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31 December/New Year’s Eve in Georgia
New Year in Georgia is one of the most important celebrations and everyone, regardless of their age, waits impatiently for New Year’s. The population meets the New Year with new hopes, wishes, and goals by sitting down at the table together or attending some events. Every family buys products and presents on the 28th,29th and 30th December.
The Georgian ‘’Sufra’’ is full of Georgian traditional delicious food such as ‘’Khachapuri’’, ‘’Gozinaki’’, ‘’Satsivi’’ and other dishes. Gozinaki, made with honey and nuts, is one of the favorite sweet for Georgians. As soon as the table is laid and the events ready to start , the desire to step into New Year grows and when the clock strikes twelve everyone celebrates the New Year. The majority of people celebrate New Year’s and they don’t sleep at all during the whole night. They start to celebrate the biggest international festival at midnight on January 1st and continue the celebration for several days.
January 2th-Bedoba
The second day of the New Year is ‘’Bedoba’’ day for Georgians. According to the tradition, it is important how you spend your day because your actions will carry through to the whole year. That’s why Georgians try to be happy on this day. The main character of this day is ‘’Mekvle’’ – the first guest who visits the family on January 2nd.
Christmas
Christmas in Georgia is celebrated on the 7th of January. When the clock strikes twelve most families are at the church and return home much later in the evening. Georgian families leave a candle at an open window on Christmas Eve and also bake ‘’Guruli’’ which is like ‘Khachapuri’ but with an egg in it. After church they eat ‘Guruli’ and drink red wine.
On Christmas day many people go on a ‘‘Alilo’’, a parade in the streets. They are dressed in special clothes and costumes to celebrate Christmas. Some people carry Georgian flags and others might be dressed as people from the Christmas story. Children like taking part in the ‘’Alilo’’ as they’re often given sweets. They sing a song Alilo-which includes these words ‘ოცდახუთსა დეკემბერსა ქრისტე იშვა ბეთლემსაო’ which means ‘’on 25th December Christ was born in Bethlehem’’.
The traditional Georgian Christmas Tree is called a ‘’Chichilaki’’. It is made of dried wood, such as hazelnut or walnut branches , which are shaved into long curly strips to form a small tree. Some people say they look like the long white curly beard of St. Basil the great. They are decorated with small fruits and sweets. They are traditionally burnt on the day before the Georgian Orthodox epiphany.
The End!
As you may find out , Georgia stands outs from other countries for its different ways of Celebrating New Year’s and Christmas. I believe all your wishes for the New Year will come true. Happy New Year, Merry Christmas and happy Old New Year.
Author: Sophio Tolordava
