Act one
Childhood...
Son, be friends with the Georgian guys, with the Azerbaijani guys, with the Armenian guys, but never approach the Svans..., - said the Father...
Why, they are just like us...
Such, but not like that... People They are very good, fair, honest - if only they were all like that... But the Svans do not forgive insults, and You are only seven years old... First you say, and then you think...
Georgia, military town, military unit 61615, Soviet KGB troops, special government communications... The central alley from the club, on both sides there are residential buildings - families of officers and warrant officers are quartered here, between them is an officer's dormitory for bachelors... 1986... Proudly along the alley A tall man is walking, strongly built, with a huge dagger hanging from his belt... Behind his back is something like a backpack... At the sight of him, the mothers hastily take children from the street... A man walks with his son... the boy is about eight years old, his head is held high... A silent nod towards the military patrol (officer and two soldiers)… The officer responds with the same, barely noticeable nod, closely accompanies Father and Son to the borders of the unit... A man with a dagger walks between two posts on which barbed wire was once stretched and slowly moves away along a well-trodden path... Svan came to buy food...
Who are these Svans? Those who were feared like fire even in KGB units?
Here's what the Great Soviet Encyclopedia says:
“...Svans, ethnographic group Georgian; live in the Mestia and Lentekhi regions of the Georgian SSR. Svan tribes, who in ancient times occupied a vast territory on the southern slopes Greater Caucasus(see Svaneti) and partly on the northern slopes (mainly in the upper reaches of the Kuban River), together with the tribes of Karts and Megrel climbers (Chanovs) formed the basis of the formation Georgian people. The Svans speak Georgian, and in everyday life they also speak the Svan language. In the past, they were characterized by local features of culture and life (original forms of tower architecture, developed alpine economy, remnants of military democracy, etc.) ... "
Wikipedia is less verbose:
“...Svans live in the Mestia and Lentekhi regions in northwestern Georgia, united in the historical region of Svaneti (Svan. Shwan), as well as in the Kodori Gorge of the Gulripsha region in Abkhazia. The population in Svaneti is about 60 thousand; in Abkhazia - 2 thousand people. The total number is about 80 thousand people...”
Why were Svanov tolerated in military camps, why were they allowed to carry bladed weapons? The answer is simple - someone wise realized that if they started oppressing the Svans, it would hardly be possible to station military personnel with their families on the territory of Georgia... Completely close the military camp, in which there were schools, a medical unit, several shops, a kindergarten, etc. it would have been impossible... Sooner or later there would have been casualties, and therefore an open conflict... Therefore, the Svans were treated with respect and fear... The Georgian politicians of the “Rose Revolution” did not adopt this tactic...
Conflict...
There are no indifferent or neutral opinions in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict in the North Caucasus. Either for or against... Neutrality is inherent in the Slavic peoples, but not in the peoples of the Caucasus, although both the Slavs and Caucasians are, for the most part, Christians... One faith and such different opinions...
1993 - Abkhaz troops successfully repelled attacks by Georgian troops, but did not occupy the Kodori Gorge, moreover, they recognized this territory as neutral... There were reasons for this, and the Abkhazians knew them very well... The Svans were not against their autonomy...
An armed formation called “Hunter” is created in Svania, the leader of which is Emzar Kvitsiani...
Emzar Bekmurazovich Kvitsiani born on April 25, 1961 in the village of Chkhalta, Kodori region, Georgian SSR, into a Svan (ethnographic group of Georgians living in the Kodori Gorge) family. Father - Bekmurza Kvitsiani, mother - Mariam Gurchiani. Kvitsiani has a sister Nora...
In 1988, Kvitsiani graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the Novosibirsk Agricultural Institute. Photo-1R According to other information, Kvitsiani received a higher agricultural education in Volgograd. In Soviet times, Kvitsiani was prosecuted three times - for hooliganism, theft and on suspicion of murder. The investigation into the last case was not completed due to political upheavals associated with the collapse of the USSR... (Data from the site https://www.lenta.ru/lib/14163606/)
Eduard Shevardnadze, in my opinion, an experienced politician and diplomat, in order to avoid aggravation of the situation in the region, appoints Emzar Kvitsiani as a political Photo-3L representative in Svaneti... DOB-2R Emzar Kvitsiani held this position until the “Rose Revolution”... With Mikhail coming to power Saakashvili Georgia is trying at any cost to subordinate Abkhazia, and with it Svania, to official Tbilisi... The “Hunter” turns out to be outside the law, and what is important, the fighters of the detachment were left without wages. Consequently, their families are without a piece of bread. Kvitsiani was removed from the post of political representative...
The Rose government appoints its ministers, local representatives, etc. Civilized negotiations failed:
Saakashvili makes a sharp and careless remark: “I will make the mother of the one who raises his hand against the Georgian state cry.”
Kvitsiani did not remain in debt: “His swearing will cost the president dearly. If he wanted to remember my mother, he could come here on the Fourth of July, when she was buried. If they talk about our mothers, we will visit their mothers. The Svans did not forgive anyone for insulting their mother ".
For Gruzin, the remark thrown by Saakashvili is identical to obscenities, grossly insulting the interlocutor and his entire family... The conflict turned out to be inevitable...
Mikheil Saakashvili, instead of resolving the situation through negotiations, sends troops to Abkhazia... Significant forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of Georgia were sent to the Kodori Gorge, one of the columns is detained by Russian peacekeepers... after two hours of negotiations the column is allowed through... DOB-1L
The 1994 peace treaty has been put to rest...
