2008
was welcome ―in that it rid them of the persistent fear of Georgian re-conquest
they had harbored for many years. But the paradox of Russian recognition was
that it actually weakened their would-be sovereignty of both territories‖ (De
Waal, 2010, p.215). Although the South Ossetians say they were traumatized
by the Georgian offensive and are grateful for being saved by Russia,
Abkhazia is much more ambivalent about the de facto Russian annexation.
―For years the Abkhaz political and professional class had nurtured dreams of
some kind of sovereignty independent of both Georgia and Russia. In 2009,
Abkhaz opposition politicians complained that their president, Bagapsh, was
selling out their sovereignty to Russia‖ (ibid. p.216).
Our main interest, however, is not in the current political situation in the
region, but on the beliefs and practices of the peoples who live there, so the
time has now come to move on and to focus on those aspects.
Polytheistic rituals and beliefs in Abkhazia are inextricably linked to the
structure of the extended family, all those who share the same surname. Each
lineage has its own sacred place … and ―in the past each lineage had its own
protective spirits to whom sacrifices and prayers were made at an annual
gathering … These sacred places are natural locations, high up in the
mountains, or in forest groves, by springs or rivers, cliffs or sacred trees‖
(Rachel Clogg in Hewitt, 1999, p.211). They took the place of a church or a
mosque and were places where refuge could be sought.
The ‗god of gods‘ in the Abkhaz pantheon is Antswa, the creator, in
whom all the other gods are contained … The first toast still to be given at
feasts is one to Antswa, in the form of ―Antswa, you give us the warmth of
your eyes‖ (Rachel Clogg in Hewitt, 1999, p.213).
No consideration of the religious beliefs and practices of the people would
be complete without reference to the prominent position which was occupied
by the shamaness among the Abkhazians. In Abhaz, a woman who engaged in
Dzyzlan, The Abkhazian Mother of Water 123
prophecy and the art of oracles was called acaaju (‗‗the questioner‖). The
acaaju played an important role in the community and people would travel
from far and wide to seek their advice.
The foremost obligation of the acaaju was to ascertain who had caused a
specific illness in order to find out the necessary remedies. Sometimes she
obtained ecstatic inspiration and cried out the name and the demands of the
angered divinity. At other times she would sit on a high seat (as in the Norse
Shamanic tradition) and act as though she was carrying on a conversation with
the divinity, to whom she directed questions and from whom she received
answers. After a while, she made known the result.
An important god the people had to protect themselves from was Šesšu,
the supernatural protector of the smithy or forge. As a rule, this god would
grow angry over a false oath which the sick person or some one of his relatives
had made in the smithy.
The forge had among the Abkhazians the character of a cult place. If there
was no real forge in the neighbourhood, a small ‗‗symbolic‘‘ one was built in
the garden or somewhere in the courtyard and used only for religious
purposes. As for the Abkhazian blacksmith, he acted as a mediator between
the god Šesšu and human beings. He also directed the frequent performances
of the oath in Šesšu‘s name, which were carried out with solemn ceremonies in
an exactly prescribed form.
It goes without saying that between the smith and the acaaju there was
close collaboration. If it was a question of discovering the guilty party who
had offended Šesšu with a false oath, the acaaju employed not only the
methods previously mentioned but also spread out beans in front of her, and on
the basis of the arrangement of these found out the name of the transgressor. If
occasion arose, astrology was also taken into account, thus one more technique
of divination in which she had to be skilled.
The acaaju would advise on what kind of animals were to be sacrificed to
placate the gods and she also performed healing rituals. One of these, in the
case of a sickness intrusion, involved leading a domestic animal three times
around the sick person, after which it was driven away toward the forest, to
carry the sickness away with it. As payment for her help, the acaaju received
either the skins of the sacrificial animals and a part of the meat or a sum of
money.
Lengthy sufferings with fever were considered to be ‗‗caused by the
water‘‘ and in such cases Dzyzlan was called on for help.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 124
Now before going any further it is important to point out that in Abkhazia,
and the North Caucasus in general, folktales are not just something told to
keep children amused.
They were traditionally one of the chief forms of entertainment,
particularly in the mountain districts, together with music, singing and
dancing. And at feasts, guests would be expected to make a contribution to
the entertainment, possibly in the form of a poem or a story. Relating tales
would also be a feature of gatherings for the purpose of communal work.
Although the primary purpose may have been entertainment, the stories also
had an educational value: to confirm the community values of loyalty, hard
work, hospitality and so on (Bgazhba, 1985, p.2).
And the story of Dzyzlan that follows is no exception:
Have you heard of Dzyzlan, the Mother of Water? Well if you haven‘t
heard of her, this is what they tell of her. She is a water maiden, a beauty with
long golden hair. Her feet are turned backwards, and for that reason, in
wrestling with her, nobody can manage to throw her down on her back. She
swims well; in water she feels as if she is at home. Her body is elastic, her skin
is as white as papyrus, and her eyes – they sparkle like diamonds.
Dzyzlan has the habit of pestering lone travellers, men, and enjoys
wrestling with them. And sometimes, if they‘re particularly handsome, she
falls in love with them too. She is not afraid of any sort of weapon, except for
a double-edged kinzhal [a Caucasian long-bladed knife]. On meeting her, a
traveller must unsheathe his kinzhal and, raising it, pronounce, ―Uashkhua
makyapsys‖ [a magic expression, literally: Uashkhua (a deity), makyapsys – a
soft whetstone]. Then she submits. But most of all she prizes her golden hair.
Dzyzlan goes into the service of the one who manages to pull out or cut
off a lock of her hair. A pistol and a gun are useless against her; they misfire.
Nor does a sword frighten her, she catches it by the handle. So this is what
Dzyzlan is like!
One day, a young man was riding through a forest. It was already evening
and drizzling; the very time for Dzyzlan‘s tricks. He rode up to a river and
began to look for a ford. Suddenly his horse began to snort and stopped.
However much he urged it on, however much he drove it, it would not move
from the spot. The rider looks, and in front of him stands the beauty, Dzyzlan.
The rider asks her, ―What do you want?‖, but she does not answer.
Dzyzlan threw herself on him, pulled him off his horse, and for a long
time they fought. Dzyzlan began to get tired. She dragged him to the stream,
Dzyzlan, The Abkhazian Mother of Water 125
but the hero was ready for her: he pulled out his kinzhal and cut off a lock of
the beauty‘s hair, and he hid it in his gazyre [a small cylindrical wooden case
for powder or cartridges]. Dzyzlan became submissive and went to him. The
hero picked her up and set her in front of him on his saddle. And thus he
brought her home.
Dzyzlan went into service for him and did everything about the house.
Every day she asked him to return her hair, but the master did not give it to
her. He hid Dzyzlan‘s hair under a rafter of the roof. One day, everyone had
gone off to the field to work. At home there remained only Dzyzlan and a little
girl. Dzyzlan boiled up a big pot of milk, treated the girl to the cream, and then
began to pump her: where is her, Dzyzlan‘s, hair? The little girl pointed under
the rafter. Dzyzlan got the lock of her hair. She started laughing, then she
seized the little girl and threw her into the pot with the boiling milk, while she
herself escaped.
There is another story told about her. The famous hunter Akun-Ipa
Khatazhukva met Dzyzlan in the valley of the River Aaldzga. He beat her in
wrestling, he cut off a lock of her hair, he sewed it up into some leather and
then wore it like an amulet on his chest. She began asking him to let her go.
Akun-Ipa demanded from her a promise that from then on she would not
trouble people, neither by day nor by night. Dzyzlan gave her promise: ―May
your bullet never miss its target and may I be impotent to cause mischief to
men-travellers that I meet‖. Akun-Ipa gave Dzyzlan her back her hair and let
her go.
From then on the hunter never had a miss. His bullet overtook any game
which he was not too lazy to shoot at. So that is the way in which Akun-Ipa
Khatazhukva became a great hunter.
From that time Dzyzlan became harmless to solitary men-travellers. If it
happened that she caught sight of a man, she made a large detour round him.
That is why Dzyzlan ceased to be seen or heard.
Without water, we die. It is a central vehicle for both human life and the
life of the planet. Its sustainable management is paramount for human and
terrestrial existence. This very importance is recognized today with the
growth of ecological awareness, but has also been traditionally reflected in
the spiritual significance of water in ancient religion (York, 2008, p.275).
Deities associated with Water play a central role in numerous myths,
legends and practices. From Anahit, the Persian Goddess of rain and
abundance, to the Afro-Brazilian Goddess Yemanjá, the Egyptian Mother
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 126
Goddess Isis as portrayed in Dion Fortune's The Sea Priestess and Nimue in
the Arthurian Legends, the power of Water is ever present.
Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love is born from the foam of the
oceans, and many of the Vodou Lwa including Agwe, Mambo La Sirene,
Erzulie Freda, Damballah Wedo and the Simbis also have strong associations
with it too.
In both Circassian and Abkhazian mythology, water is mostly connected
with female symbols. For example, Psiguashe is the goddess of water in
Circassian mythology and Dzyzlan was the goddess of water in Abkhazian
mythology. Moreover, there are not only goddesses but also ceremonies
related to the relationship between female figures and water. One of them was
connected with the belief that if a person had gone to the water when ―the
Rainbow drank from it‖, in other words when there was a rainbow in the sky,
he or she would become seriously ill. In this case, a respected old woman and
a prayer woman would lead the patient to the stream and would take with them
two roasted capons, two filled loaves of unleavened bread, and other food
supplies. The patient was covered with cotton material, and the prayer woman
walked around him with a doll. The doll was set into a gourd with a candle,
and then given up to the river. Finally, the old woman would pass her hand
over the back of patient, and tell him or her to go home, but without looking
back.
