Georgian Christian My father loved to read aloud, he read a lot. And I, when I was no more than five years old, often found myself nearby, listened to him and, although for the most part I did not understand the meaning, I tried to understand, I was very interested. My father often repeated: “Georgian is a Christian.

Abkhazia is located in the northwestern part of Georgia and is rightfully known as a paradise on the Black Sea coast. Due to the political characteristics of the region (Abkhazia, as a result of separatist uprisings, self-proclaimed itself an independent republic under the de facto protectorate of the Russian Federation), many Russians come here almost as if they were going to a Russian resort. And they can be understood - everything for an ideal vacation is here: incredibly beautiful nature, hospitable residents, a gastronomic variety of local dishes and the hot southern sun. City Ochamchira(Abkhazian version - Ochamchira) is one of the pearls of sunny Abkhazia, where you can enjoy a beach holiday and become involved in the cultural heritage of the country.

Among the Georgian historical documents is a letter from the Svans to the king of Imereti, dated 1432, from which it turns out that the Svans were at enmity with the Rachin princes Japaridze. The Svans killed one of Japaridze, after which the princes of Racha and Lechkhumi blocked their path to Racha. The Svans were not allowed to trade or work in the valley. Representatives of the Japaridze house mercilessly killed those who arrived in the lowlands of the Svans. The Svans wrote to the Tsar that they had not tasted salt for seven years and asked the Tsar to mediate reconciliation with the Rachin people.

We Svans came to the valley,

give us land and arable land!

This poem is about the time when the Svans descended into the valleys for seasonal work. The hardworking residents of Svaneti have always been considered desirable hired workers in Western Georgia. IN late XIX century, one of the groups of such farm laborers unwittingly predicted a great archaeological discovery. Several Svans in the Imeretian village of Vani cultivated the land that belonged to the Akhvlediani family. One day, the owner of the land found no workers on site. The Svans disappeared without even demanding payment for the work. Time passed and in Vani, on the land of Akhvlediani, the ruins of an ancient city and many golden treasures were found. No one knows what exactly the Svan farm laborers found then.

On the shores of the Black Sea stands the powerful fortress of Gonio, which in Roman and Greek chronicles is called Apsarunt. In the 1st century AD, a garrison of five cohorts of Roman legionnaires stood here; Roman baths and a hippodrome operated on the territory of the fortress.

The Gonio fortress “remembers” the Byzantines and Genoese, and since 1547 the Turks. Along with the Mingrelian port of Anaklia, the Gonio fortress became a place from where people captured throughout Western Georgia were sold into slavery. From here the captives went to the slave markets of Istanbul.

Megrelia was called differently in different periods. This region is part of ancient Colchis. Mingrelians (residents of Megrelia) like to emphasize their noble - Colchian origin. In the kingdom of Colchis, which in ancient times was located on the territory of Western Georgia, the first Georgian coin was minted - the Colchis tetri. This state was the cradle of Georgian statehood. The ancient Greeks knew about the kingdom of Colchis, located on the outskirts of the civilized world, where the mythical Argonauts went in search of the Golden Fleece. The leader of the Argonauts was not satisfied with stealing the golden fleece and kidnapped the beautiful daughter of the king of Colchis, Aieta, the sorceress Medea. The myth of the Golden Fleece became iconic not only for Colchis, but also for the whole of Georgia; the Greeks, and then the Romans, knew this myth, and later it became known in medieval Europe.

Many people are probably interested in who we are Georgians, where we came from and what Georgia is, this post will more or less give you light about us.

Self-name - Kartveli. The people, the main population of Georgia. The number in the Russian Federation is 130,688 people.

Language - Georgian Kartvelian group of the Caucasian family. Represented by 17 dialects corresponding to subethnic groups of Georgians. The writing probably dates back to a variation of the ancient Eastern Aramaic script.

The believers are Orthodox, some (Adjarians, groups of Meskhs and Ingiloys) are Sunni Muslims; There are small groups of Georgian Catholics.

