Re-release. Georgia celebrates Christmas in a unique way, with the main festivities occurring on January 7th, following the Orthodox tradition. While the rest of the world celebrates on December 25th, Georgians primarily observe New Year's Eve as the significant occasion for gift-giving and feasting. This episode dives into the fascinating Christmas traditions of Georgia, such as the special role of the first visitor on New Year’s Day, known as the Mecle Oba, who brings good luck for the year ahead. Listeners will also learn about the colorful parades, the unique Georgian Christmas tree called the chichilaki, and the traditions surrounding the New Year’s Supra—a grand feast that showcases the country's rich culinary culture. With a blend of humor and informative anecdotes, Meg and Tom provide insights into how these customs reflect Georgian heritage and community spirit during the festive season.

In this episode, Meg and Tom discuss what is it like to spend Christmas in Tbilisi.

Learn Orthodox Christmas Traditions, Tbilisi New Year, and more...

Georgian Christmas traditions unfold in a rich tapestry of culture, faith, and community that captivates both locals and visitors alike. Within this episode, Meg and Tom invite their audience to explore the intricacies of celebrating Christmas in Georgia, a country where the holiday is observed on January 7 due to the adherence to the Julian calendar. This divergence from the Western norm leads to a unique festive atmosphere that is centered around New Year's Eve, where families and friends gather for a grand Supra—a celebratory feast that showcases the nation’s delicious cuisine and warm hospitality. The hosts detail how this occasion transforms Tbilisi into a lively hub of fireworks and festivities, with spontaneous displays illuminating the night sky as revelers share in the joy of the season.

The discussion also delves into the significance of Christmas Eve, a night marked by candlelight as households prepare to welcome the holy family. This act of lighting candles not only symbolizes hope but also serves as a reminder of the profound religious traditions in Georgia. The Alilo parade on January 7 further enriches the festive spirit, as children dressed in traditional attire wander the streets singing carols, collecting sweets, and spreading joy. This practice of community engagement highlights the importance of charity and togetherness, reflecting core values that resonate deeply within Georgian society.

Throughout the episode, Meg and Tom’s lively banter and humorous insights create an engaging narrative that balances the seriousness of religious observance with the lightheartedness of holiday celebrations. They discuss the chichilaki, a traditional Christmas tree unique to Georgia, and share anecdotes that illustrate the quirks and charms of celebrating Christmas in a country that blends ancient traditions with modern celebrations. As the episode concludes, listeners are left with a sense of the warmth and joy that define Georgian Christmas, encouraging them to partake in these rich traditions should they find themselves in Georgia during this magical time of year.

Takeaways:

• In Georgia, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th, aligning with the Orthodox calendar.
• New Year's Eve is the main celebration where Georgians exchange gifts and enjoy a Supra.
• The tradition of Mecle Oba emphasizes the importance of who first enters your home on New Year's Day.
• Chichilaki, a unique Georgian Christmas tree, symbolizes hope and is made from hazelnut branches.
• During the festive season, fireworks are commonplace, creating a chaotic yet festive atmosphere.
• The Alilo parade on January 7th features carols, costumes, and community celebrations in the streets.

Links referenced in this episode:

• foodfuntravel.com
• expathub.ge
• eatthistours.com

Foreign Jobba.

This is the Tivolisi podcast covering life, travel and more in the country of Georgia.

Brought to you by foodfuntravel.com, expathub.ge and eat this tours.com in this episode we are talking about the Christmas traditions of Georgia.

We'll tell you all about the Georgian Orthodox way of celebrating New Year's, Christmas and then New Year's again.

The weather has started to chill, the lights have been hung in the streets of Tbilisi and all I want for Christmas is you seems to be playing on a never ending loop.

Oh my God, when will it stop?

Anyway, it's Christmas time in Georgia.

Away we go.

Wubba dubba dub dub.

Hello.

Welcome to another episode of the Tbilisi Podcast, a show about life and travel in Tbilisi and Georgia.

I am your host, Meg.

Megsy.

Megan.

Megan.

It's actually Megan, but I go by Meg because it makes it much easier.

I am with my host, my co host husband Tom is here.

Hi, Tom.

Hey.

I'm also here.

This is why you can hear me.

Oh, congratulations on being here and not just, you know, floating around in some astrological plane.

Astronomical plane.

What are the astrological plane?

What do you think it's astrological?

I don't know.

It must be astronomical.

Why not both?

Either or.

Are you here?

No, I'm here in Tbilisi in the podcast studio.

We have relocated to a new office.

We're now in Vedzisi Sabatar and we've finally got our new podcast studio set up here in the new office.

Mostly it's pretty much done.

So we're ready to record some more episodes and get some more content out there.

