Svans - a small mountain people stands out from the huge number of Caucasian peoples. And one of the main goals in Georgia (as already mentioned) was precisely Svanetia and the Svans. Below, I separately took out what I observed in Svan ethnographic museums, in Svan houses (both old and modern), and what I learned from communication with the Svans ...

Let's start with the initial information taken from books and the Internet, and continue with personal experience and photographs.

Svaneti is one of the highest mountain regions of Georgia. Svans have always been famous for their stateliness and courage. They were considered the best warriors in the Caucasus. The Svans never had serfdom, and the nobility was conditional. The Svans have never waged aggressive wars, this is evidenced by historical facts, one of which is the construction of watch and defensive towers in the old days, called "Svan towers". Since ancient times, the Svans have traditionally been fond of creating picturesque products from copper, bronze and gold. Well-known Svan blacksmiths, masons and wood carvers made dishes and various household equipment from silver, copper, clay and wood, as well as Svan hats - the national Svan headdress and unique "kanzi" from turi horns.

Each Svan is, first of all, a separate person, proud and original.

A lot about the customs of the Svans and their life is written in the book of Alexander Kuznetsov "Bottom of Svanetia" ( can be downloaded from this link in fb2 format ). Before starting ph and their own observations, a quote from their same book:

“Svvnetia, “Country of Silence and Tranquility,” as the Georgian king Saurmag called it in 253 BC, when he evicted his recalcitrant subjects here. Svaneti is a symbol of proud love of freedom. Svaneti, a tiny country, a world of glaciers, narrow valleys and wild streams.”

There are many museums in Mestia, I have been to two, I know about two more, I suspect that this is not all. I managed to visit the museum of the Margiani family and the museum of Mikhail Khirgiani, the first is a house with Svan furnishings, the second has a hall dedicated to Sva life. In addition, I naturally climbed into the tower and visited the ethnographic museum in Ushguli (this one, too, I suspect is not the only one here, apparently organized by one of the families)

The first thing we managed to do was get into the tower. One of the Georgian business cards, from the inside approximately as shown in the diagram (I drew it myself, there may be inaccuracies). It is interesting that the entrance to many is at a height, and in order to get to it you need a ladder (which, of course, in which case it was drawn in, and go climb). Then there are several tiers of floors with stairs, and at the top of the loopholes and a manhole to the very roof. It is interesting that these towers, as I understand it, were used not only for defense against attacks by enemies from outside Svaneti, but also for “blood feuds” or in quarrels between communities and clans. Moreover, one gets the impression that the last appointment is almost the main one.

It is interesting that all the houses seem to be made of stones. Here is an example of a house in Ushguli:

In the old villages, there are narrow streets, which initially assumed either a foot or horse inhabitant. There were not even carts and wagons here for a very long time, because. in the mountains this is not the best means. Several times we noticed the sled:

Basically, it's natural. Ushguli is the highest settlement in Europe, and winter here is from October to May.

In the old days, there was one room in the house, in which, along the perimeter, there were places for people to sleep, under which pets were kept in winter.

Hearth in the center of the room. Everyone gathered here:

I didn’t see any cabinets here, there were chests of different sizes, some more than a meter high. I also made a whole collection of photographs of chairs and armchairs.

In all three museums, a huge armchair stood near the hearth. It's not just natural. But there were also many simpler "chairs", and different ones. Below are pictures from the most "important" to the most "simple":

One of the most important occupations of the Svans was hunting and beekeeping. Naturally, hunting in such an area required skills from relatives of mountaineering back in ancient times.

Old time snowshoe variant:

A crossbow, from which I don’t even know who can be shot, it’s really huge:

And this is your humble servant with a spear (a wonderful pose is the result of explaining to the photographer which button to press and hold until it works):

One can only imagine how harsh the life of the Svans was in the distant past, the cold and getting food in the mountains... People and living creatures in one house...

Here is a musical instrument I saw in the Museum of Ethnography in Ushguli:

And here is one in the house in which we stayed in the community of Ipari:

Modern houses of the Svans are two-storeyed. Bedrooms on the second floor. Here are two interesting shots, on one of the house in which we stayed, and on the second the room in which we had dinner, in which this dinner was being prepared ...

It turns out interesting that where there used to be a hearth and people slept around it, today there is a steel stove, and people sleep in the same room, despite the larger number of rooms, electricity, etc. Than not the same ancient traditions but in a new, modern way.

This is probably not the case everywhere, and perhaps we just got there (a very small village ten kilometers from Ushguli), but the very fact of what we saw.

