Cjss second Issue: cjss second Issue qxd

tori cdilobs moxazos koleqtiuri mexsierebis erTi
kerZo versia, romelic emyareba ritualuri resursebis
gamoyenebas.  aRniSnuli aspeqtiT mxedvelobaSi, statiaSi
moxmobilia savele eTnografiuli masala, Sekrebili
saqarTvelos sxvadasxva kuTxeSi avtoris mier 1976-89
wlebSi. adre-qristianul tradiciasTan asocirebuli rit-
ualuri procesi aRwerilia ara rogorc stereotipuli aq-
tivoba/qmedeba, aramed rogorc erTmaneTTan dakavSirebuli
movlenebi, romlebic lokalizdeba saqarTvelos istoriis
farglebSi. statiaSi aseve naCvenebia xsenebuli tradiciis
eTnikuri da kulturuli identifikaciis funqcia, romlis
mixedviT ucxoebi da sxva qveynebidan infiltrirebuli
mosaxleoba aRniSnuli wesis SesrulebiT adaptirdeboda
da  integrirdeboda qarTul qristianul kulturaSi. em-
fazisi keTdeba ritualis Sesrulebis mniSvnelobaze,
romelic imdenad ganuyreli da imanenturi gaxda saqarTve-
los mosaxleobisTvis, rom mogviano periodis konfesiuri
aRreulobis miuxedavad (saqarTvelos zogierT kuTxeSi)
SenarCunda da SemorCa  axal konfesiur garmoSic. mTavari
amocana statiisa organizebul iqna SekiTxvis garSemo: Sesa-
Zlebelia Tu ara identobisa da erTianobis gancda qarTul
kulturaSi winaparTagan dadgenili ritualis SesrulebiT.
eTnografiuli masalis analizi avtors gasaRebs aZlevs
saqarTvelos uZvelsi mosaxleobis identobis, kulturisa
da TviT-Semecnebis SesawavlisTvis. mTavari cnebebi: adre-
qristianuli praqtika, kulturuli mexsiereba, identoba,
aRdgomis dResaswauli, saidumlo seroba. 
The concept of identity is generally associated with such terms as “an-
cestral customs”, “historical”, “collective and cultural memories.” As Jonathan
Webber (2007) puts it: “Historical memory must define a special relationship
with what belongs to one’s own experience of time” (p.74). According to Prof.
Jonathan Sacks (2009. p.29) “History is information. Memory, by contrast, is
part of identity” (as cited in Webber, 2007, p.76). Bellow I’ll try to outline a
particular version of collective remembering grounded in the use of ritual re-
sources, in particular, ancestor rituals.
The ritual processes described bellow are not stereotypical activities but
related events located within Georgian history. Though it has many unique
and special features still, they can provide general insights into processes of
cultural memory formation.
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The prominent ethnographers Niko Janashia (1960) and Solomon
Zvanba (1982) had attested a very interesting ritual annually performed in
Abkhazia. According to their descriptive ethnographic data, in the cattle of
each Abkhazian the best cow was picked out and dedicated to St George
which was specially marked by an incision on the right ear. In the wine store-
house of each Abkhazian household the biggest wine vessel (kind of am-
phora) was dug into the ground in the name of St George. Annually the wine
vessel was filled with pure red wine and a prayer was recited over it. The rit-
ual of sacrifice was performed in the following way: the sacrificial animal was
brought to the door of the house, where the members of the family gathered
and knelt facing east; with their hands crossed on breast; in deep silence they
stayed motionless; the pater familias (the father of the family) was bare-
headed.   The head of the family (the ritual leader) touched the sacrificial an-
imal on the ear and recited the following prayer: “St George of Ilori! (local
sacred place-name - N.A.) I offer you the sacrificial animal likewise the ances-
tors. Do not leave us without your protection and give us health and longevity,
protect us from every possible disaster and illness now and in the future, pro-
tect us against evil spirits and evil eyes. Don’t leave us and our relatives who
are absent now and those all, who we love alone without your grace!” Every
member of the family replied to this with “Amen”. Then the participants got
on their feet and bowed their heads eastwards, though it must be mentioned
that at that time they did not make the sign of cross over themselves even in
the case they were baptized. The dedicated animal after that had been sacri-
ficed and boiled in special cattle.  Besides, ritual breads filled with cheese,
called in Georgian khachapuri were baked and a small size waxen candle was
made. After all that the head of the family (who was the chief prayer) would
go to the wine storehouse to open the promised wine vessel.  Boiled meat and
baked khachapuri were taken to the wine storehouse and put near the pray-
ing amphora.  The whole family knelt before the sacred ware facing the East.