So sorry for some delay the last few months while we moved office.

It did put a bit of a spanner in the works for recording, but.

That'S only if you're listening to it real time.

If you are just catching up with the show right now, you don't care.

There's no been blip.

There's been no blips at all.

It's just running smoothly for everybody, catching up and, you know, future years.

Forget I said anything.

Nothing's happened.

Nothing's happened.

It's fine.

All right, so today we are.

It is the festive time of year right now in Tbilisi.

The lights are shining.

Michael Buble has crawled out of his hole and is singing around.

We've had plenty of snow on and off.

We have had snow already this month.

Yeah, crazy.

But yeah.

So we are talking about the Christmas traditions in Georgia because this is a pretty important one.

Actually, because if you're coming here as someone that comes from a.

I guess we'd say Catholic, Christian background.

Catholic ish.

Like Protestant, all that.

Anything?

Sure, why not?

Anything that's not Orthodox.

You might be a little confused about what goes on here because.

Well, on the 25th of December, nothing.

Nothing goes on.

Not a lot, Zip.

It's just a regular day.

Yeah.

But we're going to talk all about that.

So, yes, today's episode is all about Christmas traditions in Georgia and we're going to break it all down for you so you have a bit of an insight as to what to expect.

Ooh, Jingle bells jingle jingle all the way they still have Christmas songs here.

It has started.

It has, yeah.

Oh, yeah, they very much started, but they start a little bit later.

They start a little bit later here than other places, I reckon.

Yeah, but it goes a little bit later.

More on that soon.

More on that.

All right.

As we said, you might be a little bit surprised to know that things are done a little bit differently here than in your home countries.

So we're going to settle in with a nice glass of glute wine.

Is it glute wine?

I've never.

Glutwein.

Right.

It depends which country you're from.

I think glutwein is the glutwein, I think.

Is that the German version of it?

I don't know if people have picked this up yet by my accent, but I'm Australian and I don't drink that at Christmas time.

It's too hot.

Yeah, yeah, you're strange.

But why would you drink hot wine at Christmas if it's 30 something degrees outside?

Yeah.

Centigrade, Celsius.

Because otherwise you might be saying that it's freezing in Australia at Christmas.

This would be very confusing for American listeners.

I'm not dealing with the whole hot wine business, nor am I used to the cold Christmases.

I find it really bizarre, but apparently everybody else finds me really bizarre thinking that I should be able to go swimming and play cricket on my Christmas day.

Well, maybe you should.

Maybe we will.

Maybe the snow will stop and we'll.

We'll go out and do that.

Join the Arctic Polar club.

Yeah.

All right.

So, yeah, just like most of the Christian world, Georgians also do celebrate Christmas, but not on the date, you might think.

Whereas most of the world, we all gather on 25th December to give gifts and eat yourself silly wearing ugly Christmas sweaters, actually admitting that they do like a bit of boo play.

Come on, you know, you like him.

But Georgians actually celebrate their Christmas Day on January 7.

This is because Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar, which is still used by the Orthodox clergy to this day.

We are all on the Gregorian calendar.

Yeah.

So it's what, like 14, 14 days out?

14 days out, apparently, yeah.

Cool.

Here, however, the seventh is, it's actually more of a religious day and the big event for Georgians is actually New Year's Eve.

That's where they'll open presents, eat, drink, you know, super it up.

If you haven't listened to our super episode, go back and listen to that.

So you know what a super is.

But yeah, on top of the eating, drinking and celebrating, you will be entertained by the biggest amateur fireworks display you have ever seen in your life.

Yeah, it's pretty easy to buy fireworks here.

Everyone does this.

Fireworks going off pretty much every night of the week for the whole year.

But the, the amateur display on New Year's is by far the most insane.

It's insane.

But apparently the reason that they actually celebrate on the 31st is remnants of the Soviet era.

So basically all religious things were thrown out the window when the Soviets were in control, but they were allowed to do New Year's Eve.

So because it's not a religious holiday, it's just a, hey, it's a new year, let's party.

So that's when they started to celebrate on New Year's.

Uh huh.

There are also other dates according to the Julian calendar that are incredibly important that also need to be mentioned as well.

So first of January, first day of the year, which is an official day off.

2nd of January is Badoba, which is also an official day off.

7th of January is the Orthodox Christmas, also an official day off.

14th of January is the old New Year, which is not a day off.

And the 19th of January is the Orthodox epiphany.

And we're going to break down what all of those are so you have a little bit more of an understanding Christmasy stuff.

Yes.

So this period from early December into mid January can make the Christmas season seem super long.

Yeah, I mean when it comes to public holidays and that sort of thing, in Georgia there's like 26 public holidays per year or something.