Georgians are the ancient people of Transcaucasia. In ancient Eastern and ancient sources, the ancient Georgian tribes of the Mushki, Tubals, Khalibs, Geniokhs, Misimians, and Colkhians are known. The ethnic core of the Georgian people consisted of three large closely related tribal associations: Karts, Megrelians, Svans, who in ancient times occupied a vast territory between the Greater Caucasus in the north, the Lesser Caucasus in the southeast and the Chorokh River basin in the southwest. At the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC, significant tribal unions (Diaokhi, Kulha, Saspers) and the first states arose in this territory: in the 6th century BC, the Colchis kingdom was formed in the Eastern and South-Eastern Black Sea region, in 4th century BC in Eastern Georgia - the Kingdom of Kartli (in ancient sources - Iberia). The process of formation of the Georgian ethnic group was taking place, and a distinctive culture was developing.

Important historical stage In this process, the Georgians adopted Christianity: in the 4th century in the Kartli kingdom, in the 6th century in Western Georgia, where by this time the Laz (Egris) kingdom had been formed. Another important factor in the process of Georgian consolidation was the creation of Georgian writing. The oldest surviving literary monument dates back to the 5th century.
Education at the turn of the 10th-11th centuries centralized state, which reached the apogee of its development in the 12th - early 13th centuries, basically completed the process of formation of the Georgian ethnic group, contributed to the growth of the economy and culture, the development of cities, and the establishment of broad cultural ties with Western Europe, Russia, East. The long period of decentralization that came after the Mongol-Tatar invasion in the 13th century led to the weakening and disintegration of a single state into separate kingdoms and principalities. In the 16th and 17th centuries, this condition worsened as a result of the aggression of Ottoman Turkey and Safavid Iran. The lands in southwestern Georgia - Lazika, Adjara, Meskheti-Javakheti - were captured by Turkey in the 16th and 17th centuries. The process of forced Turkification and Islamization of the local Georgian population began. Georgia remained in a state of severe political and socio-economic stagnation almost until the end of the 18th century.

In 1783, Russia and Eastern Georgia (the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti) concluded a “Friendly Treaty” (Treaty of Georgievsk), which provided for a Russian protectorate over Georgia. In 1801 the Georgian kingdom was liquidated. Eastern Georgia became part of Russian Empire(by 1811 and Western Georgia). Until the end of the 70s of the 19th century, as a result of the Russian-Turkish wars with Georgia, some of its historical regions - Meskheti-Javakheti and Adjara - were reunited. The abolition of serfdom in Georgia (1864-71) contributed to the growth of the national self-awareness of Georgians, the strengthening of their ethnic unity, and the change social structure, development of professional culture.
In 1918, the Georgian Democratic Republic was created, which existed until February 1921, when units of the Red Army established Soviet power here. The Georgian SSR was formed (until 1936 as part of the Transcaucasian Federation, then directly as part of the USSR).
In 1991 Georgia adopted the Act of Independence. The armed conflict in Abkhazia in 1992-93 led to the forced migration of about 300 thousand Georgians to other regions of Georgia, as well as to Russia.
In Georgia, a complex economic and cultural type has long been formed, combining arable farming and cattle breeding. In the mountains, cattle breeding was dominant; in the foothills it was combined with developed agriculture, which was the main branch of the economy on the plains. They sowed wheat, barley, oats, rye, rice, and lentils; in Western Georgia the main crops were millet, gomi (chumiza), and corn.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, especially during Soviet times, subtropical crops have become widespread in the Black Sea regions of Georgia: citrus fruits, tung, and noble laurel. More and more economic importance tea culture acquires. The traditional occupations of the Georgians also included viticulture and winemaking, horticulture, vegetable gardening; auxiliary industries included hunting, fishing, beekeeping, sericulture, and collecting wild fruits and herbs.
Home industry and crafts have achieved significant development: weaving (making fabrics from wool, cotton, silk, flax), pottery, processing of metal, wood, stone, horn, jewelry, carpet weaving, artistic printed fabrics, making felt products (felts, buroks) , hats). For each natural area Georgia was characterized by certain types of arable implements: for the plains a large plow with a team of 8-10 pairs of oxen and buffaloes, for the foothills - a lightweight orhela plow, for the mountains - a light arable implement such as a plow. Modern Georgians are employed in diversified industry, the service sector, and mechanized agriculture.