REFERENCES
Ascherson, N. (2007) Black Sea: The Birthplace of Civilisation and
Barbarism, London: Vintage Books.
Brauer, E. (1993) The Jews of Kurdistan, Detroit: Wayne State University
Press.
Berman, M. (2007) Soul Loss and the Shamanic Story, Newcastle: Cambridge
Scholars Publishing.
Bgazhba, Kh.S. (1985) Abkhazian Tales, Translated from the Russian, with
new Introduction by D.G. Hunt. (Russian edition published by Alashara
Publishing House, Sukhumi).
Crowley, V. (2008) ‗The mystery of waters‘ In Shaw, S. and Francis, A. (eds.)
(2008) Deep Blue: Critical reflections on Nature, Religion and Water,
London: Equinox Publishing Ltd.
Dzyzlan, The Abkhazian Mother of Water 127
Dumanish, A. (2004). Хьэнцэ гуащэ - Hantse Guashe: A Ceremony of the
Puppet Princess. Retrieved March 2, 2008, from http://www.circassia
nworld.com/HantseGuashe.html
Eliade, M. (1991) Images and Symbols, New Jersey: Princeton University
Press (The original edition is copyright Librairie Gallimard 1952).
Ezzy, D (2008) ‗I am the river bleeding‘ In Shaw, S. and Francis, A. (eds.)
Deep Blue: Critical reflections on Nature, Religion and Water, London:
Equinox Publishing Ltd.
Gerten, D. (2008) 'Water of life, water of death: Pagan notions of water from
antiquity to today' In Shaw, S. and Francis, A. (eds.) (2008) Deep Blue:
Critical reflections on Nature, Religion and Water, London: Equinox
Publishing Ltd.
Hewitt, G. (ed.) (1999) The Abkhazians: A Handbook, Richmond, Surrey:
Curzon Press.
Johansons, A. (1972). The Shamaness of the Abkhazians. History of
Religions, 11. Retrieved March 2, 2008, from http://www.circassianwo
rld.com/Articles.html
Papşu, M. (2004). Tanrılar ve Kahramanlar Çağı. Aylık Coğrafya ve Keşif
Dergisi Atlas, 132, 112-113.
Piggot, J. (1982) Japanese Mythology, London: Hamlyn.
Shaw, S. and Francis, A. (eds.) (2008) Deep Blue: Critical reflections on
Nature, Religion and Water, London: Equinox Publishing Ltd.
De Waal, T. (2010) The Caucasus: An Introduction, New York: Oxford
University Press, Inc.
Wallis, R.J. (2003) Shamans/Neo-Shamans, London: Routledge.
York, Michael (2008) ‗Neglect and reclamation of water as sacred resource‘ In
Shaw, S. and Francis, A. (eds.) Deep Blue: Critical reflections on Nature,
Religion and Water, London: Equinox Publishing Ltd.
Note: This Chapter is an adapted and revised version of one that appears in
Berman, M. (2011) Guided Visualisations through the Caucasus,
California: Pendraig Publishing.
Chapter 26
THE GEORGIAN TABLE
A Supra (Georgian: სუფრა, pronounced [sʊpʰra]) is a traditional feast
and an important part of Georgian social culture. There are two types of Supra:
a festive supra (ლხინისსუფრა, [lxɪnɪs sʊpʰra]), called a keipi, and a sombre
supra (ჭირისსუფრა, [tʃʼɪrɪs sʊpʰra]), called a Kelekhi that is held after
burials.
Figure 17. A plate of vegetarian delicacies served at Tamada–a Georgian restaurant in
London.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 130
In ancient Georgia, a keipi would be held in the spring for the whole
village to attend, and numerous toasts would be drunk. The toasts would be
spread out though, to ensure that no one got overly intoxicated, since the
constant threat of invasion called for everyone in the village to be sober
enough to fight should the need arise. The custom was to drain the wine bowl,
and then throw away the last drops, as these were considered to be the number
of your enemies – so the fewer that were left, the better.
In Georgian, "supra" means "table-cloth". Large public meals are never
held in Georgia without a supra; when there are no tables, the supra is laid on
the ground. The word is cognate with Persian sofre (from Arabic şufra
"napkin, table (cloth)"), which currently refers to a pious votive repast where
alcohol would be highly inappropriate, but originally meant a royal banquet of
early Safavid court.
A guest invited to the Georgian table is first of all offered khachapuri, a
thin pie filled with mildly salted cheese; then asked to try lobio (red bean),
which nearly in every family is cooked according to their own recipe;
shkmeruli- stewed chicken in a garlic sauce; sulguni cheese roasted in butter;
roasted aubergines filled with walnut paste seasoned with vinegar,
pomegranate grains and aromatic herbs; pkhali, a vegetable dish made of
finely chopped beet leaves or of spinach mixed with walnut paste,
pomegranate grains and various spices. Meat dishes include chakapuli, made
of young lamb in a slightly sour juice of damson, tarragon and onion; kupati,
roasted small sausages stuffed with finely chopped pork, beef and mutton
mixed with red pepper and barberries. Last but certainly not least, an
extremely popular dish among Georgians is khinkali, succulent peppered
mutton dumplings.
Regardless of size and type, a supra is always led by a Tamada, or
toastmaster, who introduces each toast during the feast. The Tamada is elected
by the banqueting guests or chosen by the host. A successful Tamada must
possess great rhetorical skill and, perhaps even more importantly, be able to
hold his drink (the Tamada is always a man). Toasts are a popular event at a
Supra, and if someone ends a toast with alaverdi, it means that the person
being toasted has to reply.
A Keipi toast is called a "Sadghegrdzelo" (სადღეგრძელო,
[sadɣɛɡrdzɛlɔ]), while a Kelekhi toast is called a "Shesandobari"
(შესანდობარი, [ʃɛsandɔbarɪ]).
All toasts are made with wine and only wine, and the glass must be full at
the start of the toast! There are two exceptions worth reporting: it is considered
The Georgian Table 131
to be an insult to toast anyone with beer; but there may be a beery toast: to the
Police and to the President, depending on how popular or unpopular they may
be with the guests present at the event!
The grand Georgian table is still very much alive and is found on a daily
basis in both cities and in villages. A Supra table heaves with food. You have
to see it to believe it, and by the end of the event, the table can be stacked three
or four levels deep with plates!
Whenever and wherever people gather, singing takes place, and it
comprises a major part of the Georgian supra too. Indeed, no supra would be
considered complete without it. Despite globalisation and the appeal of
popular western culture, at the same time there is still considerable interest in
Georgian singing among the young people and all the major choirs support
youth choirs of a high standard, whose members keep the tradition going.
In spite of their long-suffering history,Georgian people have always
cherished and tenderly preserved their age-long musical language, probably as
they considered that losing or degrading it was equal to losing and degrading
their mother tongue itself. To help convey just how important singing and
music is to Georgians, we would like to offer you the following traditional
folktale. The chonguri, mentioned in the story, is a plucked stringed instrument
with four nylon strings.
THE CHONGURI PLAYER
There was once a king who had an incredibly beautiful daughter. She was
so beautiful that she could have said to the sun: "If you go down, I'll shine
instead of you." Anyone who wanted to marry the girl, the king used to send to
a certain place in a certain garden to find the apple of immortality and to bring
it back to him.
Many young men went to fetch the apple but nobody ever came back.
Now there was one well-known chonguri player and singer who lived near the
king. He too loved the princess but didn‘t dare to ask her for her hand. One
day, though, he finally decided to do so, and went to the King. The king said to
him: ‗Go, get me the apple of immortality and I will grant you your wish. And
you can marry my daughter with my blessing.‘
The chounguri player took his chonguri and left. He walked a long way
and he walked a short way, he crossed nine mountains and eventually came to
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 132
the garden, It had such a high wall, though, that even birds couldn‘t fly over
the top of it.
He walked around and around in circles but couldn‘t find a gate anywhere.
There was nothing he could do so he did what all musical people do in such
situations - he started to play the chonguri and sing. He sang so sweetly that
the whole world stopped to listen to him. The leaves on the tree stopped
moving to listen to his song; and flying birds settled on a nearby tree to listen.
And even the high wall built from stone was charmed by his song.
Suddenly the wall in front of him opened and he saw a pathway with
beautiful flowers on both sides. The pathway led to a garden. Mechongure
followed the road, still playing and singing his beautiful, heartbreaking song.
The apple tree he was looking for was luckily growing in that garden but it
was guarded by a terrifying dragon. The Dragon had swallowed alive everyone
who had ever come to the garden before. Now he hears a strange sound and
runs towards Mechongure with his horrible mouth open and starts to roar.
"Who is this idiot! Who dares to come to my garden! Not even ants can walk
or birds fly because of me being here"
Mechongure carries on playing and singing and tears roll down his cheeks.
He sings sweetly and at the same cries. The dragon runs toward him to devour
him but suddenly stops to listen to his song. The song touches him too. He
listens to Mechongure for a long time and, despite his evil nature, even he can't
control his emotions and the teardrops fall from his bloodshot eyes too when
he listens to the heavenly sounds.