Here are Emzar Kvitsiani’s demands, under which the conflict could move from a political channel into a personal grievance and be resolved by two men in other ways:
1. Resign the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Defense Vano Merabishvili and Irakli Okruashvili.
2. Restore the functioning of the “Monadire” (“Hunter”) unit in the Kodori Gorge
3. Stop the persecution of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
4. Stop accusing refugees from Abkhazia of treason.
5. Punish those who ordered the murder of 27-year-old Sandro Girgvliani and other victims of the death squads.
Act two
Why did Leonid Kuchma learn Ukrainian?
As you know, any ruler must communicate with his people in the state language, for reasons of high-quality transmission of information and paying tribute to the traditions of the people and language. For ten years in Ukraine, the president was a man for whom it was very difficult to talk with the people entrusted to him due to his lack of fluency in the state language... The Russian language, which Leonid Danilovich spoke much better than Ukrainian, contrary to the statements of nationalist organizations, is understood by everyone . In any case, the main meaning can be understood, as well as the other related languages of the Slavic group.
During the four years of living in Georgia, I, in my junior school age, I was able to learn only two words and then I doubt the correct pronunciation... But Georgian children with early age knew at least two languages - their native Georgian and Russian... Russian had a funny accent, but mutual understanding was, in my opinion, even better than between Ukrainians and Russians... I remember very well Georgian television programs, which in the GSSR occupied most of the airtime of two channels - the third was “Ostankino”... No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t understand anything on the Georgian channel... Although in everyday communication I intuitively understood the speech of Georgians...
Apparently, in modern Georgia, in addition to the Russian language, English has also begun to be intensively studied. The President of Georgia freely, violating all diplomatic rules of etiquette, without an interpreter, speaks in English with the world community. Everyone is touched - oh, well done, how well he knows the English language... The president likes odes of laudatory odes and he decided to speak to the Georgians in English, they say, you will understand, and whoever does not understand - let him teach!..
Now let’s project the situation onto Ukraine. Ten years Leonid Danilovich, conquering ignorance in the field of ownership Ukrainian language, tried to communicate with the people in the state language. Even in the Eastern regions of Ukraine, where it would seem they would understand, we hear the president’s terrible surzhik...
Kuchma knew that if he started speaking Russian, they would not tolerate this and the days of his presidency would be numbered...
Kuchma knew that speaking Russian from the presidential rostrum was gross disrespect for the residents of Ukraine, and of all regions.
Kuchma knew that they would not understand him either in Western or Eastern Ukraine...
Final action
Photo-4L And so, why did Mikheil Saakashvili decide to simply spit on his people, on ethnic traditions and address the Georgians in difficult times for them in English? The president knows the Georgian language perfectly, as well as, perhaps, several other languages (as I mentioned, Georgians are very good at foreign languages) ... Moreover, it would be understood with great difficulty by Abkhazians, Ossetians, Svans and other national minorities little Georgia... There is only one conclusion - the appeal should have been understood without translation errors by English-speaking countries... Here shining example puppets of Mikheil Saakashvili...
Epilogue…
The concept of friendship among Georgians differs in many ways from a similar word among Slavic peoples. These people are not able to betray a friend - they simply do not have this ethnic option... People are different among Georgians - some have more civilized European views on friendship, others have the traditions of their ancestors...
To have a friend among the Georgians is to have a strong support, to have a Georgian enemy... it is better not to consider such a prospect...
Let's return to the Svans... To put it in simple words, the Svans are mountaineers, a stern people who honor and respect traditions down to the smallest detail. The Svans still cultivate blood feud in their concepts. Even though this people belongs to Orthodoxy, the Svans do not forget pagan traditions. This people has friendship and enmity until the end of their lives. The Svans have a very keenly developed sense of self-esteem... It was the Svans - mountaineers and rock climbers from birth - who formed the backbone of the Soviet units that defeated the German mountain rangers from the Edelweiss and Tyrol divisions during the Second World War, who did not allow the Nazis into Transcaucasia. The Svans are still armed not only with Kalashnikov assault rifles and grenade launchers, but also with captured Schmeisers.
Time will tell how this military-political conflict will be unleashed, but in Georgia, apparently, not everyone was warned by their caring parents that they need to be careful with the Svans... An offense in the Caucasus can be very expensive!
P.S. When the truck was taking me and my mother to the Tbilisi airport, so that for many years leave this magnificent country, the majestic landscapes, the most beautiful mountain landscape blurred in my eyes... blurred with tears because... I understood that very soon, and perhaps never, I would not see this wonderful country... To this day, a dream lives in me - to return to Georgia...
Svaneti is one of the highest mountainous regions of Georgia. It is located on the southern slopes of the central part of the Main Caucasus Range and on both sides of the Svaneti Range, in the northern part of Western Georgia. Zemo (Upper) Svaneti is located in the gorge of the Inguri River (at an altitude of 1000-2000 meters above sea level), and Kvemo (Lower) Svaneti is in the gorge of the Tskhenis-tskali River (at an altitude of 600-1500 meters above sea level). In the southeast, Svaneti borders on Racha-Lechkhumi, in the west on Abkhazia, and on the south is Imereti and part of the territory of Samegrelo. In the north, the border of Svaneti runs along the Main Caucasus Range, on the other side of which are Karachay and Kabarda.
The population of Svaneti is the Svans - Georgian highlanders, an ethnographic group of Georgians who speak Georgian and in everyday life the Svan languages (the Svan language belongs to the Kartvelian languages and has four dialects and a number of dialects). Svans are an extremely colorful people. They have always been famous for their stateliness and courage. The Svans were considered the best warriors in Georgia. The ancient Greek geographer and historian Strabo wrote: “The Svans are a powerful people and, I think, the bravest and bravest in the world. They are at peace with everyone neighboring peoples" Pliny, Ptolemy, Appius, and Eustathius of Thessalonia wrote about the hospitable, enlightened and strong Svans.