Kartlians, Kakhetians, Mokhevians, Mtiuls, Pshavas, Tushins, Khevsurs; in Southern Georgia - Javakhs, Meskhs; outside Georgia - Ingiloys (in Azerbaijan), in Iran - Fereydans (descendants of Georgians resettled to Iran at the beginning of the 17th century by Shah Abbas), Imerkhevs (in Turkey). The subethnic groups of Georgians Mingrelians and Svans (settled in Western Georgia) speak Mingrelian and Svan languages, Laz - Laz (live mainly in Turkey). The writing probably dates back to a variation of the ancient Eastern Aramaic script. The believers are Orthodox, some (Adjarians, groups of Meskhs and Ingiloys) are Sunni Muslims; There are small groups of Georgian Catholics.

Georgians are the ancient people of Transcaucasia. In ancient Eastern and ancient sources, the ancient Georgian tribes of the Mushki, Tubals, Khalibs, Geniokhs, Misimians, and Colkhians are known. The ethnic core of the Georgian people consisted of three large closely related tribal associations: Karts, Megrelians, Svans, who in ancient times occupied a vast territory between the Greater Caucasus in the north, the Lesser Caucasus in the southeast and the Chorokh River basin in the southwest. At the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC, significant tribal unions (Diaokhi, Kulha, Saspers) and the first states arose in this territory: in the 6th century BC, the Colchis kingdom was formed in the Eastern and South-Eastern Black Sea region, in IV century BC in Eastern Georgia - the Kingdom of Kartli (in ancient sources - Iberia). The process of formation of the Georgian ethnic group was taking place, and a distinctive culture was developing.

An important historical stage in this process was the adoption of Christianity by the Georgians: in the 4th century in the Kartli kingdom, in the 6th century in Western Georgia, where by this time the Laz (Egris) kingdom had been formed. Another important factor in the process of consolidation of Georgians was the creation of Georgian writing. The oldest surviving literary monument dates back to the 5th century. The formation at the turn of the X-XI centuries of a centralized state, which reached the apogee of its development in the XII - early XIII centuries, basically completed the process of formation of the Georgian ethnic group, contributed to the growth of the economy and culture, the development of cities, and the establishment of broad cultural ties with Western Europe, Russia, and the East. The long period of decentralization that began after the Mongol-Tatar invasion in the 13th century led to the weakening and disintegration of a single state into separate kingdoms and principalities. In the 16th and 17th centuries, this condition worsened as a result of aggression from Ottoman Turkey and Safavid Iran. The lands in southwestern Georgia - Lazika, Adjara, Meskheti-Javakheti - were captured by Turkey in the 16th-17th centuries. The process of forced Turkification and Islamization of the local Georgian population began. Georgia remained in a state of severe political and socio-economic stagnation almost until late XVIII century.

In 1783, Russia and Eastern Georgia (the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti) concluded a “Friendly Treaty” (Treaty of Georgievsk), which provided for a Russian protectorate over Georgia. In 1801 the Georgian kingdom was liquidated. Eastern Georgia became part of the Russian Empire (by 1811 also Western Georgia). Until the end of the 70s of the 19th century, as a result of the Russian-Turkish wars with Georgia, some of its historical regions - Meskheti-Javakheti and Adjara - were reunited. The abolition of serfdom in Georgia (1864-71) contributed to the growth of national self-awareness of Georgians, the strengthening of their ethnic unity, changes in social structure, and the development of professional culture. In 1918, the Georgian Democratic Republic was created, which existed until February 1921, when units of the Red Army established Soviet power here. The Georgian SSR was formed (until 1936 as part of the Transcaucasian Federation, then directly as part of the USSR). In 1991 Georgia adopted the Act of Independence. The armed conflict in Abkhazia in 1992-93 led to the forced migration of about 300 thousand Georgians to other regions of Georgia, as well as to Russia.