Suddenly the strings of the Chounguri broke and the beautiful sound
stopped. Mechongure, with his head lowered, stands in front of the terrible
dragon and cries. The eyes of the terrible dragon are also full of tears and he
takes pity on Mechongure.
The dragon lifts its head, picks an apple and gives it to Mechongure,
leaving him stunned by the gesture. The dragon says to him ‗Take this apple.
I've never in all my life heard such a heavenly voice before. And nobody has
ever spoken to me before the way you did either. Take this apple and don‘t be
shy. For I promise I'll never hurt a human being again now I've discovered
how beautiful the human voice can be.‘
Mechongure, delighted, took the apple and went straight back to the
palace to give it to the king. Once there, he married the princess and they lived
happily ever after.
Most people in the west do not even know where Georgia is and have
certainly never tried any typical dishes from the country. So how good is
The Georgian Table 133
Georgian food in fact? One place where you can find the answer seems to be
in Moscow:
Despite the bitterness of relations between Russia and its small
neighbour to the south, which led to the two countries fighting a bitter war in
the summer of 2008, … going for a Georgian meal is somewhat equivalent in
the Russian popular psyche to "going for an Indian" in Britain, except that
instead of washing the food down with five pints of Cobra, the standard
etiquette is to knock back glasses of sweet Georgian wine. Georgia prides
itself as being the birthplace of wine, and in Soviet times citizens from
Vilnius to Vladivostok would enjoy the luxury of uncorking a bottle of sweet
Georgian red (Taken from ‗Eating with the enemy: why Russia loves
Georgian food‘ by Shaun Walker in The Independent Wednesday, 10
March 2010).
On the menus in Moscow‘s Georgian restaurants these days, though, there
is sadly
no mention of Tsinandali, Mukuzani, or any of the other tasty Georgian
wine varieties that diners might order if they were eating the same food at one
of Tbilisi's outdoor cafés. There's not even Kvanchkara, the sickly sweet red
that brings back memories of the Soviet times for Russians. Ever since 2006,
Georgian wine and mineral water has been banned in Russia, ostensibly due
to safety regulations, but in reality due to thinly disguised political concerns.
But the ban on Georgian wine, which had a devastating effect on the
Georgian economy, has not stopped Russians' love for the country's cuisine,
even if they have to settle for French or Chilean wine to go with it (ibid.).
―Because it provided the sunshine, landscape, and fresh food that the rest
of the Soviet Union lacked, the Caucasus – and Georgia in particular – became
a favored holiday destination and playground for the Soviet elite‖ (De Waal,
2010, p.89). And still today, despite the conflict in 2008 between the two
countries, Georgian restaurants in London and other European cities are
frequented by Russians hankering after the food and drink they have fond
memories of enjoying on past holidays to the region.
Not surprisingly, given the importance of the supra, there are numerous
Georgian legends and folktales about feasts. The example chosen for inclusion
here, Teeth and No-Teeth, comes from Georgian Folk Tales, translated by
Marjory Wardrop, and published by David Nutt in the Strand in 1894.
Scanned, proofed and formatted at sacred-texts.com, July 2006, by John Bruno
Hare.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 134
Born in London in 1869, Marjory Scott Wardrop was a life-long friend of
Georgia, its people and its literature. She began her study of Georgian with
nothing more than an alphabet and a Gospel. By the age of twenty she had
chosen to devote herself to the study of Georgian, and her command of the
Georgian language was so excellent that when she wrote to Ilia Chavchavadze
requesting permission to translate The Hermit, a copy of her letter was
published in his newspaper, Iveria, as a model of style.
When she arrived in Transcaucasia in 1894, she was received with great
enthusiasm. On this and subsequent travels she met a wide variety of
Georgians from every class and formed a number of lasting friendships which
resulted in a regular and extensive correspondence in Georgian.
She translated and published Georgian Folk Tales (London, 1894), The
Hermit by Ilia Chavchavadze (London, 1895), The Life of St. Nino (Oxford,
1900) and The Knight in the Panther's Skin by Shota Rustaveli (London,
1912).
After her death in 1909, her brother Sir Oliver Wardrop, the British
diplomat and scholar of Georgia, created the Marjory Wardrop Fund at Oxford
University ―for the encouragement of the study of the language, literature, and
history of Georgia, in Transcaucasia.‖ Her books and manuscripts now reside
in Oxford‘s Bodleian Library.
TEETH AND NO-TEETH
SHAH ALI desired to see the hungriest man in his kingdom, and find out
how much of the daintiest food such a man could eat at a meal. So he let it be
known that on a certain day he would dine with his courtiers in the open air, in
front of the palace. At the appointed hour, tables were laid and dinner was
served, in the presence of a vast crowd. After the first course, the shah
mounted a dais, and said: 'My loyal subjects! You see what a splendid dinner I
have. I should like to share it with those among you who are really hungry,
and have not eaten for a long time, so tell me truly which is the hungriest of
you all, and bid him come forward.'
Two men appeared from the crowd: an old man of fifty and a young man
of twenty-seven. The former was grey-haired and feeble, the latter was fresh
and of athletic build.
'How is it that you are hungry?' asked the shah of the old man. 'I am old,
my children are dead, toil has worn me out, and I have eaten nothing for three
days.' 'And you?' said the shah, turning to the young man. 'I could not find
The Georgian Table 135
work, and as I am a hearty young man I am ashamed to beg, so I too have not
eaten for three days.'
The shah ordered them to be given food, on one plate, and in small
portions. The hungry men eagerly ate, watching each other intently. Suddenly
the old man and the young one both stopped and began to weep. 'Why do you
weep?' asked the shah in astonishment. 'I have no teeth,' said the old man, and
while I am mumbling my food this young man eats up everything.' 'And why
are you weeping?' 'He is telling lies, your majesty; while I am chewing my
meat the old man gulps down everything whole. . . .'
After all this talk of food, it seemed only fitting to include a recipe. So
here it is – for making Khatchapuri, Georgian cheese bread – six generous
wedges of the totally irresistible diet-destroyer:
Figure 18. Khachapuri.
For the dough:
250 grams sour cream or yoghurt (Greek style)
150 grams butter or margarine, melted
1 egg, slightly whisked
600 ml plain flour (or a bit more, if necessary)
a pinch of salt
0.25 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
For the cheese filling:
200 grams Imeruli soft cheese, coarsely grated
1 egg, whisked
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 136
2 Tbsp sour cream or yoghurt (Greek style)
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (optional)
Mix sour cream/yoghurt and melted butter. Add salt, baking soda and
sugar, whisk in the egg and gradually add the flour. Knead slightly, until
you've got a softand pliable dough. Then divide into two, and roll each into a
large circle (25 cm or so).
Grate the cheese, and mix with the egg, sour cream and chopped garlic.
Place one dough circle on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
Spread the cheese filling on top, leaving about 1 cm from the edges clean.
Cover with the other dough circle, and then press the edges firmly together.
Brush with egg, and pierce with a fork here and there. Then bake at 200C
for 20-30 minutes, until the khatchapuri is lovely golden brown colour.
To follow the bread-making recipe, we now offer you two folktales about
bread. The first was adapted from a story written by Natia Lobzhanidze. - a
13- year-old girl from Rustavi in the Republic of Georgia. She was a pupil at
the open school "Zari" when she wrote the tale in English and her teacher was
Pavle Tvaliashvili.
WHO HAS DONE WORK, WILL EAT BREAD
In a certain kingdom, in a certain land, in a little village, there lived a boy
and his mother who were both very poor. One day the King, while he was out
hunting, saw the poor boy slaving away on his little patch of land and, feeling
sorry for him, he decided to give him an ox. Far from being grateful for the
gift, the boy was very angry because there was no way he could afford to keep
the animal, and it would only make life more difficult. To make matters even
worse, the ox was extremely bad-tempered and refused to do any work. The
boy, however, found a solution to the problem. For five days he gave the ox no
food. Once he realised he would get nothing to eat unless he behaved himself,
the ox soon changed his tune. After that he was as good as gold and never
caused the boy any trouble again.
When the King heard how successful the boy had been in training the bad-
tempered creature, he was most impressed. In fact, he was so impressed that he
decided to give the boy his daughter next and arranged for them to marry. Like
the ox she had a reputation for being really awkward. The King was at his
wit‘s end and no longer knew what to do with her. The princess had spent her
whole life in bed and she was so incredibly lazy that she would not even get up
The Georgian Table 137
to eat. The boy didn‘t want her any more than he had wanted the ox, but he
could not say no to the King so he took his wife home. And what was the first
thing she did when she entered the house? She went straight to bed of course
and that is where she stayed. On the second day the mother and son went to
work on their little patch of land again just as they had always done. They
came back home in the evening, had their meal but decided to ignore the girl
and gave her nothing. This went on for four days and by then, as you can
imagine, she was beginning to get rather hungry. On the fifth day the king‘s
daughter began to sweep the floor near her bed and so the boy gave her a piece
of bread to eat. The second day she got up, cleaned the whole house from top
to bottom and then lay down again. So, the boy gave her another piece of
bread, this time with a bit of cheese on it. By then, the king‘s daughter had
realised that if she refused to do any work she would have no food at all. So
she got up and began to live like every other woman in the village.
After some time the King decided to visit his daughter and her husband to
see how they were getting on. When he came to their house with his
attendants, he was so delighted to see the change that had come over her that
he celebrated by holding a very big party.
FOR A LOAF OF BREAD
An old man had a very lazy son who did nothing and could not even earn
enough money to buy a loaf of bread. The old man carried on working for as
long as he was able to but he eventually became ill and had to take to his bed.