The history of the proud, courageous and freedom-loving people of Svans, who have preserved their language, goes back several thousand years. He was never enslaved by enemies, maybe that’s why the people who once inhabited the coastal strip of the Colchis Lowland and present-day Abkhazia, after numerous wars, chose for themselves free life in the mountains.. It is noteworthy that the Svans never had serfdom, and the nobility was of a conditional nature. After all, every Svan is a person who does not accept domination over himself. The Svans never waged wars of conquest, this is evidenced by historical facts, one of which is the construction in ancient times of watch and defensive towers called “Svan towers”. Since ancient times, the Svans have traditionally been fond of creating picturesque products from copper, bronze and gold. Famous Svan blacksmiths, stonemasons and woodcarvers made dishes and various household utensils from silver, copper, clay and wood, as well as Svan caps - the national Svan headdress and unique “kanzi” from tur horns.
Beekeeping was traditional for the Svans - an ancient Georgian occupation, especially widespread in the mountainous regions of Western Georgia. But the most respected and revered professions for Svans are hunting and mountaineering. The Svans were and remain professional hunters and climbers. For the Svans, hunting is actually equivalent to economic activity, and mountaineering is the national sport of Svaneti. The Svan mountaineering school produced many outstanding athletes. The most famous person in Svaneti is the mountaineer and rock climber “Tiger of the Rocks” - Mikhail Khergiani, who tragically died in the Italian Dolomites on the wall of Su Alto in 1969. The conquerors of the peaks of Ushba, Tetnulda and Shkhara were natives of Svaneti: Gabliani, Japaridze, Gugava, Akhvlediani and many others. Svan was a Hero Soviet Union, captain 3rd rank Yaroslav Konstantinovich Ioseliani, who during the war years made more than a dozen military campaigns and torpedoed many enemy ships. Another famous Svan is the famous film director Otar Ioseliani, who directed the films “Falling Leaves”, “Once Upon a Time There Lived a Song Thrush”, “Pastoral”, etc.
Svaneti is tiny and extremely beautiful country, is now a region of Georgia. Here the furious streams of mountain rivers roar. Here the mountain peaks are decorated with snow-white caps, and the path to them passes through cold, never-melting glaciers. In these parts there are narrow, not very populated by proud freedom-loving Svans to this day, river valleys... Svaneti is divided into Upper Svaneti (Zemo-Svaneti), bordering in the north along the Greater Caucasus Range with Kabardino-Balkaria and distant in the south from Lower Svaneti (Kvemo-Svaneti) Svaneti ridge. Mestia is the administrative center of Upper Svaneti; it is an urban-type settlement, which is now home to about 2,700 people. The center of Lower Svaneti is the village of Lentekhi, which is home to about 1,800 people.
I hold the postcards from the set in my hands and admire the views of ancient Svaneti. And it’s not that ancient on these postcards; these photographs were taken just over a hundred years ago. During my, alas, so far only a cursory visit to these places, twice - in 2012, I, to my joy, saw that many old houses had been preserved in these parts, and the Svaneti towers also tower over Mestia as many centuries ago . Some traditions and customs of the Svans have not been lost. It is still not difficult to distinguish a Svan in a crowd from other Georgians, and not only by the characteristic Svan cap.
And these photographs are over a hundred years old. Even then, at the beginning of the 20th century, these mountainous regions attracted travelers; there were legends about the freedom-loving, proud people of these places - the Svans. Their customs, traditions, ability to live in such harsh lands delighted and surprised, the directness of their views and childish ingenuity evoked kind smiles and gave birth to jokes and at the same time, again we couldn’t help but admire. Their severity, hot temper and integrity were intimidating. Stories about some historical characters, passed from mouth to mouth, they became overgrown with various details - where sometimes the fiction became larger than the truth.
But, nevertheless, many stories are told to this day by the old residents of these places.
For example, about Konstantin Dadeshkeliani, who ruled princely Svaneti. He was too harsh. Rules are strict. His subjects did not like him. And they began to grumble. They were especially outraged by how Konstantin Dadeshkeliani, without missing a single wedding, enjoys the right of the first night. Once Governor General Gagarin called him to Kutaisi to deal with him. The only thing that came out of it was...
The viceroy of the Russian Tsar is sitting at a large desk. Prince Dadeshkeliani comes in with his eight horsemen. The governor-general did not bother to understand, did not even greet the prince, but immediately began to reprimand the prince for his unworthy behavior. Konstantin Dadeshkeliani listened to him silently - raising his head high, standing proudly and beautifully. He was generally handsome - tall, strong. There were legends about his strength - they say he could hold a three-year-old bull in one hand while standing on his balcony. And at this time the skin was removed from the bull.
Well, here stands this proud Svan of the princely family and silently listens and listens to the reprimand of the viceroy of the Russian Tsar. Doesn't interrupt. He listens for a long time. And then, also, silently, without comment, he snatches a saber and with one blow cuts Gagarin in half. The governor general's guards rushed at the Svans. They easily fought back, jumped on their horses and rode off into the Caucasus mountains.
In 253 BC, the Georgian king Saurmag evicted his most rebellious subjects to these lands. The king called these lands “The Land of Peace and Tranquility.” Maybe this is where the excessive love of freedom comes from, the persistent reluctance to be “pressured” on them in the blood of the Svans, since those distant times, they are descendants of those same rebellious subjects?