Yeah.

And a lot of them now, a.

Lot of them are in like the first three or four months of the year.

Yeah.

So it gets pretty crazy that people are just getting time off all the time.

And I'm saying also that entire time Christmas music is playing in stores, the Christmas lights are shining in the streets you're not escaping it as soon as.

It's not like as soon as Boxing Day hits.

I don't think any country escapes it as soon as Boxing Day hits.

Pretty much it lasts until at least the 6th of January.

Yeah.

In Western countries.

But you would perhaps be surprised to learn that Georgia doesn't even come close to winning the award for the country that celebrates Christmas the longest.

Oh, yeah, I'm quite familiar with the one that does.

Yep.

Tell us, Tom, who does the honor go to?

The Philippines.

Yes.

They actually start celebrating in September and go all the way through to.

Yeah.

Sort of mid January, sometimes even to February, I heard.

Yeah.

I think even longer than that.

Yeah, yeah.

They love Christmas.

They love Christmas a lot.

Love it.

But, yeah, aside from the standard festivities, there are various ceremonies and traditions that accompany the holiday, such as the Elio song, the Georgian version of Santa Claus called Tovlis Babua, and a very unique Christmas tree called the Tichlaki, which.

Which is actually not seen anywhere else in the world.

Have you ever spotted a Christmas tree like this?

It's sort of like a short white Christmas tree.

Right?

This is the one we're talking about.

Yeah, yeah.

It kind of looks like a beard.

Like a beard Christmas tree made of, like, white streamer type material.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I've never seen any other country that has a Christmas tree like this.

It's very unique to here.

It's cool.

But they're selling them on street corners everywhere from, like, December 1st onwards.

Yeah.

So the first one I'm going to get into is not actually strictly a Christmas tradition day, but I just wanted to mention it because it is actually day one where you get to eat lobby.

Because, I mean, that's a good excuse.

The Georgian bean stuffed bread.

Exactly.

But some places around Georgia do celebrate this day, so it's the December 17th and it's the Baba Roba day.

So, yeah, as I said, not exactly Christmas, but some areas consider this day to be a day of destiny.

And however you spend the day.

Destiny.

Destiny, wow.

Exciting.

The destiny of, like, whatever you eat this day of the year, you'll eat all of the next year, or it's.

That kind of thing.

It's sort of one of those days that however you spend the day will determine your following year.

So if you want to eat good food for the next year, you should eat good food on that day.

If you want to have a year of friendship and family, then you should surround yourself with friends and family on that day.

So, yeah, it's a day to bake and eat Lobby Oni.

I actually don't know what the correlation is with loni on this particular day.

They're just like, yeah, I like Lobby Oni.

Why not that?

Well, that's good enough, isn't it?

Yeah.

And think about your past year and make plans to improve your next.

So this particular tradition is based around the great martyr Barbara, who lived at the end of the third century and in the beginning of the fourth century.

According to legend, she was a beautiful daughter of a pagan Dios chorus who kept her guarded in a tower to protect her from harm.

When she, even though locked away in a tower, turned Christian and refused marriage to whatever pagan dude that she he wanted her to marry, he became enraged and ordered her to be tortured and then beheaded.

Pretty dick dad move.

Yeah.

Especially at Christmas.

Yep.

While she was tortured, many miracles actually happened.

So her wounds were healed and even there was like, she was allowed to escape at some point, but then her father found her again and dragged her back and tortured her a bit more, and then he called for her to be beheaded, and he did it himself.

He actually did it himself.

And he was struck by lightning on his way home and his body was burned by a flame.

So.

Wow.

Yeah.

Pretty high school.

It's a big day.

Big day.

I don't know why that has anything to do with looking to have a lucky future, but that's who the day is named after.

Well, it's sort of like an ironic thing, maybe, of, like, considering how bad a day they had.

Maybe you should look to the future and try and not have such a bad day.

Yeah.

One thing I did actually read was that Georgians, the name of, like, Barbara actually reminds them of Bobali, which is a Georgian word for wheel.

And so the wheel, circle, flame, sun, those sorts of things that actually they considered her to be like a goddess of agriculture, because the wheels and, you know, sun and everything to help the product, the crops grow.

And so that if they celebrated to her, they would get a good harvest and good products and stuff for the following year and also fertility as well.

Okay, so not exactly Christmas, but along the lines of many days where, you know, Georgians try to have a really good day so that they have a really good next year.

Let's jump into the actual Christmas days.

Yes.

Because this is the Christmas episode, as I recall.

It is so Christmas Day, 25th of December, as we all know it.

What happens here?

Nothing.

Nothing, Nada, zip.

Well, today you can find many foreigners celebrating Christmas on this day.