Then he called for wife and told her that he had decided to give his house,
money and everything he had to someone else when he died and not to his son,
because the boy was so lazy. The wife answered that the boy could earn
enough for a loaf of bread and would prove him wrong. Then the woman, who
knew what her son was really like, gave the boy a loaf but told him to keep it a
secret. But when he went to his father, the old man knew that he had not got it
through his own hard work and threw it into the fire. The boy only laughed.
After that the woman gave the boy another loaf but told him not to return
to the house until the evening so it seemed that he had been out to work for it.
When he showed his father the loaf that evening, the old man just repeated
what he had done the day before. The son just laughed and went back to his
mother for another one. This time, however, she would not give him anything
and said that if he wanted one, he would have to go out to work and earn it.
The boy believed her, worked for a week and then gave his father a loaf that
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 138
was really his to give. But the old man just threw it into the fire again. This
time the boy began to cry and tried to retrieve it from the fire, burning his
hands in the process. Finally the old man believed him. He realised the loaf
was really the boy‘s to give from the way he had reacted. So the old man
decided to change his will and left his house and money to his son after all.
Chapter 27
THE FOURTH GLASS IS THE “DEVIL’S”
Figure 19. A selection of Georgian Wines.
Nearly everyone you meet in Georgia seems to grow their own vines and
to produce their own homemade wine, so the fact that there are so many
legends about wine should really come as no surprise. Indeed the country has
been called the cradle of wine-making, reputed to be the oldest wine producing
region of the world. The fertile valleys of the South Caucasus, which Georgia
straddles, are believed by many archaeologists to be the source of the world's
first cultivated grapevines and wine production.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 140
The Georgian language itself provides evidence of just how important the
tradition of wine-making is in the country:
The contemporary Georgian language includes 1,200 words related to
wine. A rich wine lexicon exists because wine making is an elaborate
process. There are thirty-two terms to explain the ripening of grapes, forty-
one to describe the cultivation of a vine, and forty-nine to describe the
harvesting of grapes – proving that the wine culture has long roots in
Georgia. The antiquity of Georgian wine making is supported not only by
archeological discoveries but also by modern interpretations of the Old
Testament. It is believed that when Noah‘s ark arrived at Mount Ararat and
he let all his companions go, he built a house at Ararat‘s foothills and planted
vines. From the grapes he made wine and became the first wine producer
(Roudik, 2009, p.133).
And here is a Georgian legend about wine, taken from Georgian Folk
Traditions and Legends by E.B. Virsaladze, translated by D.G. Hunt. First
published in 1973 by NAUKA Publishing House in Moscow, and available in
the British Library.
WINE
The vine formerly grew in the forest, and the birds used to peck its seeds.
A vine was brought and planted in front of a house. In the autumn the
juice was squeezed out. Everybody liked the sweet juice. ―What juice to get
from such a dry vine!‖ People used to come and marvel.
Earliest of all came the nightingale: ―Long live wine! Whoever begins
drinking it, will sing like a nightingale‖.
A cockerel also came: ―Whoever drinks up will love a quarrel, and like me
will become a bully!‖
A fox also came: ―Whoever starts drinking, the wine will take him over,
furtively, like a fox‖.
Finally a certain fat hog came. And he said, ―Long live wine!‖ The one
who drinks a lot, will start lying about like me in the mud on the road‖.
That is how wine affects a man. Although there is no definitive proof that
Georgia was the location of the first attempts at viticulture, the concentration
of archaeological evidence and written references incline many scholars to
favour the idea that winemaking started in southern Caucasia, then spread to
The Fourth Glass Is the ―Devil‘s‖ 141
Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and the rest of the world. The modern English
word wine itself is etymologically traced to Latin vinum and Greek oinos,
which, some scholars argue, were derived from the Georgian gh-vino.
The roots of Georgian viticulture can be traced back to between 7000 and
5000 BC, when the peoples of the South Caucasus discovered that wild grape
juice turned into wine when it was left buried through the winter in a shallow
pit. And from 4000 BC Georgians were cultivating grapes and burying clay
vessels, kvevri, in which to store their wine ready for serving at perfect ground
temperature. When filled with the fermented juice of the harvest, the kvevri
are topped with a wooden lid and then covered and sealed with earth. Some
may remain entombed for up to 50 years.
This love affair with the grape was given further encouragement by the
arrival of Saint Nino in the 4th century. Fleeing Roman persecution in
Cappadocia, in what is now central Turkey, and bearing a cross made from
vine wood and bound with her own hair. Saint Nino was swept up in the warm
embrace of the Georgians, who became early converts to Christianity. In this
way the cross and the vine became inextricably linked in the Georgian psyche,
and the advent of the new faith served to sanction these ancient wine-making
and drinking practices. So much so that elements of the vine can be seen to be
incorporated into the architecture of many Christian churches and cathedrals
throughout the country. For centuries, Georgians drank, and in some areas still
drink, their delicious wine from animal horns called khanzi. The horns are
cleaned, boiled and polished, creating a unique, durable and quite stylish
drinking vessel, popular souvenirs these days with tourists who visit the
country. Due to the many millennia of wine in Georgian history, the traditions
of its viticulture are entwined and inseparable with the country's national
identity. So much so that legends connected with wine can even be found in
Tianeti in East Georgia, where the culture of wine making never actually
existed. However, I should say that the phenomenon of Georgian wine is not
exactly something unknown to Khevsuretians or Pshavels. In Tianeti they
sometimes say ―if one of our men [from Tianeti] decides to drink, then even a
famous Kakhetian tamada* will fail to keep up with him‖
A certain Giorgi Ioramashvili from the village of Zaridzeebi says:―There
is one very old legend which only a few people from our generation
remember: One day, when God was still living on earth, he decided to make
the life of the humans who had been thrown out from paradise more enjoyable.
He sat down and thought hard about it; finally he decided to create a drink
which would return humans to heaven, if only just for a short time. He made
wine and invited all the angels and devil too to try it. Everyone liked it very
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 142
much indeed. The Devil wanted to compete with God as usual. He thought a
lot about what he could do, but couldn‘t come up with any better idea, so from
the leftovers (the skins of pressed grapes) from God‘s wine, from the so-called
tcatcha, he created a stronger and more hard-hitting drink- araq‘i (vodka). And
then he invited God to try it. God came, had one drink, then a second, then a
third and, after he had the last, the fourth glass, he said to the Devil: ―Those
who drink three classes of araq‘i will be on my side, but you take those who
drink the fourth.‖ And even nowadays when old men drink araq‘i, they call the
fourth glass the Devil‘s. And this expression comes from the legend.
A tamada (თამადა) is the toastmaster at a Georgian Supra or feast, the
person responsible for introducing each toast. At the Georgian table a tamada
bridges the gap between past, present and then the future, for it seems that not
only the guests, but their ancestors and descendents are invisibly present at the
table too. A tamada toasts them with the same love and devotion as the other
members of the table. A toast can be proposed only by a tamada and the others
present can then develop the idea. Everybody tries to say something more
original and emotional than the previous speaker, and the whole process grows
into a sort of oratory contest. If the first toast is to the tamada, it is proposed by
someone else, generally by the host, who proposes the nomination of the
tamada. The newly appointed tamada initiates the toasts from then on. If the
Supra is very small though, in someone's home with only a few guests, the
tamada will not be chosen, but the head of the house will simply take on the
role.
A tamada needs to be good with words, someone who speaks clearly and
cleverly, and who can say, in an original way, things which are heard over and
over again at every Supra. Secondly, a good tamada must be good at
organising things, as the fate of the party is in his hands [the tamada is always
a man]. He has to decide which toasts to drink, when and how often to propose
new toasts, and also has to orchestrate any singing or dancing that takes place
between stretches of toasting, so people stay attentive and entertained. This
relates closely to a third quality of a good tamada, sensitivity. The tamada
should be able to pick up the mood of the table and try to make sure that
everyone present is actively involved. Fourthly, a good tamada has to be
somewhat forceful in order to get people to pay attention to the toasts, which
invariably gets harder as the evening wears on. Last, but not at all least, a good
tamada must also be able to hold his drink; the tamada is expected to empty
his glass after each toast but on no account must he get drunk, as this would be
considered disgraceful.
The Fourth Glass Is the ―Devil‘s‖ 143
One of the most important toasts made by the tamada is the one devoted to
the memory of deceased ancestors. Having poured some wine on bread, the
toast-master then crosses himself and prays to God to be merciful to the souls
in the other world.
***
Usually in Georgian wine legends, a god is involved, mainly God the
Father. For in the minds of most Georgians he is associated with first creating
wine, and here is an example of one such legend:
A NIGHTINGALE, A LION AND A PIG
God was looking for a suitable place where he could grow a grapevine. He
had a few places in mind but finally he decided to grow it on a piece of land
where the bones of nightingales, lions and pigs were buried, and this place was
Georgia. (Based on evidence obtained from archaeological excavations, during
the period when Eurasia and Africa was still one continent, lions actually lived
in Georgia).
So God planted the grapevine in Georgia, gathered the harvest, pressed the
grapes and made wine. Because of the bones of three animals buried on the
land the wine developed the same features. When a person drinks a glass or
two he or she starts talking sweetly like a nightingale. If he drinks more, then
he becomes like a lion believing the he can do everything. And more drinks
make a person look like a pig - It is not difficult to guess why!