The head of the family lit the candle, fixed it to the amphora, burnt some
frankincense on the live coal and when it smoked he repeated the prayer
which had been recited before the sacrifice. The prayer was concluded with
“Amen” that was repeated by the attendants of the ritual.  After the prayer,
the performer of the ritual used to cut the heart and the leaver (i.e. the most
sacred parts) of the sacrificed animal and the ritual bread into small pieces
and wetted them in wine and fried on the red-hot coal. After that he divided
them according to the number of ritual attendants and distributed them
among the prayers and poured the consecrated wine into the cup. Then every-
body would stand up and bow eastwards and leave Marani i.e. the wine store-
house. They would take with them the sacrificial meat and khachapuri and
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would sit at table and feast under the grace of the saint. The neighbors who
had not got the custom to perform such ritual prayers were invited. To my
mind it might be a later innovation, for this ritual was distinguished among
others with its occult character, where outsiders were not admitted. The de-
scribed custom, according to Solomon Zvanba (1982), had been performed by
every true Abkhazian in spite of his faith. It is important to note that there
had not been appointed a special day of the ritual (for the process of forget-
ting had started after the conversion of this region). But still according to the
informants Easter morning was preferred. The Christians after the morning
service used to partake into the ritual and as to the Muslims and pagans they
could perform the rite straight in the morning. Those who could not manage
to fulfill and partake into the ancestral custom could perform it in the Summer
on one of the Sundays (but not in the Lenten fast). The above data can be filled
with N.Janashia’s (1960) information, according to which every Abkhazian
had a special wine amphora kept in the name of the Lord in his wine store-
house, which was filled with excellent  (preferably red) wine. The wine would
not be used under any circumstances before it had not been offered in libation
in the prayer ritual dedicated to the Lord. The consecrated wine ware could
also be dedicated to St Mary. According to the same scholar, every habitat of
Achandara  (a village in Abkhazia) had a small size sacred vessel dedicated to
the powerful anifsnykha (the wonder making icon of the Assumption of the
Mother of God) in his wine storehouse which was used on the appointed
Easter Sunday in the name of Dydripsh (the name of the sacred mountain
where the ruins of the old sanctuary had been found); for that day every habi-
tat had a dedicated cow (azatv i.e. a sacrificial animal). Thus, according to the
above cited data, prayer amphorae were dedicated to the Lord, Blessed Virgin
Mary and St George.  In this village the ancestral custom had been performed
annually on the Easter Day, which usually ended with communal meal. Su-
perficially the described cultural fact attested by the scholars in Abkhazia
might look quite exotic but making comparison with the ethnographic data
that had been gathered throughout the whole Georgia during 1974 – 1989
the things turned out to be different.
As the format of the paper does not allow expatiating on the subject and
as several papers had been dedicated to the reconstruction of the whole ritual
(Abakelia. 1999; 2000; 2000a; 2001) here I’ll take liberty of presenting the re-
ceived assumptions in the form of summary. These papers actually revealed
Early Christian practice in Georgian reality which might fill the lacunae in the
early period of Christianity itself (as far as we have insufficient and scanty in-
formation about it). The early Christian tradition of the divine worship at
houses can be traced in Georgia in the custom of “braking bread” over the sa-
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