Migrations of Georgians into Russia have been known since the early Middle Ages. Large Georgian colonies existed since the 17th century in Moscow and Astrakhan, and since the 18th century in St. Petersburg.

In Georgia, a complex economic and cultural type has long been formed, combining arable farming and cattle breeding. In the mountains, cattle breeding was dominant; in the foothills it was combined with developed agriculture, which was the main branch of the economy on the plains. They sowed wheat, barley, oats, rye, rice, and lentils; in Western Georgia the main crops were millet, gomi (chumiza), and corn. Since the beginning of the 20th century, especially during Soviet times, subtropical crops have become widespread in the Black Sea regions of Georgia: citrus fruits, tung, and noble laurel. Tea culture is becoming increasingly important economically. The traditional occupations of the Georgians also included viticulture and winemaking, horticulture, vegetable gardening; auxiliary industries included hunting, fishing, beekeeping, sericulture, and collecting wild fruits and herbs.

Home industry and crafts have achieved significant development: weaving (making fabrics from wool, cotton, silk, flax), pottery, processing of metal, wood, stone, horn, jewelry, carpet weaving, artistic printed fabrics, making felt products (felts, buroks) , hats). Each natural zone of Georgia was characterized by certain types of arable implements: for the plains a large plow with a team of 8-10 pairs of oxen and buffaloes, for the foothills - a lightweight orkhela plow, for the mountains - a light arable implement such as a plow.

Modern Georgians are employed in diversified industry, the service sector, and mechanized agriculture.

The traditional settlements of Georgia are diverse. In the flat-foothill zone of Eastern Georgia - mostly crowded, less often - scattered or stretched along roads, quite large in size; in the mountains - small, crowded, located in ledges along the mountain slopes. In Western Georgia, villages had a free layout and usually stretched for many kilometers. During Soviet times in Eastern Georgia, some villages were rebuilt according to specially developed projects. Sometimes near an old village in more convenient location- closer to the road, to water sources - a new one was being built locality. Traditions in Western Georgia open plan are saved.

Traditional types of estates varied in individual zones of Georgia. In the mountains, all residential and utility premises formed a compact complex and were located in a vertical plan. In the plain-foothill zone of Eastern Georgia, some of the household premises, for example, a marani (wine storage), were located next to the house, while others were located separately and even outside the village. In Western Georgia, the estates were large and there were residential and commercial buildings freely located in them. There were significant differences in the types of dwellings across the zones. It was in the mountains stone houses- fortresses (tsikhe sakhli) with defensive towers, stone dwellings of 2-4 floors (chardakhiani sakhli, kaloiani sakhli, kor); one-story stone houses (kvitkiri) with a flat earthen roof.

In the plain-foothill zone of Eastern Georgia, darbazis were common - a stone dwelling with a stepped crown-shaped ceiling (gvirgvini), which had a light-smoke hole (erdo). In the center of the darbazi there was a hearth, on both sides of which there were two wooden support pillars (dedaboji) ornamented with carvings. Stone semi-underground dwellings with a flat earthen roof (mitsuris sakhli) were also built.

In Western Georgia, 1- and 2-story buildings were erected wooden houses(sajalabo sakhli, ode sakhli, jargvali, patskha) from two and hipped roof made of shingles, sedge, straw, without windows, with two doors arranged opposite each other. From the second half of the 19th century century, houses of a new type began to appear in Georgia: two-story, stone, with windows, wooden floors, in several rooms, with fireplaces instead of open hearths. This type of housing, more advanced, is common in modern Georgia. In the western regions, the traditions of wooden architecture are preserved. The most important part of the traditional Georgian dwelling was the open fireplace, which played an important role in the cult of ancestors and personified the unity of the family; Some rituals were performed at the hearth during the wedding and reconciliation of bloodlines. Were also distributed wall fireplace(bukhari), special ovens for baking bread - tone, purne, gumeli.

