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

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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