We might be organizing lunches and get togethers as we said before, this date in Georgia is like any other day.

The shops are open, restaurants are open, banks are open.

Everything's open.

It's business as usual.

It means for us, if we forgot to get something for Christmas lunch, we can literally just order a delivery and it'll be at our house in 30 minutes.

Like, you run out of beer and you're like, I will just go over that to the house.

Yep.

Anyway, so any of those delivery apps can actually bring you excess booze when you need it, or food or anything like that.

So it actually works out really well for any foreigners celebrating on the 25th.

The thing I noticed this year is that there's a lot of activities actually booked on the 25th that are being organized by Georgian companies.

So, like, I think Fabrica has something going on on that day and other, like, they've seen a lot of, like, kids play days for organized for Georgian and, like, for just kids or people in general.

But they seem to be putting it on the 25th, which I found to be a bit.

I don't know if this is.

Is it actually called Christmas events?

Are they called Christmas events?

They're like cookie.

Cookie making, like, cookie decorating.

It's a Sunday before.

It's like a Sunday before New Year's.

Yeah.

It's probably just everyone has the day off this year, so on other years, that's probably why you haven't seen it.

Oh, so this year it just happens to fall on the Sunday.

Ah, good one, Tom.

I did not put that together.

Okay, that makes a lot more sense.

All right, so that's our Christmas done out of the way.

It's actually really handy for us, but nothing else is going on.

Then we have the big event, New Year's Eve.

I feel like we need, like, a noise to come in there.

It's like, maybe it will.

It's such a big.

Dear editor, please.

It's insert interesting, dramatic celebratory noise.

Okay, so, yeah, as I mentioned earlier, most Georgians celebrate Christmas and give gifts on New Year's Eve.

So heads up.

It is a really tough time to get a babysitter.

Really tough time.

The night is celebrated by giving gifts and then having a New Year's Supra.

As the clock strikes midnight, the tradition is to make a New Year's wish as the sky becomes ablaze with fireworks.

As we mentioned before, this is not a planned fireworks demonstration, but rather thousands and thousands of people shooting fireworks from their balcony at random.

Have you ever shoot fireworks before?

Maybe.

Yep.

Yep.

Just go out on your balcony and shoot fireworks over the side.

That is very common.

Yep.

It is chaotic.

Yep.

Some people end up with fireworks shot straight into their apartments and in their balconies.

Yes.

Because some apartment blocks are quite close together facing each other.

So that's fun.

Yes.

There are luxuries.

I think last year a roof caught on fire.

It's a night of danger.

It is.

But it is really fun.

Yeah.

Completely untamed insanity.

It is really, really super fun.

And I've never seen a fireworks display like it.

There's some great spots around Tivolisi that you can go and view this insanity just break out.

And it won't even happen at midnight because some people jump the gun and get too excited.

And so it'll start at maybe like 10 to.

Yeah, 10 to 12.

Someone.

Someone's had too much cha cha and they're like, I just want to set off our works.

And so they just do.

Yeah.

So following this is the very important tradition of Mecle Oba.

I actually had someone pronounce all of these for me and I really did listen to it hard.

And I think I'm still getting them wrong.

Almost certainly.

So apologies again.

We're always going to get these wrong.

Yeah.

But this person is actually really, really super important.

So I didn't want to get it wrong, but I think I have.

So this is the first person who steps into your house on New Year's Day.

So.

And so that can be just after midnight because you don't want someone randomly coming and knocking on your door and ruining it.

Like coming into the house and ruining it.

So what they will do, the person is called McVille and this translates as someone who leaves a trail.

So while entering the house and they have to go in right foot first, the mechaville throws sweets.

So according to tradition, sweets actually represent youthfulness, happiness, prosperity, all of that sort of stuff.

And they wish the family the best.

And they say.

They state a particular saying, which.

I am never going to get it right.

So maybe I should just play it into the microphone.

Probably.

Yeah.

It's really sad.

I'm never going to get it right.

Yes.

So that is the thing that I could never possibly say in a million years.

Yeah.

Don't say that again.

Okay.

Let me say the English.

So that means I stepped inside.

May God be on your side.

My foot.

Trail of an angel.

So this role is really considered to be really of great importance.

And the.

This role is actually carefully chosen beforehand.

So they will select someone who is a positive influence, who is a fun Friendly, great person with, you know, lots of energy, lots of positivity.

That will be the first person to walk across their doorway in the new year, and that will bring all of those things, you know, all of the joy and everything that that person brings with them and puts onto the family, and that's what they will have in the new year.

So to summarize, January 1st at midnight is this special day.

And this person, the Meclea, which I'm pronouncing wrong, is the first person who walks through your door.