Georgia has five viticulture zones – Khakheti (grows 70 per cent of all the
wine and brandy grapes, and is located southeast of Tblisi), Kartli, east and
west of Tblisi, (enjoys a moderate climate producing approximately 15 per
cent of the grapes mostly for sparkling wines and brandies), Imereti is eastern
Georgia; Racha- Lechkhumi is north of Imereti hot enough to yield fruit with
30 per cent sugar, and the Khvanchkara including Abkhazia, Adcharia, Guria,
and Mengrelia, a region famous for its sweet wines.
The 38 recognized grape varieties produced in Georgia include: rkatsiteli,
mtsvane, mujuretuli, tsitskam, tsolikurim khikhviw, aligote, chinuri, manata,
and chardonnay (all white); saperavi, alexandraruli, ojaleshir, usakelauri,
izabela, cabernet sauvignon, tavkverir, asuretulir, aladasturi, girita, and pinot
noir. (Taken from http://blog.winesworld.com/index.php/vitiviniculture-
republic-georgia/2043/ [accessed 28/10/2010]).
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 144
PROMETHEUS AND MOUNT TCHURI
Georgian historians and ethnographers would no doubt agree that it is not
really possible to study the history of Georgia without studying the deep-
rooted tradition of feasting and drinking in the country. Although many of the
old stories found in our historical sources about wine are clearly fictitious,
there is no historian who can avoid considering them when looking into the
lives of our different kings. This is because the accounts of their lives are
invariably accompanied by descriptions of the feasts they held and praise for
the quality of the wine (and the quantity) that was drank at them. The Kings
and nobles of Kakheti, in particular, were most famous for this. At the same
time, it has to be admitted though, that the legends told about them are best
taken with a pinch of salt. For example, they say that the kings could drink 30
litres of wine at one sitting.
According to another one of the legends, the first king of Kakheti, Giorgi
the 8th, built a clay pipe to his capital city from a nearby village, and at feasts
the guests would fill their glasses straight from that pipe. There are more
interesting legends connected with wine, though. Everyone has heard, for
example, of the legend of Amirani and there are numerous versions of it, but
the one that follows from Svaneti is perhaps not so well known:
There was a tiny mountain in Svaneti called Tchuri, which had a very
strange shape - the shape of an Imeretian wine vessel (a tchuri – a clay vessel
buried in the ground). The God Zeus captured Amirani (Prometheus) and
chained him to the top of this mountain, which was full of a never-ending
supply of wine, and for centuries Amirani survived by drinking this wine drop
by drop. According to the Svanetian interpretation of the legend, wine drops
are so special that humans can survive on them alone without the need for
anything else.
And there is another legend about the power of wine that surely deserves a
place here.
Saint Simon Mesvete, one of the greatest saints in the Orthodox world, is
said to have spent many years of his life standing on a cliff, after leaving this
everyday life behind. And he is claimed to have survived on nothing more than
crumbs of bread, dipped in sacred wine. There are many who would say that
this was not possible, though, and that the real reason he survived was because
of his faith.
The Fourth Glass Is the ―Devil‘s‖ 145
THE DAMGHVINEBLEBI*
What we say about a young, inexperienced person that he is like a wine
which has not matured yet. In Imereti there is the expression a
―damghvinebeli‖, meaning a person who helps a young man to mature. This
expression is not widely used nowadays but Koba Tabatadze, a peasant from
Zestaponi, told us a legend which he had heard from his great grandfather.
According to him, when the earth was still new, there were damghvineblebi,
mythical beings with white long beards. Young, inexperienced, and lost young
men were taught how to live life by these spirit helpers in dreams (sometimes
by them even resorting to threats to get the young men back on to the right
path once again).
Koba Tabatadze says: ―I was still a child when a young village boy got
very drunk and beat up all the members of his family. When my great
grandfather heard about this he said: ―What that boy needs is to see a
“damghvinebeli in his dreams. At that time I didn‘t know who those men
were, so my great grandfather told me all about them. Damghvineblebi were
wise, old, white-bearded men, who appeared in the dreams of lost, badly
behaved youths, warning them not to make the same mistakes again and to
change their misguided ways. If the young man concerned carried on
misbehaving, then something bad would happen to him, and sometimes he
would even die as a result of the intervention of a damghvinebeli. Everyone
was ashamed to talk in public about such dreams, so they would do their best
to change their ways without their family and friends finding out about what
was happening to them. People used to joke sometimes about it, using this
expression: ―You must have been frightened by a damghvinebeli to behave
that way!‖(Translated, and then adapted, from http://marani2.blogspot.com
/2007/10/blog-post_04.html).
*The literal translation of damghvineblebi is those who make wine ready
for use.
REFERENCE
Roudik, P.L. (2009) Culture and Customs of the Caucasus, Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press.
APPENDIX: WHAT BEING GEORGIAN
(OR A FRIEND OF GEORGIA) MEANS TO ME
What being a friend of Georgia means to me is reminding those Georgians
who have become persuaded that everything from the west is best, of
everything they have to be proud of and should do everything in their power to
preserve – the extended family support system, the tradition of providing
guests with overwhelming hospitality and, above all, of knowing how to enjoy
life without the need for material wealth. At the same time, however, it means
reminding them of the danger of replacing communism with nationalism, of
how it is associated in our minds with Hitler, Franco and Mussolini, of how
damaging it is to their aspirations to become accepted by and part of the new
world, of the need to adapt to the western way of doing business, of the
importance of being punctual and meeting deadlines (which means actions and
not just words are called for) and, most important of all, of eliminating the
victim mentality and finally recognising that they have the power to take
control of their lives – that with the right attitude everything is possible.
Having lived for so long under the control of a State that made all the
decisions for them, where taking personal initiatives had no place or value,
such a sea change clearly cannot happen overnight and, on our part, we need to
be patient and understanding of this fact. However, there is one thing we can
be sure of – the more cultural exchange that takes place between our two
worlds, the quicker this is likely to take effect. But it needs to be a genuine
two-way process in order to work, and not one-way traffic as it tends to be at
present. For, in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "No culture can live if it
attempts to be exclusive", and Georgia's future depends on recognising this
fact – Michael Berman, London.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 148
What being Georgian means to me is, first of all, the appeciation of the
unique culture of my country and, at the same time, trying to place it among
many other unique cultures. Also, being able to freely speak the Georgian
language means being Georgian to me - Rusudan Tkemaladze, Tbilisi.
What does being Georgian mean to me? First of all it means family, not
only immediate but grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins , great aunts and
uncles , anticipation of their visits , this joy of seeing each other and the
feeling of belonging to each other.
Then it is the house where I was born and grew up, our evenings with
parents, grandparents and frequent guests, where we children listened to
exciting stories told by the adults and took in every word uttered by them,
delighting in the world they described and brought to life for us.
Next I would name neighbours, with their hilarious and noisy parties
where the whole neighbourhood gave a helping hand and everyone involved
had the time of their lives. And my friends from the neighbourhood who, in
spite of being torn apart by the war, still remain the closest of people because
of the happy memories of the time spent together.
At the same time, being Georgian means to me the grief and sorrow I have
undergone but fortunately got through, thanks to being Georgian.
What is more, for me being Georgian means being emotional and
temperamental,hospitable and friendly, sensitive and sympathetic, reckless and
careless at times, and unpunctual at most times.
In short, being Georgian for me is perhaps best described as being a kind
of motley Georgian dance, a kaleidoscope of feelings and emotions,
sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter, sometimes mundane, sometimes bizarre,
sometimes tiresome, sometimes invigorating but, above all, it is something
that runs in my blood, that makes me feel alive, that urges me to brush away
my tears and to get on with life - Neli Kukhaleishvili, the Head of ETAG in
Batumi and teacher trainer.
What being a friend of Georgia means to me is responsibility:
responsibility to ensure that the little known, but greatly misunderstood,
Georgian people are able to take their proper place in the family of world
nations;responsibility to tell people the truth about what is happening on the
ground there, and has happened since independence, which is rarely, if ever,
seen in English sources;responsibility to ensure that the many positive aspects
of Georgia, such as its food and wine, nature, culture, Church and living
traditions, are given the status they deserve; responsibility to ensure that
Appendix 149
Georgia is not treated as a plaything of bigger nations, but as a friend;
responsibility to ensure that other countries ask Georgia to solve their
problems rather than assuming they know better than Georgians. All this is, of
course, simply part of the responsibilities all people have. So being a friend of
Georgia means trying to become a better person, for the benefit of the rest of
humanity, and recognising we all need to do this. Thankfully, being married to
the most wonderful creatuure on earth, I have some idea what I should aspire
to, and why. She is, of course, Georgian – Rumwold Leigh, London.
What being Georgian means to me … It‘s a great sense of responsibility I
have on my shoulders because I believe I represent the oldest Orthodox
Christian in the world and I sometimes feel like a rare and antique "museum
exhibit" as a result. I also feel separated, hurt and split, with memories of how
powerful my country once was, in comparison to what it has now become, and
I long to see it rise up once again. And although I have spent all my working
life employed as a teacher of English and although, as a woman and a mother,
I naturally want to embrace the whole world in my arms, I know that at the
same time, I can never be, and never want to be, anything but Georgian - Nino
Dvalidze, Associate Professor, Batumi State University.
Being a friend to the Georgian people means that I can enjoy and perhaps
share in their rich culture with all of its aspects: especially their rich literature,
their beautiful music, their personal warmth, their ancient traditions, their
cordial hospitality, their good sense of humour, to name only a few of their
qualities. – Professor David Hunt, London.