The highlanders defended their independence for a long time. Only in the 15th century. Princes Dadeshkeliani captured several western societies of Upper Svaneti - Chubukhevi, Pari, Lo-Khamuli, Tskhumari and Becho. But in the southern spurs of the Main Caucasian Ridge, where the two-horned beauty Mount Ushba rises, in the upper reaches of the Inguri, Svaneti forever managed to remain free, not knowing the power of the feudal princes. Lower Svaneti had a different fate. It became part of the Megrelian principality when the Dadiani princes subjugated this territory. However, they were unable to cross the Zagar pass. And from that time Upper Svaneti was called Free Svaneti. Its capital has long been Mestia.
But defending your freedom was not easy. For many centuries, the Svans waged constant, exhausting wars with warlike aliens, who often came from the neighboring princely Svaneti. It seemed that nature itself stood guard over the freedom of the Svans. The enemy's path to them lay through inaccessible rocks, through passes or along the narrow gorge of the Inguri River. Try to reach and conquer those who are not waiting for you and do not want to give up their freedom!
There is a saying in Upper Svaneti: " A bad road is one from which the traveler will definitely fall, and his body cannot be found. A good road is one from which a traveler falls, but his corpse can be found and buried. And a beautiful road is one from which the traveler may not fall". So, there were no beautiful roads to Upper Svaneti. Only a bad road awaited the conquerors.
Until 1937. In 1937 a highway was built here. It was then that the Svans saw the wheel for the first time. Sleighs (even in summer, rolling through the mud) and bulls are used to move objects to this day in Svaneti, but there are already carts in every village. And cars and jeeps conquer mountains. And once upon a time, the appearance of cars in Svaneti was a big event. Old-timers say that the old Svan, having seen the first car in his life, went to the barn and brought out a large armful of hay. He was very offended when the car ran over the hay and drove away.
Until recently, clan relations remained completely intact in Svaneti. One genus included about thirty houses, called not houses, but “smoke”. “Smoke” is a house, a hearth, a pantry, a household. There were usually 200-300 relatives in the family. The settlement of the former family was called that - a village.
And Russian rule penetrated these lands slowly. Tsioh Dadeshkeliani in 1833 began to seek protection from the tsarist autocracy in order to protect himself from his brother Tatarkhan. And Tatarkhan makes the same “knight’s move.” That’s when the Dadeshkelian princes retained the territories of Chubukhevi, Lokhamuli, Pari, Etseri, Becho and Tskhumari. The tsarist government also has its own strategic interest in supporting the Dadeshkelian princes, since these lands are located with other unconquered peoples of the Caucasus mountains. Upper Svaneti begins to be governed by a bailiff assigned by the Russian authorities. In Tiflis, the Dadeshkelian princes are received by Count Vorontsov, they are awarded officer ranks and various positions.
But the Svans are an incorruptible people. In 1849, the bailiff, Prince Mikaladze, barely survived, running away from Free Svaneti and fleeing to Mingrelia. No, the Svans cannot be “loyal subjects”, this is not their free business!
The royal governors were tormented for a long time by the question of how to subjugate Upper Svaneti. What if we go not only with fire and a sword, but also with a cross? Almost the entire population of Upper Svaneti was Christian, but, so to speak, with pagan admixtures. You can direct your efforts to raising Christianity... And then the “liberation” of the peasants in 1861 was put into action. Just shortly before this reform, Konstantin Dadeshkeliani left the Kutaisi governor of Prince Gagarin. Eventually, Prince Constantine was caught and executed. His brothers and children were expelled from Svaneti. In the same year, another prince, Otar Dadeshkeliani, also lost his princely honors. The reason was his adoption of Islam. The tsarist officials dealt with this prince and deprived him of his lands. Thus, Chubukhevi, Becho and Pari came into the use of the Russian treasury. And the ideas of “liberation” of the peasants first found support among local population, but not for long. The Svans quickly realized what was what, and they did not want to enslave themselves even more. And although the land reform applied only to the princely lands of Upper Svaneti, the whole country rebelled against the tsarist autocracy.
1905-1924 - years of great upheaval on Svan land. The country leaves the power of the Russian Tsar. In 1918 peasants set fire to the castles of the Dadeshkelian princes. In 1921 In Svaneti there was an uprising against the communist regime under the leadership of Boris Pirveli. At first, the Georgian military units sent to suppress the uprising went over to the side of the rebels, but then, under the onslaught of armed aircraft and artillery, the uprising was brutally crushed. What is noteworthy is that for a couple of years after that, the communists did not dare to venture into Upper Svaneti without armed guards. Nevertheless, in 1924 Revolutionary-minded Svans shoot the last Dadeshkeliani princes, destroy their castle in Mazeri, and Soviet power is established throughout Upper Svaneti.
Stories about Svaneti can be told endlessly... Now I’ll start a story about postcards that I will not keep at home, but will send to good people who are interested in the history of Georgia. For now, the postcards are in my hands - and I write about what I see on them.
On almost every postcard you can see the ancestral Svan towers. They are 10-20 meters high. It is believed that they were built in the 12th-13th centuries, during the “golden age” of Svaneti (as well as all of Georgia), during the reign of Queen Tamara. They served as a refuge not only from external enemies, but also in times of blood feud they were a reliable shelter. And blood feud, it should be noted, exhausted Svaneti even more than battles with external enemies - after all, sometimes even one unkind word was enough to flare up hostility between the “smokes” for several decades. They say that sometimes families holed up in them for years, eating meat carcasses smoked for future use, having large supplies of water and, of course, ammunition. The towers had direct access to the house, and Svan’s house itself was like a fortress.
View of the Mestia community.