And if you accidentally order a delivery and the delivery guy comes before the guy that you actually wanted to come, then that messes up your whole year.

Do you not have deliveries at that time?

I mean, you're probably not going to be able to get a delivery at that time anyway.

But, yeah, if your neighbor's coming around to complain that you fired fireworks through their balcony, tell them to go away.

Yeah, don't let them through the door.

Otherwise that person will just be bad luck.

That'll bring bad luck and negative energy on your entire year.

And nobody wants that.

No.

All right.

Yeah.

This is also the night that the jolly old man visits the kitties.

But here it is a touch different from the Santa that we know, but it's not by much.

So he's actually considered a mythical creature in Georgia.

And his name is Tovlis Babua, which is the snow grandfather.

He's similar to Santa.

So he comes on the eve of.

Of Christmas.

So their Christmas, which is New Year's, that they celebrate it.

He comes down from the mountains with a sack full of toys and gifts.

His home is Fenetti, which, for those of you don't know, it's a mountainous region in northwest Georgia.

And specifically he comes from the village of Usghuli, which also, for those of you, you know, playing at home, it's actually the highest settlement in all of Europe.

So also a UNESCO area.

It is, it is.

It's beautiful.

You don't want to be up there at winter, but, you know, it is.

It's the highest.

That's why he's coming down here.

It's the highest continuously lived in settlement because obviously there's plenty of, like, alpine places where people go for the.

For a season or whatever.

But.

Yeah, aren't there the whole time?

Something like that.

Anyway, it's.

It's famous for this.

It is, but that's where he comes from.

The snow grandfather is usually depicted as a kind old man with a long white beard, but his beard usually goes all the way to his toes almost.

He is also lacking the Coca Cola red and white colors that we all now know best.

Ah, you mean he's not sponsored by Coca Cola?

This is novel by Coca Cola in any way.

Instead, he's wearing a white caucus and burqa, which is a traditional coat with high, squared off shoulders.

Like really big power shoulders.

So even more than 80s shoulder pads.

Like super shoulders.

Yep, yep.

Super, super powerful shoulders in this.

He's also wearing a Svenettian hat, which is a felt hat that kind of looks like a bowl on your head, but it's a hat like a felt ball on your head.

Oh, yep.

So just like our supermarket Santas, the toddlers Bubua comes to certain places in the lead up to Christmas, so you might see him at Matas Minda park, you might see him at some other Christmas displays in some supermarkets.

But you tend to see a bit more of the traditional Santa in supermarkets.

But apparently every year he does a little set up in Matats Minda so people can go and visit him, receive sweets, and tell him what's on their Prezi wishlist.

So it's very, very similar.

Just sort of a bit of aesthetic.

Looking different and he comes on a.

Different, less commercialized perhaps.

Yes.

So, you know, that's nice.

He looks super cool.

Great looking.

He's gnarly.

Oh, he's your type.

As far as Santa Claus is going.

Oh, well, he's a hot Santa.

I don't think he's particularly fat or anything like that.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's like.

It's not like this fat old man.

I just don't dig fat men.

All right.

Yeah, well, that's a.

That's a rule set down for me for the future.

Don't get fat or old.

Keep it together, Tom.

Keep it together.

If I get old, that's it for me.

I'm going to Leonardo DiCaprio.

This relationship.

Ew.

I don't know what that means, but good.

I don't think he's ever.

As soon as, like, his girlfriend's turned 27, he breaks up with them and.

It'S like, yeah, it's a rule.

He's disgusting.

He's really gross, actually.

It's quite sad.

Anyway, back to things that are not sad.

A New Year's celebration in Georgia lasts for two days, actually.

So the 2nd of January is called Bedoba, which stands for luck.

And therefore the way you spend the day is believed to determine your new year.

So what happened on the 17th of December, then?

So I don't know if you heard that.

I said, like, only certain places actually celebrate the 17th, so it's not everywhere.

So some Georgians might listen to this episode and be like, what?

We don't do anything on the 17th.

You're crazy, lady.

But some regions actually do have that as a day of destiny.

But for most people, the second is the day.

All right?

It's the day.

So you really want to be especially happy on this day.

No negativity, have fun.

It's a day to eat, drink your favorite food, don't drink your favorite food, eat and eat your favorite food, drink your favorite drinks, do it with all your favorite people in the hopes that your next year will be full of all the things that you love most.

So very similar to the other day, but this is the more actually common day that people actually have as a day of positivity.

And I think it's not a terrible thing to do.

I think rest of us could actually have a day of positivity where we're like, this is what I'm.

How I'm gonna, you know, set out my new year.

I'm going to not just lay around and be a, you know, a schlub because I have a two day hangover.