Traditional clothes of Georgians different zones same type. The men's costume included a shirt (perangi), pants (niphawi, sharwali), outerwear- chokha (similar to a Circassian coat) and a short akhalukhi (type of beshmet), worn under the chokha, belt (woolen, silk, leather). In winter they wore a sheepskin coat (tkavi) and a burqa (nabadi). The headgear was felt hats (nabdis kudi), fur hats, bashlyks (kabalakhs); The Imeretians had the original Papanaki headdress. Knitted socks (tsindebi), knitted or leather leggings (pachichebi), kalamani - homemade shoes made of rawhide in the form of bast shoes; knitted boots (chitebi) were worn in the mountains; social elite - leather boots with heels.

The women's costume consisted of a shirt (perangi), long pants (sheidishi), a long dress (kartuli kaba - “Georgian dress”) with a chest insert (gulispiri), the dress was belted with a long fabric belt (sartkeli), the ends of which went down almost to the hem. Over the dress, wealthy Georgian women wore katibi - an open velvet garment lined with fur. The headdress consisted of a veil (lechaki), a cardboard headband trimmed with velvet (chikhta), a thin roll trimmed with silk, and a headband (tavsakravi), usually made of velvet. When going out into the street, Georgians always wore a scarf (bagdadi). On their feet they wore shoes with heels without backs (koshi), soft shoes made of morocco without heels (like plasti slippers), morocco ankle boots (tsuga), and kalamani.

There were differences in the clothing of Georgians from individual historical and cultural regions. In Western Georgia, women did not wear katibi; their headdress was different. We'll cover color scheme, the methods of decoration (braid, appliqué, embroidery with wool and beads) distinguished the Khevsur costume, which represented a bright range of red, orange, blue, light blue, yellow flowers. The Tushin costume was dark, mostly black, tones; women's clothing was characterized by an abundance of silver jewelry in the form of chains. The traditional Georgian costume was replaced by urban clothing. The color scheme, felt hats, and individual elements in professional clothes shepherds and shepherds (burka, kalamani).

The basis of the traditional diet of Georgians was dairy and plant products, bread. This is homemade cheese (Suluguni, Imeretian, Tushino) from sheep, cow's milk, matsoni (a type of sour milk), butter, cottage cheese, cream, various vegetables and fruits (dried in winter), beans, beans, greens, including wild ones. Bread - unleavened and sourdough (lavash, puri, shoti) - was baked from wheat (plain-foothill Eastern Georgia), barley, rye, oat (in mountain villages) flour. In Western Georgia, unleavened bread mchadi was prepared from corn flour. An important place in the diet of the local population here was occupied by gomi - a dish in the form of hard-cooked porridge made from millet or corn flour without salt or oil. Gomi largely replaced bread; They always ate it hot. Porridges and stews were made from grain and flour. Meat dishes of lamb, beef, chicken, and turkey were mainly festive. In Eastern Georgia it is shish kebab, khinkali, bozbash, chikhirtma, pilaf; in Western - also satsivi (a dish of turkey or chicken in nut sauce).

The main alcoholic drink was grape wine, in the mountains - vodka (araka), in the mountains of Eastern Georgia also barley beer, which played a large role in ritual life. Georgian food retains its traditionality, new dishes have also appeared (soups, cutlets, borscht), tea and coffee have spread in cities (the latter is accepted in villages as a traditional drink only in Adjara). The traditions of table etiquette are stable.