It was typical for men of that time in Svaneti to wear a Circassian coat made of thick homemade cloth or a tur skin thrown over it. But the Svans wore pointed hats of white or black with the brim down, and in the summer they wore round papanakis that barely covered the top of the head or bashlyk - when they went to the mountains. Representatives of the upper class of both Dadeshkelian and Dadian Svaneti often had voluminous hairstyles. In general, Svans are often characterized by hair cut into a circle, shaved or not very large beards, and mustaches.
Houses are built on such slopes, and the land is divided into pastures.
The Svans are characterized by large balconies in their houses, surprisingly with wide long boards in the floor - such houses are still typical today. Only in almost every house there is now a satellite dish perched on the balcony or roof.
I myself personally stayed in a similar house, in Mestia, with a very good family.
Cultivated fields. Bulls still plow the land in some villages of Svaneti. For a long time, the Svans managed to use any slope area available for sowing for sowing corn, potatoes, and other vegetables. And all these “shreds” of cultivated land are located at an altitude of 1700-2400 meters above sea level!
Towers, towers... Yet their main purpose was salvation from blood feud. Men could hide in them not only themselves, but also with their entire family. And as for the invaders... Well, not a single enemy managed to set foot on the freedom-loving land of Free Svaneti! More than once, towers were saved from avalanches coming down from the mountains - because they were erected “wisely” so that they would acute angle cut through the layers of ice and snow rushing into the valley.
In this photo we see bulls pulling a sleigh. In the summer!.. And indeed this method of transporting various utensils can still be found in the Svaneti outback. Practical. The sled glides well on mud and clay. And a cart on wheels will only get stuck and wrap dirt around the rims.
Ushguli is the highest (2200 m above sea level) permanent settlement in Europe after the Dagestan village of Kurush (2560 meters above sea level). In the photo - general view to Ushguli.
View from the slopes of Mount Tetnuldi.
These ancient churches - St. George in the village of Nakipari (Ipari community) and St. Kvirike and Ilvite (Tsirmi community) are famous for their frescoes painted royal painter Tevdore at the turn of the XI - XII centuries. The drawings of this talented representative of the Georgian school of icon painters are distinguished by the brightness of their images, vitality, and dynamism. They make your soul light and joyful.
More than once in my blog I will write about the Svans, in more detail about their customs, traditions, about what I myself saw as a guest in their families. I hope that when I return to Georgia, I will definitely visit this region more than once.
The Svans are the people of the Svan group belonging to the Kartvelian language family. The self-name of the people is Lushnu, Mushvan. Previously, the Svans were identified as a separate nation, but after the 1926 census they began to be included in the Georgians. All Svan surnames end in “-ani”.
Where do they live?
The Svans live in the north-west of Georgia in the regions of Samegrelo, Zemo-Svaneti, Racha-Lechkhumi, Lower Svaneti, Mestia and Lentekhi municipalities. All of them are united into a historical region called Svaneti. A small number of representatives of the people live on the territory of Abkhazia in the Kodori Gorge, part of the Gulripsha region.
Svaneti is the highest historical region in Georgia. It is located on both sides of the Svaneti ridge in northern Georgia, as well as on the southern slopes of the central part of the Main Caucasus ridge. Svaneti is divided into two parts:
- Zemo-Svaneti (Upper Svaneti), located in the gorge of the Inguri River, at an altitude of 1000-2500 meters above sea level;
- Kvemo Svaneti (Lower Svaneti), located in the gorge of the Tskhenistskali River, at an altitude of 600-1500 meters above sea level.
There are no cities in Svaneti; the administrative capital of the region is the urban-type settlement of Mestia, where there is even an airport.
Number
By different estimates, the number of Svans living in Svaneti ranges from 14,000 to 30,000 people. Some estimates put the number at much higher, from 62,000 to 80,000. According to the 2010 population census, 45 Svans live in Russia.
Language
The Svans speak the Svan language (Lushnu Nin), which belongs to a separate Svan group of Kartvelian languages. In Svan there are a number of dialects, four dialects, divided into 2 groups:
- upper - Nizhnebalsky and Verkhnebalsky;
- lower - Lentekh, Lash.
This language is unwritten; Svan speakers use the Georgian script and the Latin alphabet to write. In 1864, the Svan alphabet in the Georgian language was published, but this alphabet did not take root.
Svan has many borrowings from Mingrelian and Georgian languages. All Svan speakers are bilingual and have a good command of Georgian.
Food
Often on the Svan table you can see khachapuri with cheese or meat, blood sausage ziskhora, salty suluguni cheese, and meat. They eat lamb, pork, and beef. A whole baked suckling pig is prepared for the festive table. The cold appetizer satsivi is made from chicken meat combined with spicy seasonings. They prepare mashed potatoes with cheese (shusha), shurpa - meat broth with hot pepper, sometimes potatoes are added to it. Almost every day the Svans eat matsoni - sour milk similar to curdled milk. The people's diet includes nuts and honey.
Svanetian salt is extremely popular - table salt mixed with aromatic herbs and tsitsaka pepper. The salt is ground in a mortar for about 3 hours, then spices and herbs that can only be found in Svaneti are added to it. Salt is always present on the Svan table; it is added to various dishes, making them more aromatic and tasty.
Traditionally, fruit or honey vodka is drunk as an alcoholic beverage. Grapes do not take root in this area, so they do not have their own wine; the Svans buy it in other regions of Georgia. But their most important drink is mineral water, they extract it from numerous sources on the land of Svaneti.
Religion
Paganism has long been present among the Svans. 160 days a year were dedicated to the worship of the sun god. In the 9th century, Orthodoxy came to Svaneti, which contributed to the conflict, as a result, the inhabitants continued to believe in the sun god. After the second attempt, the church managed to enter Svaneti and even influence the population. But priests rarely appeared here until the 19th century. Today the Svans are Orthodox Christians. An incredible number of churches have been built in the region; they contain unique icons. In the village alone, up to 60 small churches were built.