Because you get to do that on the 1st of January.

So the 2nd of January is.

But I'm like 39 this week and hangovers last more than one day now.

Yeah, that's a problem.

That is a problem.

So, you know, you got to get up there and make the second the very best day you can make it be.

So you have a great year ahead of you.

And heaven knows we all could use a bit of a break and have a good year.

Please.

Yeah, that would be nice.

Yes, please.

All right, next up we have the Orthodox Christmas eve, which is the 6th of January leading into Christmas Day on the 7th of January.

So this is the more religious side of the holiday where on Christmas Eve, Georgians light candles in their windows before midnight.

And this is a light for Joseph and Mary to find their way to shelter.

It's like that sort of tradition to lead their way.

Also on Christmas Eve, every church holds a whole holiday service, the most prestigious of course taking place at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi.

And this is led by the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church as well.

So that's a pretty important one to go to if you can get an invite there.

I don't know if you have to have an invite to a church.

I don't know how.

I don't Know, I mean, if the whole million people from Tbilisi turn up, then they're gonna have a problem, aren't they?

It's true.

The traffic is already crazy enough.

So on the 7th of January.

Yeah.

So 6th of January is like midnight mass, you know, come together as family, but, you know, light a candle, all of that sort of thing.

The 7th of January is the day of Ailillo A L I L O A Lilo which is a date.

Alilo.

Probably.

Alilo.

So this is a day where they have a big parade.

So this happens in most cities across Georgia.

But in Tbilisi you can go and see it if you want to head down to Rustaveli street and it departs from Rose revolution, generally about 1pm so it does sort of weave in between the old town.

So if you want to make sure you catch it, I'd probably catch it there.

And then you can follow the.

Well, just follow the people or watching it too.

You'll see people there to watch.

People participating in the parade often carry religious icons, Georgian flags and crosses while singing Christmas carols.

You'll also spot children dressed up as angels and shepherds walking with the crowd while priests bless the crowd with holy water.

So it's kind of like the anti Halloween where kids dress up as biblical characters and then go around and get still all the sweets and everything they select.

I think people give them sweets because it's, you know, what you do at this time of year for prosperity and.

The anti Halloween because kids dress up in costumes and sweets, is it not the anti Halloween?

That would be a situation where they gave out no sweets and no one dressed up in anything like the opposite, I guess.

So the alternative Halloween alternative.

There we go.

There we go.

Okay.

So as they make their way through the streets, they collect gifts and donations which are then given to orphanages, nursing homes and prisons.

So if you are wanting to find somewhere where you can donate this year, that's a really good place that you can do that.

There are a lot of people in particular this year.

So we have a lot of refugees that have come from Ukraine that obviously need a lot of assistance.

So this is probably a great year to head on down and do some donating.

After the parade is over, many people often go home for a family supra or visit their friends and family.

And in the evening they light candles again on their window as a sign of the parade, the birth of Jesus.

So they will have another Supra this day, but it won't Be as extravagant as the Supras.

Just a light Supra.

A light Supra.

Sure.

If I can believe that.

So the Alilo is actually a festive song.

So the parade is named after a festive song that is sung with, as you would expect, a minimum of three people.

Because you've got to have those Georgian polyphonic harmonies coming through, which I love.

And singers actually go to family homes singing this particular song.

So if someone rocks up on your doorstep and.

Well, not someone.

If a minimum of three people or more rock up on your doorstop and they're singing this particular song, you have to present the singers with an egg.

Boiled egg or a raw egg.

And is this a situation like Halloween where you throw eggs at people as a prank?

It seems like a rude way to have a nice song.

It's another symbol of life and fertility.

So I'm guessing a raw egg, because that would be fertility, I guess.

Yeah.

Oh, I might have to find out whether what level of cooked it needs.

To be a fried egg.

Would a fried egg be over easy?

Be sufficient.

An omelet.

Just an omelet.

If they come early.

Yeah.

I'm just like, yeah, sorry, just got the omelette.

Great.

Or, you know, if you get real fancy, like Benedict with salmon.

Oh, fancy.

Royal Benedict.

They'd want to be some pretty good singers for me to hand over my eggs, Betty.

Yeah, yeah, that would definitely be unlikely that I would do that.

But, yeah, I consider it.

So this particular song actually comes from the pagan tradition of chona, which is a practice where masked groups would go around the settlement singing and receiving gifts from people.

So, yeah, this.

I have heard that some people don't like it compared to that.

Naturally, because people don't want to pagan.

We know pagan traditions have moved over into Christian traditions.

We all know this is a thing.

Why not keep the fun ones?

So.

But apparently some people get a little annoyed when it's.

It's history.

What are we going to do about it?

