(Not to be confused with "Dadaloba" - see previous post.)
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This Sunday 27 May a ceremony will be held in the villages of Kvemo- and Zemo-Alvani to commemorate the day in 1659 when the Tush people - the Bats/Tsova, Chaghma, Pirikiti, and the Gometsari - were granted land in the Alazani Valley in Kakheti, in recognition of the valuable assistance they provided against invading Persian forces during the battle of Bakhtrioni.
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The following is an account of the battle (copied from the website of the Orthodox Church in America):
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"In the 17th century the Persian aggressors razed churches, monasteries, and fortresses and drove out thousands of Georgian families to resettle them in remote provinces of Persia. The deserted territories were settled by Turkic tribes from Central Asia. In the chronicle The Life of Kartli it is written: “The name of Christ was not allowed to be uttered, except in a handful of mountainous regions: Tusheti, Pshavi, and Khevsureti.”
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But the All-merciful Lord aroused a strong desire in the valiant prince Bidzina Choloqashvili of Kakheti and, together with Shalva and his uncle Elizbar, princes of Aragvi and Ksani provinces, he led a struggle to liberate Kakheti from the Tatars. (The Persian governor of Kakheti, Salim Khan (ruled 1656–1664), had been encouraging the Tatar tribesmen to profane the Christian churches.)
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Fearing that the enemy, who had already conquered Kakheti, would soon move in and also dominate Kartli, the princes Bidzina, Shalva, and Elizbar united the forces of those two regions in preparation for the attack. After much deliberation, Bidzina announced his intention to his father-in-law, Prince Zaal of Aragvi. Zaal’s soul was spiritually pained by the countless misfortunes and injustices his country had suffered, and he quickly pledged his support for the effort. He agreed to participate in the insurrection anonymously, while the Ksani rulers Shalva and Elizbar would command the armies.
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On the moonless night of September 15, 1659, the feast of the Alaverdi Church (The feast of St. Joseph of Alaverdi) the united army of all eastern Georgia assembled and crossed over the mountains, past the village of Akhmeta, and launched a surprise attack on the Persians from Bakhtrioni Fortress and Alaverdi Church. The invader’s armies were so utterly crushed that their leader, Salim Khan, the Persian governor of Kakheti, barely succeeded in escaping from the avengers, after he had abandoned his family and army.
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The victorious Georgian army offered prayers of thanksgiving to the Lord God and Great-martyr George, the protector of the Georgian people, who had appeared visibly to all during the battle, riding his white horse like a flash of lightning and leading the Georgians to victory."
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Following this decisive (but short-lived) victory against the Persians, it was decided to reward the Tush forces which participated in the battle. When asked whether they wished for gold, weapons, or land, the leader of the Tush answered that his people had no land [in the Alazani Valley, where their flocks of sheep could spend the cold winter]. He was therefore told that, as far as he could ride his horse, the land thus encompassed would be granted to him. Setting out from Bakhtrioni, he rode as far as Takhtis Bogiri (near the village of Laliskuri), where his horse - no doubt exhausted from the battle - collapsed and died. The area of the Alazani Valley which he thus secured includes the villages of Zemo- and Kvemo-Alvani, where the Tush live to this day.
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This Sunday, 20 horsemen will set out from Kvemo- to Zemo-Alvani. They will be greeted by a carpet, upon which will be placed water, salt, bread, barley, and (obviously, for this is Georgia!) wine and vodka. Without dismounting, they will first drink the water and the alcohol, then sing the first of three ceremonial songs, called "dalai" (from "dal", "God"). They will then eat the bread and the salt, and sing a "dalai" for a second time. Then their horses will be fed the barley, and the riders will intone the third and last "dalai". A piece of white cloth will be tied to the horses' bridles, and the riders will set off to Takhtis Bogiri, where they will make ready for a "dori" (a horse-race) which will take them back to Kvemo-Alvani. (Horses which will participate in this race cannot do so without the piece of white cloth.)
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More soon.