Appearance
The Svans have always been distinguished by their character, famous for their courage and stateliness. These are proud people, reserved and patient. They never offend anyone without reason, and do not use swear words. They don't even exist in the Svan language. Their strongest curse is the word “fool.” The Svans have long been considered the best warriors of the Caucasus.
They are tall, well-built and beautiful, similar in appearance to Georgians. Today Svans wear ordinary clothes and shoes. Previously, men's clothing consisted of two or three narrow beshmets, put on one another, leaving the forearms, chest, and knees open. They didn't wear shirts. Instead of pants, they put on an apron, and wrapped strips of cloth around their legs from ankles to hips. They did not have shoes; their feet were wrapped in a piece of untreated leather, and the front was folded into a pointed toe. The traditional headdress of the Svans is a round felt cap, which men still wear today.
Girls did not cover their heads; after marriage, they wore a red scarf that covered their entire face, only their ears remained open. The clothes they wore were narrow long dresses made of red linen. A tie was sewn on the front. In winter they wore a cloak made of coarse cloth, in summer they wore capes made of red canvas.
Life
Svan families consist of 30 or more members. People have tribal relations. One genus includes up to 30 houses and there are up to 200-300 relatives. Parents' housing always went to their sons; if there are no boys in the family, then the house is doomed to ruin. Daughters always go to their husband's home. The Svans are famous for their belligerence, but they never attacked with the aim of seizing territory, but only defended their lands from the enemy.
Since ancient times, people have been creating paintings from bronze, gold, and copper. Svan famous blacksmiths, woodcarvers and stonemasons created household equipment, dishes from copper, silver, clay and wood. The Svans make their own gunpowder, mine and smelt lead, produce coarse cloth, and then sell it in Imereti. Traditionally, the inhabitants of Svaneti are engaged in beekeeping. Their most revered activities are hunting and mountaineering. Svans have always been and today remain professional climbers and hunters. Mountaineering is a sport for the people, and hunting is important economic activity.
The inhabitants of Svaneti used to actively use slave labor. They captured residents of neighboring states and republics who worked in their fields, raised livestock, chopped firewood, and did other household work.
In Svaneti there was a unique democratic form of government. The head of the community (temi) was called Makhvishi, he was elected to general meeting, in which only sane people of both sexes who were already 20 years old had the right to participate. The chosen one differed from the rest in such qualities as wisdom, spiritual purity, sedateness, and justice. He should have been Orthodox Christian. IN peaceful times Makhvishi was a judge, and during the war he led the army and was appointed commander-in-chief.
Housing
The Svans built two-story houses (machui), the walls were erected from stone without fixing mortar, or they made houses from wickerwork and coated them with clay. Winters in the mountains are harsh, so all the animals lived together with people under the same roof. The first floor was reserved for women and livestock, men lived on the second floor, and there was a hayloft there. There was a separate room in the house for women in labor; everyone slept on benches. During the course of the dwelling there was a corridor from where two or three entrances led into the dwelling. This is where the Svan proverb “Women to the left, cows to the right” comes from. The house was heated by a fireplace, and food was cooked on it. The courtyards with housing were surrounded by a stone wall 3 meters high.
Traditions
Blood feud among the Svans is a normal phenomenon, as for modern people court. Today the Svans have become more civilized and gradually began to come into contact with Europeans, but from time to time blood feuds still happen. Previously, conflicts occurred even over the slightest reason, for example, if one man looked at another’s wife the wrong way or kicked his dog. The reasons could be resentment, envy, insults, as a result of which one family went against another and blood was shed. In such cases, families hid in their towers built near the house, and if the whole family was killed, their tower and house were considered cursed.
Today there are many such ancient stone towers on the territory of Svaneti. These buildings are included in the list of objects World Heritage UNESCO. All the towers are ancient, and no one is building new ones anymore. They were erected mainly for protection from attacks and avalanches coming down from the mountains; food was stored in the towers and used as a watchtower. They climbed into the towers using rope ladders that folded up, making it almost impossible to get into the buildings. Later, the Svans believed that which family had more towers was considered stronger and more successful.
Gender also influenced success born child, because a man in a family is a protector and breadwinner. If a boy was born, the whole family was considered happy. The birth of a girl did not bring such joy. After the wedding, according to custom, the bride's parents provide the land and dowry. This is another reason why the birth of a boy was a joy for the family.
The Lamproba holiday is celebrated 10 weeks before Easter, in February. On this day, they glorify the valor of boys, young men and men over their enemies, commemorate their ancestors, light bonfires, and organize torchlight processions with a festive meal. In each house, as many torches are lit as there are men in the family. If there is a pregnant woman in the family, a torch is lit in honor of the child she is carrying. Torches are made from solid tree trunks, the top is split into several parts. During the procession with torches, men walk towards the church and sing songs in the Svan language. In the courtyard of the church, a large fire is made from torches and tables are set. All night until dawn, people read a prayer to St. George and raise toasts.
Another holiday is called “Week of Souls.” Everyone sets the tables, then waits for the souls of deceased relatives to arrive. The following rituals are performed on this holiday:
- knives are not placed on tables;
- children are covered with soot;
- put fresh pastries on the table;
- candles are lit.
All Svans respect their elders immensely; if a person older than those present enters the room, everyone stands up. It was common practice among these people to steal people from other people's villages, for whom they then took a ransom in the form of weapons. For example, a gold-plated gun was demanded for a beautiful young girl stolen from someone else’s village.