Yeah.

Sorry, guys.

All right, so that is Georgian Christmas Day.

Let's move on to Orthodox New year, which is the 14th of January.

So the reason New Year's Eve falls on the 14th is once again down to that Pascal Julian calendar.

Might be.

Some people might like that calendar.

That's true.

Saying it's pesky.

And when you say old, it's an older calendar, isn't it isn't like this is the.

Before the Gregorian calendar, we'd say that pesky Gregorian calendar.

Taking away all our old dates, changing all our things.

We Liked it the way it was.

Yeah, we already had it all set up.

Why did you change it?

Yes.

So the Boomer calendar.

The Julia calendar is the Boomer calendar.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

So this particular day is not a public holiday and it's not nearly as crazy as the 31st, which really is the big, big night of the year.

31st is the biggest night in Georgia.

Yeah.

Some Georgians still celebrate the night with a Supra, because.

Why not?

Of course, there's a Supra similar to the one that they would have on the 31st, with a lot of traditional dishes, but on a smaller scale.

So there's actually some must haves you need to have on the table if you want to celebrate New Year's Eve correctly.

So one of those things is tatzivi, which is your poultry, usually chicken in a walnut sauce.

Yeah.

Sometimes turkey and often served cold as well.

That one.

Then your nigvizani bajragani, which is the eggplant roll stuffed with walnuts.

And I think that's the closest I'm ever going to get to pronouncing that correctly.

That's definitely pronounced wrong, but okay.

Your khachapuri, which is your cheese filled.

Bread, even pronouncing that wrong, isn't it?

Khachapuri, Khachapuri, Khachapuri.

Sorry, I'm missing my.

Yeah, of course.

Miti, which is your pork skewers.

Yum, yum, yum.

Godzinaki, your Georgian dessert made of walnuts and honey.

And your church khaola, which is a sweet made from grape, nuts and flour.

And I think we spoke about that.

A few of these dishes in our Georgian Food episode.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Some of them.

Yeah.

So you can go back and have a listen to that and you can get a bit more of an in depth idea of what these particular foods are.

But, you know, if people are serving them up to me on a table New Year's Eve, Christmas Eve, old New Year's Eve, I'm not mad at it.

I mean, it's plenty of pork, but I think you can't really have a soup pro without mezotti pork anyway.

No, that's pretty much just how it goes.

And khachapuri.

Khachapuri heads up.

People also do take the time and opportunity to shoot more fireworks from their balcony.

Of course.

Of course they do, because why not?

I can remember some friends of ours actually turned up Exactly.

On the 14th a couple of years ago and we didn't give them a heads up that it was Old New Year's, and they were like, what is going on?

Why is the sky exploding?

It was crazy.

Okay.

And then the.

To end the entire little Christmas festivities, we have the Orthodox epiphany, which happens on January 19th.

So this date commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan river by John the Baptist.

And it's the end of the holiday celebrations.

In Georgia, it's a popular day to go to church for a water blessing ceremony.

So naturally, Jesus was baptized.

So people like to go and be blessed by water as well.

They can also take this water home with them.

So while they're at church, the water sprinkled, they'll be sprinkled with holy water.

You can also take it home and you can drink it throughout the year.

And it's believed that the holy water will aid in times of sickness or trouble.

So I could probably use some today because I have very sick recording this.

The believers can drink the water and it will ease their discomfort.

So that's what people go to church for on that particular day.

It's also a time to take down all of your decorations.

Yeah.

But why pack away your tree when you can burn it?

Yes.

Fire.

Yes.

So one interesting thing that you might notice on the streets around Christmas time, as we mentioned before, is the Christmas tree in the shape of, like, paper or dried wood.

Well, I mean, it's shaped like a Christmas tree, but it's like quills.

It's like coily of paper.

Yeah.

And this is called the chichilaki.

The chichilaki is a traditional Georgian tree.

It's actually made from dried hazelnut or walnut branches.

They vary in size, starting from a teeny tiny 20 centimeters, going to over three meters in height.

The branches are carefully shaved to look like a coniferous tree.

And this represents the tree of life, which is a symbol of hope for Georgians.

I did google coniferous tree.

Is this something that Jen, I didn't know.

I had to Google it.

It's a tree that lasts all year.

It doesn't lose its leaves in the autumn.

It's evergreen.

Is it?

Yeah.

Well, maybe it's the same.

I had to google coniferous.

What's the definition then, that you got?

Oh, I can google.

Let's google it again.

I mean, it's things like a Christmas tree that have spikes instead of leaves as well.

So maybe it's just that.

And they don't.

They obviously they don't lose their spikes in the winter.

They're needles.

They are simply plants that have cones.

Oh, all right.

