Cjss second Issue: cjss second Issue qxd

During an archaeological excavation in 2006 
(Mtskheta, the old capital
of Georgia) a small bronze figurine depicting a ‘Tamada’, holding a drinking
horn in his right hand, was found. The figurine is dated to the beginning of
first millennium B.C (
Japaridze,
2006, p 23). To this day, the Tamada is the
toastmaster at banquets or special dinners in Georgia. The occasions on
which the Tamada is present are called ‘supra’ (table).The Tamada’s main task
at the supra is to salute the toasts. The Tamada is elected at the beginning of
the supra and it is considered a great honour to be so selected for this function
(Goldstein, 1999). A supra goes on for hours and the Tamada gives the toasts
in a special order. The first toast is for the host and his family; thereafter fol-
lows a toast for the mother country of Georgia, then toast to the memory of
the deceased heroes of the country and families of Georgia, followed by a toast
to parents (especially mothers), friends, relatives, and the future of Georgia,
to name a few of the toasts performed at a supra. Usually the guests empty
their wine glasses on each toast and the glasses are filled again for the fol-
lowing toasts. No wine is drunk between the toasts. When the Tamada has
given the last toast and rises up from the table the banquet or dinner, this is
a signal that the event is over.
A special kind of artifact known as a ‘kvevri’ has been found in the course
of many excavations. A kvevri is a wine vessel which became known as an am-
phora during Antiquity in Greece and the Roman Empire; In Georgia, however,
this kind of vessels has always been termed ‘kvevris
’
and still is.  It is known
from sites that can be dated as far back as Antiquity, that the kvevri was placed
up to its neck in the ground and then filled with grape juice. The kvevri was
sealed with a lid and the juice was left to ferment. The wine-farmer looked
after the fermentation process until the wine was ready.  The wine was then
transferred to bags made of animal skins. In Georgia, there is no tradition of
carrying wine in kvevri; skin bags have been used for this purpose since an-
tiquity – perhaps even at an earlier period also. There are many reasons for
this, including the fact that it was easier to carry a skin bag full of wine on
one’s back than to transport a hard kvevri. Furthermore, the skin bags did not
break as easily as the kvevri did during transportation on ships or in chariots.
The kvevris was mainly used for during the fermentation process of the wine.
However, it is evident from several archaeological sites that, during Antiquity
the kvevris were also used for non-cremation burials (
Chilashvili, 2004, p 91-
105)
.
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Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences

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Fig. 1: 
It is known that at least since antiquity wine was left to ferment in
kvevris that had been placed up to its neck in the ground. This photo is from a
bishop’s palace dating to the Middle Ages. Some wine farmers still use this ancient
fermentation technique (© Söderlind, Ulrica, 2008).
Fig 2: During archaeological excavations kvevris are a common artifact to de-
tect. This kvevri was excavated under the floor of the old church in Atskuri, Georgia.
The expedition was led by professor in Archaeology Litcheli, Vakhtang
(© Söderlind, Ulrica, 2006).
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Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences

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Georgia was one of the world’s first Christian countries, and dates such
as 337 A.D. and 319 A.D. have been put forward for the country’s adoption of
Christianity (
Tarchnisvili, 
1953, p 572). Georgia’s conversion to Christianity
is closely linked to St. Nino. According to one tradition, St. Nino was from Ko-
lastra, Cappadocia (in today’s Turkey) and she was a relative of St. George
(the patron saint of Georgia). She was said to have come to Georgia from Con-
stantinople. 
Other sources claim that she came from Rome, Jerusalem or Gaul.
According to a legend, St. Nino saw Virgin Mary in a dream and she told Nino
that she should enter Georgia with a cross made of the wood of vine stocks.
When Nino woke up from her dream she found herself holding two pieces of
wood from vine stocks and she tied them together with her own hair. With
this cross made of wine she fled 
Roman persecution in Cappadocia and made
her way into Georgia and started to teach Christianity. The legend also tells
that she performed 
miraculous healing and converted the Georgian queen,
Nana, and eventually the pagan king, Mirian III, of 
Iberia
. Mirian III declared
Christianity an official religion in c. 327 A.D. and Nino continued her mission-
ary activities among Georgians until her death in 338 or 340 A.D (Machitadze,
Zakaria,  2006, p 48-52, Wardrop, M./Wardrop, O, 
2006, p 12.
Tarchnisvili,
1953:572, Lang,  1956, p 13- 39.)
.
St. Nino’s
tomb is still shown at the Bodbe Monastery in Kakheti – which
is also the main wine region– in eastern Georgia. She has become one of the
most venerated saints of the Georgian Orthodox Church and her attribute, a
Grapevine cross, is a unique cross in the Christian world. Since, according to
the legend, it was the Virgin Mary, who told St. Nino to go to Georgia and teach
Christianity, the Grapevine cross became a symbol of Georgian Christianity.
Humans cannot live on wine alone and, as in the case of wine-culture,
evidence for bread consumption in Georgia also goes back to pre-historic
times. Four endemic cultures of wheat were also found in the Shulaveri Gora
site representative of the Shulaveri-Shomu Tepe chalcolithic culture – where
the first evidence of cultivated vine was also found (Kushnareva and Chubin-
ishvili, op. cit., 1970, p 170). 
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Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences

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