The people are very hospitable, they always welcome the guest well, feed them and provide them with the necessary things. It is considered shameful for a man to sit next to his wife; they do not like talking about women and do not even really know what a woman’s lifestyle is like in the family. Svan weddings are held in the bride’s house, she is ransomed from relatives, and then they begin to feast. Women and men always sit at separate tables.
Territory: Russia (Muscovy), 1681
Published: Amsterdam 1681
MOSCOVIAE seu RUSSIAE MAGNAE Generalis Tabula qua LAPPONIA, NORVEGIA SUECIA, DANIA, POLONIA, ...
RVSSIAE vulgo MOSCOVIA, Pars Australis
Territory: Russia (Muscovy, Southern part), 1638
http://mapa.od.ua/catalog.php
On the 3rd day of the same month of October, Grigory Semenov, son of Pleshcheev, and Cherkassy of Pyatigorsk came to the Tsar and Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich of All Russia, and the Tsar and Grand Duke to Cherkasy to Temgruk-Prince Aidarovich by embassy and protect him from his enemies from the Cherkassy, who retreated from him and who made him cramped. And Grigory said. - He came to Astrokhan in the 71st year of November on the 3rd day, and Temgruk-Prince was at that time from his enemies came to Astrokhan and with his son Domanuk. And Prince Temgruk and his son Domanuk Mirza came to Cherkasy on the 6th day of December, and Grigory came to Cherkasy with them, and with him the head of the Streltsy Grigory Vrazhskoy, and with him 500 Streltsy people and five Cossack atamans from the Cossacks, and the Cossacks there are 500 people with them. And Temgruk with the sovereign’s people, his enemy, brought unfriendliness and brought them to his will, and the Shepshukov uluses fought and the Tatsky lands near the Skin towns fought, and they took three towns: the city of Mohan, the city of Yengir, the city of Kavan, and they killed Mirza Telishka and beat many people . And those towns were Shepshukov’s princes, and the people of those towns finished off Temgruk the Prince, and Temgruk the Prince laid tribute on them. And they fought their land for eleven days, and took the taverns of Mshansky and Sonsky, one hundred and sixty-four, and beat many people and captured them, and took four Murzas: Burnat, Ezdnour, Burnak, Dudyl (Kabarda did not develop either in the 16th century or later into a single state, but consisted of a number of small feudal estates that were at war with each other. The leadership of the larger, senior prince was largely nominal. As can be seen from the well-known chronicle, Temryuk Idarov sought, using Russian help, to strengthen his power and resist the Crimean-Turkish. aggression. Shepshukov uluses - the possession of the Kabardian prince Psheapshoko Kaitukov, who adhered to the Crimean orientation and was in alliance with the prince of the Lesser Nogai Horde Kazy Urakov, a vassal of the Crimea. The possession of Psheapshoki was located in the future Greater Kabarda and was later known by the name of his son Kazy Psheapshokov under the name Kazyeva. Kabards.)And Temgruk released Gregory to the Tsar and Grand Duke.
http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Kavkaz/XVI/Russ_Kab_otn_1/1-20/4.htm
E.N. Kusheva writes: “Documents of the late 16th and 17th centuries. provide material for identifying Sonsky taverns. The “Sons” of Russian sources are the Svans, for whom the Russians adopted the Georgian form of their name; but the term Sonskaya land was used then in a broader sense... Hence the name of the pass routes from Kabarda to Georgia “Sonsky cracks”. As you can see, Sons (Sone), Suans are the Georgian form of the ethnonym Svan, common among the Circassians.
S. N. Beytuganov. Kabardian surnames: origins and destinies. - Nalchik: Elbrus, 1989. - 184 p.
http://circas.ru/index.php?newsid=1615
Ethnonyms and tribal names North Caucasus.Natalia Georgievna Volkova.Science, 1973
Dawit" continued to expand the boundaries of Georgia, taking Uxt"i and its limits, and Gag, Te"runakan, Tayush, Kayean, Kaytson, Lo"r"e", Tashir, Mahganaberd, the entire principality of the Armenians Kiwrike" and Abas. He also subdued Mount Caucasus and the kingdom of the Sonk"
, Mrachul, Chk"et, Duale"t", Here"t" as far as the Caspian Sea and to Haghband and to Shapuran city.
http://rbedrosian.com/va2.htm
...In the year 610 A.E. Ge"orgi, king of Georgia, took Ani from Emir Fadlun. He replaced his brother Shatat. But fifty days later the Shah-Armen came upon the city with many troops, a city which had been beaten and polluted by the Sonk".
http://rbedrosian.com/va2.htm
Vardan Arewelts "i"s Compilation of History
Khulam - on the western bank of Cherek-Khakho, where Svan families live, who still dress completely in Imeretian style and are called “Soni”
http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Kavkaz/XIX/1820-1840/Blaramberg/text28.htm
Svani, in plural. Svaneti, or Sonya, or Sonneta, [that is] what the Georgians call the people who call themselves Shnau.
JOHANN ANTON GILDENSTEDT. TRAVEL IN THE CAUCASUS. Travel and observations in Georgia in 1771.
a recording of the testimony of one Kumyk and two Kabardian princes, made in 1743 at the Collegium of Foreign Affairs in St. Petersburg. The record says that between the Kharachay people, who live “in the Kuban peaks” and have “ Tatar language", on the one hand, and the "Chegem volost", where a "special" language is used (Svan?), but "they also use the Tatar language", on the other hand, the "people of Sona" are located...
