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New Year is my favorite holiday. It is celebrated in every country. At midnight on every New Year it is heralded by fireworks , parties and special events in the USA. In Georgia New Year is celebrated in a similar manner. We have a Christmas tree and we decorate it with ornaments. Children wait for presents from Santa Clause or Father Frost. Families make dinner to say farewell to the old year and meet the New Year together. We wait till midnight and set off fireworks. In Georgia we don’t have New Year’s dinner without Sacivi and Gozinaki.
With a Christmas tree in many homes mainly in Samegrelo and Guria, they also set a Chichilaki. It is made of the branches of a nut tree. They decorate it with fruit and next to it they place a bowl with eggs, sweets and corn flour. All of these have symbolic meaning. An egg means the new life. Sweets mean a happy and sweet life. Corn flour symbolizes good fortune and prosperous harvest.
There is another tradition of Mekvle. On the second day of January, early in the morning a man who must be a good friend of the family in Georgian called Mekvle comes home with Chichilaki and a bowl full of sweets, fruits and some money. He enters the room with wishes for New Year and gives the family members sweets symbolizing a sweet life.
In Georgia we celebrate New Year on January first as most other countries. In some countries, it is celebrated on a different day. In Iran they celebrate New Year on March 21st. In Israel New Year is called Rosh Hashanah and usually occurs during September or early October. In Nepal New Year is on April 14th or April 13th.
We also celebrate old New Year. It is celebrated on January 14th and on January 1st in the Julian calendar. It is not an official holiday.
Author: Ketevan Raphava