What does being a Georgian mean to me? It is my way of life as well as
of each and every true Georgian irrespective of their current place of
residence. Being Georgian brings about an already persistent feeling of unease
as I can see the possible threats that the ongoing process of globalisation may
bring to our unique and sophisticated culture and mentality. I do believe that
the Georgian culture can flourish as a member of the European community but
this will happen only if we, Georgians, do not forget what makes us Georgian
and if we are strong enough to protect all of the three factors of our
―Georgianness‖, that is, our mother country, our language and our religion.
Whilst asserting the meaning of this triad for a Georgian, I do not side
with the idea of nationalism. As a matter of fact, I do not believe that we may
ever become aggressive nationalists - our history shows we have never been
such. On the contrary, I would wish to maintain a fair balance between
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 150
keeping and observing those of our traditions which are modern enough to
keep on the one hand; and alternatively longing for everything European on
the other - to realise that ―the grass is not always greener on the other side‖. –
Manana Rusieshvili, Tbilisi.
What being a friend of Georgia means to me begins with a feeling of
thanks that I was privileged to have the opportunity to come here back in
2001. I quickly fell in love with the country, its mountains, forests,rivers and
its climate. The people were so warm and welcoming and nothing was too
much trouble for them to help. After our TACIS project finished in 2003 I
continued private visits and it seemed natural to me to retire in England and to
come and work here. One thing leads to another and I am now happily married
to a Georgian and I am fortunate in being accepted into a wonderful, large
family. Unlike in England, we support each other absolutely and instinctively -
if a member of the family is in need, we help. There is so much good in
Georgia and the unique way of life is supported by its unique language and its
religion. The people have retained these despite the enormous pressures from
the north and long may they continue to be strong. To my mind, Georgians
clearly belong in the European environment and should be able to embrace a
civilised way of life without fear of its neighbours. I feel proud to be helping
their progress but we must be careful that the change does not soften or
weaken their wonderful culture and lifestyle. May Georgia prosper and have
the oportunity to share some of its treasures with the outside world! - Trevor
Cartledge, Nottingham and Tbilisi
What being a friend of Georgia means to me is a spirit of nationhood
unique in the world, a vitality and passion for life unparalleled. I have never
met a Georgian whose glass is half empty, it must always be filled to the brim
with a joy for life. To many of us from the west Georgia‘s footprint on our
world is slight and I feel her struggle with the tyranny of Russia has
suppressed her prospects in the world community. Georgia‘s transition to
independence and prosperity continues to be tough but I firmly believe the
immerging generation has the commitment and energy for change and their
time will come. So stand fast Georgia, and stay true to your origins. Never
give up what it means to be Georgian, your traditions and position in the world
make you unique. The west is not to be copied so strike your own tune as only
Georgians can. You will succeed and the world will cherish a land I have
grown to love - Chris Wills, London.
Appendix 151
What being a friend of Georgia means to me Georgian music brings me
back to the timelessness of the heart. When singing and listening to Georgian
music, I experience these new, beautiful and deep aspects of myself, which
have always been here but have been undiscovered, never tasted before.
Georgia means to me heart and soul. And everything that comes out of it
is beautiful and transforming. Georgian food is not only delicious and unique
to my tastebuds, but always comes through hands moved by love. It is a feast
for the heart from the heart - Tsenka Mack, London.
What does being a Georgian mean to me? It means a great sense of pride
for my country's culture, history, people, as well as the sense of great
satisfaction from living in such a beautiful country with its gorgeous scenery:
breathtaking high mountains, green woods and meadows, and the coastline
along the Black Sea. When I hear a Georgian folk song, which is famous all
over the world for its polyphony, or see a Georgian dance, my heart is filled
with happiness and joy that I am part of it, that my ancestors managed to bring
all this up to this present day.
Being a Georgian in the 21st century also means progress and the
development of my country. I marvel at the changes that Georgia has made
over the past decade. My desire is to see Georgia prospering, developing,
uniting and taking its rightful place among the other European countries. –
Dr. Izabella Petriashvili, Associate Professor, Tbilisi State University.
What does being Georgian mean to me? It‘s a question that doesn‘t
always cross my mind because it is so difficult to answer. I don‘t even know
what the clear cut answer is. Is being Georgian something I shouldn‘t take for
granted? Is it something I should feel lucky to be? Or is it something that
makes me better than others? I assume not. It should be admitted that being
Georgian makes me feel proud that I am Georgian, not only by nationality but
also in my heart! It‘s being able to appreciate your culture, your history, the
people that surround you, their warmth, their actions, and their readiness to
help.
Being Georgian is not always something spectacular or easy. Being
Georgian means being able to go through a lot of difficulties as the country is
constantly facing them. Being Georgian is feeling the pain of your country
whenever it is entering a war, standing together during the most difficult times,
cheering up each other, trying to be someone else just to help your country.
Even going abroad when it‘s so hard for you to leave your country because
you are so attached to it means being Georgian. That is because you know it‘s
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 152
worth going as you want to return back with a better education to help your
country develop properly. Being Georgian means standing together with your
peers and not only peers, whenever your country needs you…
Being Georgian means being responsible for the culture that belongs to
you. Being Georgian is simply being lucky to be born in such a blessed
country - Nino, Kukhaleishvili, Batumi.
What does being Georgian mean to me? First of all, being Georgian
means being brave, not to make compromises determined by ethnic and
political dangers, or intolerable circumstances. Being Georgian is a fear of
being normal (being like everyone else), a fear of a dull life. It is a desire to be
special, unique, and never to accept being a loser. It is, in fact, a search for
perfection. Being Georgian means being generous even in the most difficult of
times. It is also an ongoing search for a treasure nearly impossible to find, and
a refusal at all costs to accept loneliness. It is a sacrifice, and a search for a
heroic end.
But behind all this, there is always the everyday life with its temptations
and negativity. According to our holy fathers – God gave us Georgians a
special mission to expose the evil in this world. And being Georgian means
that as descendants of Japheth, this is a mission that we are all, without
exception, morally obliged to share - Ketevan Kurdovanidze, Tbilisi
What being Georgian means to me is the appreciation of our unique
language, culture and traditions. However, in the light of the present situation I
would like to say the following: As I.Chavchavadze wrote, ―Procrastination
will destroy Georgia and its people. We have become used to waiting for
someone else to act for us and we have forgotten that nothing will come by
itself, but we must grasp it ourselves‖. We must build our present and future
on friendship, patience and understanding - Nelly Chachibaia, Reading.
How does it feel to be a friend of Georgia? The impression I first had of
what Georgia was like, from the vendors who came to Turkey after the first
years of independence (due to political instability, civil conflicts, economic
decline and institutional inefficiency), was completely different from what I
now know to be the case. Then, Georgia was the place where foreign
investors, the visitors, were kidnapped by the gangs and the mafia operating at
that time. However, when I first came here, I noticed that the country had
changed completely thanks to the wave of systemic reforms initiated by the
new government.
Appendix 153
As I stay longer, now I understand how this country with its important
Silk Road cities, valleys, forests, high mountains, which were once a symbol
of wilderness, unforgettable with its cuisine and friendly, open people suffered
under Communism until they regained their independence. Cooperation is
more necessary than ever, and as the Turkish proverb says: ―A neighbour
needs a neighbour's ashes‖, for it is time to create a new world in the Caucasus
from the ashes of the old, which will show compassion to others and tolerance
towards them, even if they do not believe in what you believe, and do not live
like you do. With the help of education in the Caucasus, people in Georgia are
trying to sthape a common vision of peace, development and justice. This goal
is so noble that Georgia is doing its best to realize this, and Georgia is now
very much opposed to the artificial divisions that "others" want to create in the
region. As I see it, the Georgian people have tasted freedom and the fruits of
economic development and, of course, have changed their behavior, their
vision and their dreams and are ready to resist any attempts to reverse these
changes. It is time to give thanks to the commitment of the Georgian people
and their allies, and I can say without any hesitation I am extremely happy to
be here and to be part of it all - Halis Gozpinar, MA student at Tbilisi State
University.
What being Georgian means to me I would start my answer with the
words that belong to one of the most famous Georgian poets, Galaktion
Tabidze: If you don‘t walk barefoot on grass covered with early morning dew,
you won‘t be able to feel what your motherland is like.This is the feeling and,
at the same time, the main duty for each person who considers himself to be a
Georgian.
Being Georgian for me also means to know, understand and realize twenty
centuries rich in history, and full of sadness, grief and happiness – each
chapter of which has been impregnated with the blood of our ancestors. It is
that immense pride that fills everyone‘s heart from a newborn child to the
oldest amongst us; it is the power that has followed the whole nation in its
fierce struggles for centuries and that helped my country to survive; it is the
inner voice encouraging each of us every day of our lives; it is the cradle song
which fills your eyes with tears – tears that do not mean sorrow, but are
symbols of great warmth, hospitality and purity.
Being Georgian is my whole motherland with both its hard times and its
golden era; with its victories and defeat; with its hardships and success. It is
that responsibility which should be kept in our minds wherever we may be –
within the country and outside its borders too.
Michael Berman, Ketevan Kalandadze, George Kuparadze et al. 154
Being Georgian is the prayer each of us repeats everyday. It is the face
that we present to the rest of the world. It is an indescribable phenomenon
filled with immense love friendship and mutual understanding - George
Kuparadze, Tbilisi.
