These photographs here courtesy of the Mikeladze sisters, who generously brought out several African carrier bags of old photographs and let me pick out these (and other) pictures to copy them at my leisure during my latest stay in Zemo Alvani (27-30 August). All of the photographs are numbered on the back, and many of them are labelled, as they were destined to be exhibited in a small museum in Zemo Alvani dedicated to Batsbi history and culture, which – alas! – never saw the light of day for lack of funding. The Author was also shown several old examples of traditional Batsbi carpets and some undatable funerary urns, all duly photographed, the photographs being destined to appear on this website very soon.
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This photograph was taken as a record of the Batsbi/Tsova-Tush men who fought on the Russian side against the Ottoman Turks during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8. Note that many of the Batsbi fighters are still wearing chain-mail! (See also this photograph of two warriors.)Historically, Batsbi men who left Tsovata to fight – against the Persians down in Kakheti, for example – each left a white stone on a mountain pass close to the source of the Alazani River. (The Batsbis in Tsovata could muster around 500 fighting men, approximately a third of the total population.) When they returned from the war, each man removed a stone; thanks to this system, rapid tallies could be made of how many men left, and of how many returned.
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Batsbis at a “khati”, a shrine, near the village of Dano in Pirikiti Tusheti (the home of Lela Tataraidze, a famous Georgian singer, described to the Author as “Tusheti’s Jennifer Lopez”.) Note the presence of the sacrificial sheep, and that the “khantsi”, the drinking horns, are linked by a length of chain or string, as are the two beakers in the background.-
Two Batsbi (or Khevsur?) warriors, wearing chain-mail, and armed with muskets, sabres, daggers, and small shields. The man on the right seems to have chain-mail on his trouser legs as well, or perhaps merely chain-mail kneepads.-
3 comments:
Very cool photos Alex, good work, thank you ! I write a short post on kaukasus.blogspot.com
I am in Chargali till Sunday but next week in Tbilisi. How was Svaneti ?
Best regards, Hans
I'll post your photo with a link to you on my blog, ok ?
What a lengthy collection of old photographs! I see so many armed men in them, it seems that Georgia's ("stereotypical???") reputation as a warlike nation might be deserved? Granted, when you're constantly being invaded on multiple sides, it makes sense that you would seek the means to defend yourself, no?
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