The owner of the house is a very calm person, Svan, in many respects one learns what is written and said about this people. Morning dialogue with him on the porch of the house (I don’t bring the evening one, it won’t work - you had to be there):

Do you like Svaneti?
- Yes very! It is nice here! Very handsome!
- Yes, very good ... But also very difficult ... The work is bad. It is the nearest store in Ushguli - 10 kilometers away.
- So everything seems to be here, your own bread ... And why go to the store ... Although ...
- Yes, a lot of everything, cigarettes, or beer or .... A lot of everything…
- And I saw stuffed roe deer up there. Your brother told me that you are a hunter, right? It's you them...
- Yes, it was a long time ago. Hunted... Could have been...
- And now?
- And what now, now the park, there are a lot of permit papers ... And without them, a fine of 2,000 lari (about $ 1,200).
-Clear…

I won’t post a photo of stuffed animals - it didn’t work out (let’s say so), but in principle it’s good that hunting here has become more difficult (I saw bear tracks here on the pass, and I heard a lot about the fact that there are a lot of other wild animals here).

I can also say that sometimes museums created by local families will have to be looked for, here is the sign of the ethnographic (private) museum in Ushguli:

I got here by chance, a guy met me (he was on horseback, by the way), and offered to go to the museum. Any member of the family can probably read a tour in such a museum, but if he is younger than 20-23 years old, then the tour will most likely be in English (as in my case).

Svaneti, The land of peace and tranquility”, as the Georgian king Saurmag called it in 253 BC, who evicted his recalcitrant subjects here. Svaneti is a symbol of proud love of freedom. Svaneti, a tiny country, a world of glaciers, narrow valleys, wild streams.

Svaneti is divided into Upper and Lower and divided Svaneti ridge height 4008 m. From the north and east, Upper Svanetia is bordered by the Main Caucasian Range with the peaks of Shkhara, Ushba, Tetnuldi and others, along which the border of Georgia with Russia passes.
It is here, in Svaneti, that the main peaks of the Caucasus and the largest glaciers are located, which cover up to 300 square meters. km of territory and rise above the Caucasus like ice armor. Main peaks: Tsurungala (4220 m), Ailama (4550 m), Shkhara (5068 m), Dzhanga (5060 m), Gestola (4860 m), Tikhtingeni (4620 m), Tetnuldi (4860 m), Mazeri (4010 m) , Chatini (4370 m). The well-known two-headed mountainous, steep rocky massif of Ushba (4700 m) is also located here. If in the Alps the Materhorn (4478 m) is considered the standard of beauty and difficulty, then in the Caucasus - Ushba.

You can get to Upper Svaneti only through passes or through the narrow gorge of the Inguri River. In Upper Svaneti they say this: « A bad road is one from which the traveler will surely fall, and his body cannot be found. The good road is the one from which the traveler falls, but his corpse can be found and buried. And the beautiful road is the one from which the traveler may not fall».

Only in 1937, when a highway was laid along it , the Svans saw the wheel for the first time, before that all the cargo was transported here in a pack or on a sleigh with the help of bulls.

Upper Svaneti is known for its architectural treasures and picturesque landscapes. Residential towers, built mainly in the 9th-12th centuries, stand out. Ancient stone Orthodox churches have also been preserved.
The absolute height of the parietal part of the Caucasus - Svaneti - is 4125 m, the maximum is 5068 m (Shkhara), the minimum is 3168 m (Donguzorinsky transition). In this section of the Caucasus, there are up to twenty passes of varying degrees of difficulty, which descend from the northern side to the side of the Russian Federation. The height of the passes reaches 3160 m. Some of them are suitable for sapalne (measure of wine) transport, while most are for pedestrians, and some are accessible only to climbers.

Upper Svaneti is not only a country generally separated from the whole world, but also within its valleys with villages are separated from each other by mountain ranges and are connected only through passes that are not passable due to snow nine months a year. In Kamchatka Chukotka, at the very end of the world, the Chukchi and Koryaks have more opportunities to communicate with each other and with the outside world than the inhabitants of Svanetia. They can come in winter on deer and dogs for holidays, fairs, visit cultural centers. In Svaneti, before the advent of aviation, in winter it was impossible to penetrate into the neighboring gorge without the risk of dying in an avalanche ..

Live in Svaneti Svans. Until 1930, the Svans were considered a separate people, but later they were considered simply Georgians.

Svaneti is the only place where the secret of extraction from the rivers of golden sand has been preserved among the Svans to this day.

Today it is not known exactly how many Svans live in Georgia, according to some sources 14,000 people, according to others 30,000 people. Usvanov has his own unwritten language, which still has 4 diolects and several groups of adverbs. All Svans are also fluent in the Georgian language, although the Svanet language is so unlike Georgian that Georgians from other regions do not even understand it at all.