In Georgia the main form of family was small family. Large families (didi ojahi, ertsakhli dzmebi) gradually disappeared, especially in the second half of the 19th century. Family relationships characterized by strict patriarchy and regulated by a whole system of prohibitions (avoidances). Spouses were forbidden to call each other by name, to pronounce the names of father-in-law and mother-in-law, father-in-law and mother-in-law, and the wife was forbidden to talk to her husband’s older relatives. In marriage norms, Georgians adhered to strict exogamy; marriages were prohibited between blood relatives up to the 7th or 8th generation, between namesakes, residents of the same quarter, the same community (society), between persons who entered into an artificial relationship (brothers, pupils according to the custom of atalystvo).

Two forms of marriage were common: by mutual consent of the parents of the bride and groom with the payment of a deposit (in some mountainous regions - a ransom) and marriage by kidnapping. The Georgian wedding cycle included matchmaking (machankloba), bride viewing, betrothal (nishnoba) and the wedding itself (kortsili). The betrothal ceremony was considered the main one in the wedding. The wedding lasted several days and was crowded. Funerals were even more crowded (especially in Western Georgia), requiring even greater material costs to organize several rich funeral meals throughout the year. Many traditions are quite stable, including the customs of the wedding and funeral-memorial cycles. In the traditional social life of Georgians, the customs of mutual assistance, hospitality, blood feud, atalystvo (in Western Georgia), twinning and sisterhood were firmly preserved.

The festive life of Georgians is filled with colorful rituals and fun. celebrated New Year(January 1), Christmas (December 25), in the spring - Easter. In February - March fun party kenoba-berikaoba with mummers, in the fall - Mtskhetoba, Alaverdoba, etc. Nowadays, some traditions of festive life are preserved. At the end of the grape harvest in the fall, the Rtveli holiday is celebrated. Many new holidays have appeared, such as Tbilisoba, celebrated in the Georgian capital Tbilisi at the end of October.

Traditional folklore is preserved: historical legends, ballads, fairy tales, proverbs, songs - labor, ritual, heroic, lyrical, drinking, lamenting songs, folk dances (lekuri, khorumi, gandagan, etc.).

Georgia, one of the most interesting countries. The basis of its population are Georgians - representatives of one of the most ancient peoples of Transcaucasia. Now the population in it is about 3.5 million people, and 86.8% of them are of Georgian nationality.

Quite a few Georgians also live in Russia; according to the 2010 census, there were about 158 ​​thousand people. They began to settle in the Russian capital, Moscow, at the end of the 17th century, as a result of the intensification of cultural, trade and diplomatic relations between Georgia and the Moscow state.

After joining the Russian Empire, the Georgian nobility received equal rights with the Russians, Georgians served in the Russian army, worked in industry and settled in all regions of the vast country.

Some experts predict that in the near future active growth the number of Georgians in Europe, because on March 28, 2017, the Schengen countries opened their borders to them. This forecast raises a lot of doubts - everyone who wanted to leave had long ago issued visas and left. The rest do not have the desire or money to resettle. Moreover, “visa-free” is an opportunity to travel around Europe. To study, work, and especially to obtain a residence permit, you will still have to draw up special documents.

History of the origin of the Georgian people

The history of the origin of the population of Georgia evolved like a mosaic from many sources. These are archaeological excavations, painstaking study of chronicles, language and genetic research. Together they showed that the ancient ancestors of the Georgians were indigenous. The basis of this people is the local Karvelian tribes, which gradually united, became larger, were partially supplemented by alien peoples, and again disintegrated into new communities.

The Pro-Carvelian language, for example, began to disappear in the 2nd millennium BC. e., when Svan began to stand out from it. In the 8th century BC e., the same fate befell the Mingrelo-Chan languages, which means that something divided the peoples, and everyone began to live and develop their own language independently.

For example, the East Georgian tribes, which descended to the Black Sea, wedged themselves into the West Georgian tribes, dividing them into two parts. They gradually formed the Mingrelian and Lazochan groups, which can be clearly seen now.