“The fourth people of the Sona, live on the tops of the Baksan River, near the tops of the Kuma and Kuban Rivers.
http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Kavkaz/XVIII/1740-1760/Pok_knjazej_1743/text.phtml
He calls himself Tson; neighbors call it differently - Svans, Sonts, Tsints, and they call the rockiest valleys Svaneti.
http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Kavkaz/XVIII/1760-1780/Reineggs/text2.htm
V. Ya. Teptsov: “All the lands along the sources of the Kuban and Terek... the Svaneti consider them theirs... Even... 20-30 years ago, the Svaneti took rent from the mountaineers of the North Caucasus for the lands along the source of the Terek; this payment ceased with the conquest of the Western Caucasus by the Russians... The Svaneti in the Northern Caucasus indicate towers of the same design as the Svaneti and say that these towers were built by their ancestors, who owned these lands and Christian graves on them... At one of the sources of the Kuban, Kichkenekol , the Svaneti point to the ruins of an extremely ancient bridge as evidence of their former possessions. Here, according to legend, there was a city and a fortress that guarded the passage through the gorge of this river to Svaneti. The Svanetians don’t remember how their state disintegrated and when.”
V. Ya. Teptsov. Svaneti (Geographical sketch). "Sat. materials for describing the areas and tribes of the Caucasus", vol. X, Tiflis, 1890, p. 56, cf. more page 63.
It is significant that Svan legends are consistent with the traditions of the population that historically replaced the Svans of the North Caucasus. So, the population of the gorge through which the river flows. Eastern Cherek, said that initially the Svans lived there and the inhabitants of the village allegedly descended from them. Souths. M. Ivanov, referring to the opinion of the old Urusbievites, wrote that the upper reaches of the river. In ancient times, Baksana belonged to the Svans.
M. A. Ivanov. In the river gorge Baksana. “News of the Caucasian Branch of the Russian Geographical Society”, XV, No. 1, Tiflis, 1902, p. 11.
According to the legend of the Chegem people, during the time of one of the semi-legendary ancestors of the Chegem feudal lords, Anfako, the Baksan Gorge belonged to the Svans and Anfako unsuccessfully tried to recapture it.
V. Miller and M. Kovalevsky. In the mountain societies of Kabarda. "Bulletin of Europe", 1884, book. 4, pp. 562-568.
About 10 years ago, local researcher Kh. O. Laipanov told the author of these lines that in the upper reaches of the river. Kuban they recorded a legend that in place of the village. Elbrus in the Baksan Gorge in the old days there was a Svan village.
Stay of the Svans in the upper reaches of the river. Kuban and on the river. Baksane also left its mark on toponymy. Not being a specialist in the field of Kartvelian languages, I will limit myself to indicating only the following facts. The names of some settlements in the region of interest to us seem to duplicate the names of Svan villages: Uchkulan - Ushgul, Khumara (ancient Skhumar) - Tskhumar, Lashkuta - Lashketi. Of these: Ushgul, Tskhumar and Lashketi are located in Svaneti; Uchkulan and Khumara - in the upper reaches of the river. Kuban, and Lashkuta - on the river. Baksan. Of the above comparisons, only the names Uchkulan - Ushgul can be explained from the Turkic languages, but they can also be explained from the Kartvelian languages.
We know one of such explanations regarding Ushgul from K.F. Gan. Experience in explaining Caucasian geographical names. "Sat. materials for describing the localities and tribes of the Caucasus", XL, Tiflis, 1909, p. 143.
The explanation for the remaining two pairs of names should be sought only in the Kartvelian languages and, first of all, in the Svan language. According to the explanation of the vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR A.G. Shanidze, Lashkuta comes from Svan words meaning “place where they hang.” Let us note that the semi-legendary ancestor of the Chegem feudal lords Ipar son Anfako, who lived in Lashkut, bore a name that coincided with the name of one of the villages in Svaneti (the village of Ipar southeast of Mestia). A famous mountain with the ruins of a medieval church near Khumara, in the upper reaches of the Kuban, appears on maps and in literature under the name Shoana, Shuana, Shona. The area adjacent to the mountain in the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. was part of the Abaza territory. Therefore, one cannot ignore the opportunity to compare the name of the mountain with the Abkhaz-Abaza term š˳ānwā, meaning “Svans”.
According to the addition to the Nikon Chronicle, in 1562, 500 archers headed by Grigory Semenov and 500 Cossacks with five atamans, by royal order, went together with the Kabardian prince Temryuk (father-in-law of Ivan the Terrible) against the latter’s enemies. The main of these enemies in the addition to the Nikon Chronicle is named as the Kabardian prince Shepshuk. Among the “Shepshukov uluses,” i.e., the lands subject to Shepshuk, the city of Kovan, taken from him, is mentioned, perhaps from the Nogai Koban, which means r. Kuban. The main value for us of the evidence of the addition to the Nikon Chronicle lies in the indication that the Kabardians of Temryuk, together with the royal people, conquered many “Sonsky taverns”, that is, Svan settlements, from Shepshuk.
Is it acceptable to assume that the Kabardian prince Shepshuk could have owned part of Transcaucasian Svaneti and that it was precisely this that Temryuk later took from him? Of course not. Additions to the Nikon Chronicle prove that in the 16th century. There was a significant Svan population in the North Caucasus. On the other hand, the mention of the city of Kovan in this document makes it possible to assume that the Svans, who were part of the “Shepshukov uluses”, mid-16th century V. lived in the upper reaches of the Kuban. In any case, this position is consistent with our other materials.
Complete collection Russian Chronicles, XIII, 2nd half. St. Petersburg, 1906, p. 371.
SETTLEMENT OF THE SWANS IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS BEFORE THE 19TH CENTURY - Report at the session on the ethnography of the Caucasus, November 15-21, 1949 in Tbilisi. Lavrov L. I