Being a Georgian means that working hard and trying to succeed in life
should not make me disregard the eternal values of friendship, family love,
and support of the elderly - Simon Surguladze, London.
What being a friend of Georgia means to me over the past twenty years is
that I have been able to develop a fascinating insight into a wonderful country
and its people. Following and supporting the Georgian story in all its turbulent
and difficult times has been sweetened by the friendships made, the amazing
evenings of wine and song enjoyed, the vibrant nights of traditional dance
witnessed and the heated political debates participated in. It has been a great
honour to be involved in the relationship between Bristol and Tbilisi and long
may it continue - Alix Hughes, Bristol-Tbilisi Association.
Being a Georgian means the world to me - a world of constant worries
but, at the same time, a constant source of happiness, humour and joy. Being
Georgian also means always being ready to help those in need as much as I
possibly can, sometimes losing focus of what really matters and getting easily
distracted from my goals, having many ideas, talking about them but not
putting them into practice, being a worthy daughter to my parents, and an
ever-dependable support to my sister, brother and friends, being a devoted
mother for my children, and looking after my other half (Cooking should be
one of my being Georgian things but… ask Michael about my skills, or lack of
them, in that department!). Most importantly, however, it means trying to be
worthy of having the name of one of the foremost Saints in Georgia.
Being Georgian means appreciating our distinctive culture, being proud of
it, loving guests, enjoying life to the full and finally, at the end of my life,
being buried in the beautiful land of my ancestors - Ketevan Kalandadze,
London.
INDEX
A
Abaev, 69
Abkhaz, 8, 69, 122
Abkhazia, 8, 121, 122, 124, 143
Abkhazian, vi, 8, 53, 121, 122, 123, 126
Abraham, 52
acaaju, 123
age, 46, 131, 134
agriculture, 1
Ahura Mazda, 112
Akaba, 68, 69
Akhvlediani, K., xi
ALI, 134
aloe, 12, 16
alternative medicine, 93
Amirani, v, 65, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89,
90, 91, 92, 93, 106, 120, 144
ammonium, 12
Anahit, 52, 125
ancestors, x, 52, 142, 143, 151, 153, 154
anger, 70, 109
Argonauts, viii, ix
Armaz, 2, 112
Armazi, 2, 3, 111, 112
Armenia, viii, x
Ascherson, 121, 122, 126
Ashkenazi Jews, 22
ashkhardan, 7
Asia, viii, 2
Azerbaijan, viii, x, 70
B
background information, 121
Baddeley, 116
Badri, 84, 85, 88, 89
Balkars, 68
ban, 133
banks, 7
Barbar Barbol, 9
Barbare, 57
Barbaroba, 58, 106
base, 101
Bashi-Bazouks, 47
Basilov and Kobychev, 69
Batumi, 148, 149, 152
Bebristsikhe, 109, 110
bedding, 96
bee or wasp sting, 16
belief systems, 68
benefits, 35, 36, 37
Berikaoba, 1
Berman, iv, x
bleeding, 11, 59, 127
blood, 25, 33, 40, 55, 88, 90, 102, 119, 148,
153
blood flow, 88, 90
blood vessels, 25
bone, 45, 46
bones, 22, 46, 71, 74, 143
Index 156
breathing, 92, 120
breeding, 72
Britain, 133
bronchitis, 12
brothers, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 103, 117
C
cabbage, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17
cadaver, 67
cattle, 30, 60, 65, 105, 117
Caucasus, vii, viii, ix, x, xi, 8, 43, 52, 53,
67, 68, 71, 72, 75, 84, 106, 120, 122,
127, 133, 139, 141, 145, 153
challenges, 84, 106
Charachidzé, 68
cheese, 33, 130, 135, 136, 137
chemicals, 29, 32
children, 2, 10, 21, 23, 26, 54, 56, 57, 64,
78, 85, 109, 117, 118, 124, 134, 148, 154
chonguri, 131, 132
Choppa, 67, 68, 72
Christianity, viii, 2, 56, 79, 81, 82, 84, 99,
100, 107, 141
Christians, 2, 23, 79
Circassian, 8, 53, 69, 126
cities, ix, 71, 75, 131, 133, 153
climate, 143, 150
clothing, 69, 70, 80
commercial, 61
common sense, 10
communism, 147
communities, 52
community, 5, 69, 93, 123, 124, 149, 150
compassion, 153
competition, 119
composition, 74
conflict, 121, 133
constipation, 14
construction, 109, 111
conviction, 21
cotton, 10, 15, 53, 126
creep, 8, 25
Cronyn, G. W., 60
crop, 22
crops, 2, 53, 56, 65
crust, 18
cultivation, 140
cultural heritage, x
culture, 5, 43, 72, 84, 107, 129, 140, 141,
147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 154
cure, 7, 18, 56, 92, 115, 119
cures, xi, 8, 9, 10
cycles, 116
cystitis, 14
D
D.G. Hunt, 8, 9, 19, 126, 140
Dambadebeli, 64
damghvinebeli, 145
dance, 68, 148, 151, 154
dances, x, 9
dandruff, 18
danger, 30, 38, 105, 121, 147
debts, 37
decomposition, 4
destruction, 70, 116
dough, 135, 136
dream, xi, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39,
40
dreaming, 31, 32
drought, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 57, 59, 68, 69,
70
drying, 52
Dumanish, A., 61, 127
Dzyzlan, 53, 123, 124, 125, 126
E
Easter, 4, 5
economic development, 153
eczema, 74
education, 152, 153
egg, 16, 35, 135, 136
Egypt, 59, 141
Elbrus, 41, 43
election, 69, 93
elephants, 89, 90
encouragement, 134, 141
enemies, 34, 38, 100, 130
English Language, x
Index 157
environment, 22, 150
ethnographers, 144
Etiologic tales, 43
etiology, 43
etiquette, 133
Eurasia, 143
Europe, viii, 24, 25
everyday life, 144, 152
evidence, 1, 67, 112, 140, 143
evil, 21, 22, 23, 24, 38, 55, 64, 65, 87, 91,
102, 103, 115, 119, 132, 152
evil XE "evil" eye, 21, 22, 23, 24
excavations, 109, 143
execution, 80
F
faith, 24, 57, 141, 144
families, 29, 56, 103
family support, 147
Father David, 99
fear, 21, 29, 46, 70, 122, 150, 152
Feast, 51
fertility, 2, 25, 57, 68
fights, 34, 84, 88
financial, 37
flour, 35, 53, 56, 135, 136
flowers, ix, 3, 7, 17, 54, 132
folklore, vii, ix, 29, 67, 121
food, 35, 53, 58, 69, 117, 126, 131, 133,
134, 135, 136, 137, 148, 151
food products, 69
force, ix, 34, 59, 77
foundations, 30, 46
friendship, 152, 154
G
gangs, 152
gastritis, 15
Georgia, i, iii, viii, x, xi, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 18, 23,
24, 25, 29, 30, 42, 43, 46, 53, 55, 57, 58,
61, 64, 73, 77, 79, 80, 82, 97, 102, 103,
106, 109, 112, 115, 116, 120, 122, 130,
132, 133, 134, 136, 139, 140, 141, 143,
144, 147, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154
Georgian literature, 84, 107
Georgian myth, vii, 1, 84, 96, 102, 106
Georgians, ix, 1, 2, 8, 24, 42, 81, 111, 112,
121, 130, 131, 134, 141, 143, 147, 149,
150, 152
Giorgi, 65, 118, 141, 144
glasses, 133, 144
God, ix, x, 23, 24, 25, 38, 39, 52, 54, 56, 63,
64, 67, 81, 82, 85, 91, 92, 115, 117, 118,
119, 121, 141, 143, 144, 152
Gonja, 56, 57
good deed, 52
grants, 106
grass, 24, 59, 69, 150, 153
greasy hair, 18
Greece, 49, 141
Greeks, 50, 54, 60, 67
Griffin, vii, xi
growth, 125
guardian, 38
H
hair, 10, 18, 29, 36, 37, 96, 97, 105, 106,
124, 125, 141
halitosis, 18
Hantse Guashe, 53
happiness, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,
151, 153, 154
harvesting, 71, 140
Hat´i, 93
Hatavat Halom, 31
healing, 2, 7, 31, 70, 71, 93, 123
health, 32, 33, 36, 39, 40, 81, 82
heart muscle, 13
heartburn, 15
hegemony, 122
height, 47, 69
high blood pressure, 13
high temperature, 12
highlands, 42, 67
history, viii, ix, 8, 31, 71, 72, 94, 131, 134,
141, 144, 149, 151, 153
honesty, 34
horses, 60, 63, 78
hospitality, 124, 147, 149, 153
Index 158
host, 5, 88, 130, 142
hot springs, 74
House, x, xi, 5, 6, 8, 9, 19, 28, 107, 126, 140