So pine trees and Such.

There we go.

We all learnt something.

Well, we did.

Two of us did.

Most people listening are like, you guys are so stupid.

Idiots.

Why are you doing a podcast and teaching us anything?

It's not a tree podcast, people.

This is not a biology, botany, ecology podcast.

It's a Georgia podcast.

Exactly.

All right, so there we go.

We all learned something.

Trees with pines on them.

These ones.

These trees.

Trees with cones on them.

Oh, cones, yeah, pine trees have cones.

Cones, Sorry.

Yes.

So anyway, instead of being decorated with various Christmas decorations, the chichilaki is usually filled with various sweets.

They also have apples, berries and pomegranates.

And these are an offering for a bountiful harvest.

It's like a reverse pinata because then they also burn it at the end so they destroy it.

So, like destruction and sweets and a thing.

It's all there on the outside.

Ish.

Yeah, that's what I mean.

Like a reverse pinata.

An inverse.

How many articles I've read say they're ceremoniously burned on the day before the orthodox epiphany.

Some say that they're done on the 19th, so I don't know.

I think it's up to you.

Either way.

They are set alight to symbolize the passing of the previous year's trouble.

So light that on fire.

Bye bye, troubles.

I've already set my year.

I'm set.

I've had my happy person walk through my door on New Year's Eve and he has been fantastic and thrown sweets at us and in the corners of the rooms.

And then on the second day, I sat around and I thought happy thoughts and I spent it with happy people and I ate happy food and I drank happy booze or whatever is your drink of choice.

And I just had.

I drank my favourite food, actually.

You drank your food?

Well, yeah, because it could be soup.

It could be soup for some people.

My dad especially.

Apparently, that's all he likes now is soup.

He does break down if there is.

Not soup at every meal.

At every meal, even for breakfast.

I'm guessing at this point.

Where's my egg soup?

Porridge.

Yeah, porridge.

Throw some egg soup at some singers.

Oh, what are you going to do with them?

All right, so, yeah, but then, yeah, you have all of this positive stuff and then on the 19th, you set that baby on fire and get rid of all the bad juju that all goes away with the tree and you're just set to have a fantastic year.

I think this is incredible tradition.

Yeah, it's like.

It's just Weeks of Supra and then burning things and setting off fireworks.

It's fun.

Christmas is fun here.

So this is really starting to just.

And I know the 90s is still quite far away now because I'm old, and it just seems like it was yesterday.

It wasn't.

It was.

But anyway, these traditions are just coming back with, you know, with gusto.

So it's pretty cool to see all of this stuff for the very first time, or even, you know, if you've been here a few years.

It's.

It's really cool to see all these traditions happen.

So after all that eating and drinking and firework madness, we find ourselves at the end of the holiday festivities in Georgia.

So what you can do is you can keep an eye on Facebook events if you're looking for something to do during this season, as there are plenty of activities and celebrations for young and old that you can join in on.

So if it's your first time here, if you're just looking for something to do, definitely look at Facebook events because there's so much going on this time that you can go in, join in and have a really, really super festive Christmas and learn, you know, go and get involved in traditions that you might not have.

Create new traditions that are Georgian old traditions, but might be new for you.

Try and get invited to a Supra.

Yes.

Those don't really get advertised.

And be the person who gets invited across the threshold.

Be such a positive force in the world that people are just dying for you to be the first person to visit them on New Year's Day.

Yeah.

And if you deliver some beer at the same time, they'll probably be even more happy.

They will be.

So, you know, two birds, one stone.

Because all the delivery guys will be busy at that point.

Yeah.

Or just not working.

Sweets first.

Right.

Remember, right foot first sweets that you have to throw around.

Say the impossible words that I will never, ever be able to say.

But then also have some beer for the adults because they'll appreciate it.

Or wine, probably more wine, but I don't know.

I have never known a Georgian party to run out of wine.

Don't be silly.

Right, so that's.

That.

That's Christmas.

That's Christmas.

Whatever you are doing for your own particular Christmas this year, this is going to come out after the 25th because I'm giving myself until Jordan Christmas to get this out.

Haha.

I win that way.

I might be delayed on recording this but it wins because I'm counting it as Georgian Christmas.

We I've got more time but we do hope you have a very happy holidays however you celebrate and we will have more episodes, hopefully more reliably in the new year.

Yeah now our studio is set up, we hope to be recording a bit more often and trying to get those episodes out a bit more frequently.

So thanks for listening.

Once again, rate and review.

Five stars is the only set of stars that we like.

The other stars make me sad.

It's the wrong set of stars.

That's not positivity to my new year and I need all the positivity.

Please.

Indeed.

All right, until next time.

Have a great day.

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