Hugh-Jones, 93
human, 1, 2, 25, 30, 43, 49, 59, 67, 69, 86,
89, 93, 109, 115, 116, 123, 125, 132
hunting, 26, 73, 82, 84, 96, 105, 106, 136
husband, 68, 77, 91, 96, 106, 137
hydrogen, 74
I
Iakhsari, 101, 102
Ilia Chavchavadze, 134
image, 53, 68
immortality, 131
independence, 121, 122, 148, 150, 152, 153
Indian reservation, 50
Indians, 60
individuals, 70
industry, 69
inefficiency, 152
inflammation, 10, 11, 14
influenza, 12
Ingushetia, 116
innocence, 99
insanity, 68
insomnia, 17
instrumental music, 3
integration, 9
interference, 121
intervention, 145
intestine, 15
investors, 152
iron, 67, 70, 115
Islam, viii, 8, 23, 71, 93
islands, 78
Italy, x
J
Janelidze, O., 6
Japan, 50
Jason, viii
jaundice, 14
Jews, 52, 126
joint pain, 16
K
Kadag, 93
Kaji, 119
Kakheti, 45
Kalandadze, iii, x, xi, 23, 154
Kamar, 84, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 106
Kantaria, 68
Kartli, 2, 45, 81, 82, 111, 143
kartuli, 72
Kashueti, v, 99, 100
Keenoba, 1
khatebi, 115
Kheteshvili, xi
Khevsureti, 101, 102, 115, 117
Kiknadze, Z., 103
kill, 8, 38, 45, 57, 59, 60, 86, 90, 95, 105,
106, 117
King Mirian, 82
King Pharnavaz I, 113
kinzhal, 124, 125
knees, 13, 85, 110
kudiani, 65
Kutaisi, 120
kveritskhovloba, 25
Kviria, 2, 25
L
Lake Abudelauri, 101
lakes, 119
landscape, 133
languages, ix, 24
lead, 30, 53, 81, 126
learning, 40
legend, 58, 73, 77, 78, 80, 84, 93, 99, 100,
107, 109, 110, 121, 140, 141, 143, 144,
145
legs, vii, 13, 15, 89, 90, 91, 96
Lelo, 3, 4
lesions, 29
Lezgin, 70, 71
light, 33, 58, 59, 63, 82, 102, 119, 152
liver, 14, 84, 106
Index 159
liver XE "liver" pain, 14
livestock, 68, 72
lobbying, 5
loneliness, 152
love, vii, ix, 81, 105, 106, 124, 133, 140,
141, 142, 150, 151, 154
loyalty, 2, 124
lying, 84, 91, 140
M
Macedonia, 54
major decisions, 71
man, 2, 9, 21, 22, 26, 27, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36,
46, 47, 51, 56, 67, 68, 85, 90, 92, 102,
109, 110, 111, 124, 125, 130, 134, 135,
137, 140, 142, 145
management, 125
marriage, 34, 36, 57, 121
measles, 3
measurement, 4
meat, 36, 46, 53, 68, 123, 135
mebodishe, 3
medical, 9, 72
medicine, 7, 9, 19, 25, 36
memory, 143
mental illness, 68
Mesopotamia, 141
messages, 31, 69
metallurgy, 84, 106
metaphor, 116
Middle East, viii
migraine, 10, 25
migration, 71
military, 93, 122
Mindadze, 68
mineral water, 133
Ministry of Education, xi
minorities, 121
mission, 115, 117, 152
modernization, 71
Mongols, 24
Moon, 2, 64, 106, 111
Morige Ghmerti, 64, 117, 118
Moscow, 9, 19, 122, 133, 140
Moses, 52
mother tongue, 131
Mtatsminda, 100
Mtkvari, 85, 113
Mtskheta, 2, 80, 82, 109
multi-ethnic, 42
music, 5, 124, 131, 149, 151
Muslims, 22, 71
mythology, 53, 61, 63, 72, 112, 121, 126
N
Nana, 9, 82
national identity, ix, 141
nationalism, 147, 149
nationalists, 121, 149
nationality, 151
natsili, 29
Nilsson, M. P., 61
Nino, v, 71, 80, 81, 82, 111, 134, 141, 149,
152
normal children, 84
North America, 60
North Caucasus, 8, 124
nuisance, 99
O
obstacles, 40
oceans, vii, 52, 126
Ochopintre, v, 95, 96
oil, 9, 18, 36
old age, 30
Old Tbilisi, 74
olive oil, 11, 16
optimism, ix
osteoporosis, 74
ox, 25, 53, 85, 136
P
pain, 14, 16, 34, 39, 86, 90, 151
Paliastomi, 77, 78
parents, 10, 26, 68, 81, 148, 154
performing artists, x
Perkhulis, x
permission, iv, 95, 134
persistent cough, 12
Index 160
personality, 21
pigs, 143
Pkhovian xvtisshvili, 67
pneumonia, 13
political instability, 152
political system, viii, 47
Ponce de Leon, 55
population, 67, 70, 117
potato, 11, 15, 16
poverty, 37
prayer, 23, 24, 25, 51, 52, 53, 56, 70, 92, 95,
115, 118, 126, 154
Prometheus, viii, 83, 84, 107, 144
prophylactic, 22
prosperity, 70, 150
protection, 23, 24, 42, 64, 70, 106
Pshav-Khevsureti, 115
Psiguashe, 53, 126
psoriasis, 74
psychoactive drug, 31
psychotherapy, 32
public domain, 28, 47, 61
punishment, 58, 84
purification, 49
purity, 115, 153
pus, 16, 17
Q
Queen Tamar, 41, 42, 44
qveskneli, 55, 56
R
radiation, 29
radiculitis, 14
rashi, 86, 92
reading, 33
reality, 31, 35, 37, 55, 122, 133
recognition, 122
recommendations, iv
recovery, 93
red wine, 4
reforms, 152
regeneration, 55
regulations, 133
religion, 2, 25, 67, 72, 79, 93, 125, 149, 150
religious beliefs, 122
REM, 32
repair, 84, 106
reputation, 99, 136
resentment, 33
resistance, 2
response, 21, 31
restaurants, 133
roots, 7, 14, 16, 18, 64, 92, 140, 141
rules, 2, 4, 105, 106, 119
runny nose, 11
Rusieshvili, iii, xi, 30, 150
Russia, viii, 50, 122, 133, 150
S
sabodisho, 3
sadness, 38, 39, 40, 153
safety, 23, 133
Saint Barbara, 57, 58
Saint Nino, 111, 141
Salaghaya E., 100
salotsavebi, 115
sanctuaries, 50
school, 22, 136
semantics, xi
Šesšu, 123
shape, 1, 2, 25, 65, 144
sheep, 30, 38, 46, 102, 111, 119
shelter, 101
Shengelia, 19
Shioshvili, T., 113
shoot, 96, 125
showing, 68, 88
Siberia, 71
signs, 3
Silagadze, A., 107
silkworm, 38
silver, 2
singers, 57
skin, 10, 14, 18, 29, 30, 69, 74, 75, 90, 106,
124
skin diseases, 74
slaves, 109, 110
smallpox, 9
Index 161
snakes, 8, 109
society, 1, 25, 46, 71, 93
solar system, 59
solution, 11, 12, 100, 136
sore finger, 17
South Ossetia, 122
sovereignty, 122
Soviet Union, 133
Spain, 5
specialists, 93
speculation, 31
sprained or dislocated limbs, 17
Spring, 41, 43
St. George, 25, 68, 70, 112
stars, 1
state, ix, 2, 43, 71, 94
states, x, 24, 31
stomach, 15, 84, 87, 100
stomach XE "stomach" ache, 15
stomach ulcer, 15
storms, 63, 69
strawberry mark, 29
style, 58, 134, 135, 136
succession, 31
sulphur, 74
Sun, x, 60, 64, 82, 106
supernatural, 1, 123
Supra, 129, 130, 131, 142
survival, 84, 102, 107, 110
swollen intestine, 15
swollen legs, 15
symptoms, 10, 13
T
TACIS, 150
Tamada, 129, 130
target, 96, 125
taxes, 109
Tbilisi, v, x, xi, 6, 18, 19, 71, 72, 73, 74, 99,
103, 107, 133, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153,
154
teeth, 7, 11, 88, 135
temperature, 12, 74, 141
terminally ill, 81
territorial, viii
territory, 47, 121
threats, 145, 149
throws, 86, 88
Tkashmapa, 96
tooth, 7, 10, 11, 39, 88, 106
toothache, 7, 10
trade, 26
traditional practices, vii
traditions, x, 3, 4, 5, 9, 141, 148, 149, 150,
152
training, 136
transformation, 56, 106
transformations, 84, 107
translation, 22, 100, 145
transport, 119
treatment, 7, 9, 13
Tuite, K., 67, 72
Turkey, 43, 141, 152
Turks, 24
Turmanidze N, 19
U
UK, x
under Communism, 153
unhappiness, 33, 35
United, 28, 47, 50, 61, 122
United States, 28, 47, 50, 61, 122
universe, 25, 55, 64
USA, x
Usup, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89
V
varieties, 133, 143
vegetation, 52
victims, 21, 59, 68, 69
W
waking, 32
walking, 37, 59, 88, 91
war, 33, 38, 40, 59, 65, 133, 148, 151
Wardrop, M., 28
water, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,
18, 24, 26, 37, 38, 39, 40, 46, 49, 50, 52,
53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 63, 67, 74, 77, 78, 92,
Index 162
93, 101, 102, 109, 117, 119, 121, 123,
124, 125, 126, 127
wealth, 22, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 86, 110, 147
weapons, 109, 122
wear, 3, 11, 12, 70
weeping, 53, 96, 135
wells, 54
western culture, 131
Western Europe, 103
wild animals, 96, 105, 106
wilderness, 153
wrestling, 118, 124, 125
Y
yield, 143
young people, 131
Z
Zaden, 2
zeskneli, 55, 56
Zeus Laphystios, 49
Zeus Lykaios, 49
Zivava, 53, 54