The Svan language lives in parallel with Georgian. Georgian is read and studied, and Svan is spoken in the family and sung songs. Most Svans now use three different languages ​​in this way - Svan, Georgian and Russian.

All Svaneti surnames end in = ani=. For example: Khergiani, Kipiani, Charkivani, Golovani, Ioseliani...

The history of the Svan people dates back several millennia. The Svans never had serfdom, and the nobility was conditional. The Svans have never waged wars of conquest, this is evidenced by historical facts, one of which is the construction in the old days of watch and defensive towers, called "Svan towers". Since ancient times, the Svans have traditionally been fond of creating paintings made of copper, bronze and gold. Famous Svan blacksmiths, masons and wood carvers made dishes and various household equipment from silver, copper, clay and wood, as well as Svan hats - national Svan headdress and unique "kanzi" from turi horns.

Beekeeping was traditional for the Svans - an ancient occupation of many peoples, also widespread in the mountainous regions of Western Georgia. But the most respected and revered professions for Svans are hunting and mountaineering.. The Svans were and remain professional hunters and climbers. Hunting for Svans is actually equivalent to economic activity, and mountaineering is the national sport of Svanetia.

All Svans are Orthodox . But they also have their own national holidays, such as the holiday Lamproba. This holiday is celebrated in February 10 weeks before Easter and they sing the valor of a Svanetian man, youth, boy in front of enemies. The main hero of the holiday, St. Martyr George the Victorious. The main events of the holiday are associated with the commemoration of ancestors, kindling fires, torchlight processions and a festive meal.

On the day of Lamprob, as many torches are lit in the houses of Svaneti as there are men in the family. And if there is a pregnant woman in the house, then a torch is lit in honor of the child she is carrying, because it can be a boy! The torch is made from a single tree trunk, the top of which is split into several parts.

A procession of men with burning torches is heading towards the church with songs in the Svan language. A large bonfire of torches is built in the churchyard, and tables are set there. All night before the first rays of the sun, the Svans read prayers to St. George and raise toasts.

Svans, in the mountains, feel free and independent. They are very courageous by nature. Constant risk factors - landslides, breccia flows, frequent landslides, very severe cold winters and many other difficulties, require great endurance, vigilance, insight, attention and courage from the highlanders.

The war was not only between individual villages, but also between houses. It was enough to say an offensive word or kick a dog to get a bullet in the forehead. And then the men climbed into the towers. They took women and children there, smoked meat carcasses, ammunition, filled wooden bottles in the towers with water. The towers have access to the house, which was also a fortress. Instead of windows in Svan houses, there are narrow loopholes, and the houses themselves are built of stone - you can’t set fire to it.

Svan residential building called Machubi was a tall two-story building. The first floor was used for housing and a barn for cattle, on the second floor there was a hayloft. The house was heated by a hearth-fireplace of a design characteristic of Svan architecture, and food was cooked here. As a rule, the house was attached (attached) to a 3-4 storey watchtower. The size of the family ranged from thirty people and more, sometimes reaching one hundred.. Such large residential complexes have survived to this day. In the Mulakhi community, the courtyard of the Kaldani family is surrounded by a three-meter fortress wall. In the courtyard to this day there are one well-preserved and one dilapidated tower. There is also a church with unique icons, crosses and holy relics.

The main part of the Svan residential building is the tower. It is a stand-alone four-sided (5x5m) square, tall building. The tower is a multifaceted stone tower resembling a pyramid, the height of which can reach 25 meters. The tower has four or five floors. In the upper part there is a window space, the internal dimensions of which are larger than the outer opening, which contributes to a greater view of the area and increases its defensive ability. The tower was built on a slope, and its edge was always directed to this slope. The orientation of the tower, designed to observe the terrain, a massive hemisphere at its base, are a guarantee of its stability during natural disasters (landslides, floods, snow avalanches, etc.).

Since ancient times, a peculiar democratic form of government has been introduced in Svaneti: the head of the community (temi) - Mahvishi- elected at the general meeting. All sane persons of both sexes who had reached the age of 20 had the right to participate in the meeting. The chosen Mahvshi stood out for his wisdom, degree, justice and spiritual purity. He was a preacher of the Christian religion and morality. In peacetime, he was also a judge, and in wartime he led the army (Lashkari), that is, he was the commander in chief. During the alarm (general gathering), a joint meeting of the community was held - Congress Heavy where all issues were decided by majority vote. The most important problems of Heavy, both internal and those that arose outside of it, were considered. The aggravation of relations with neighbors, readiness for upcoming wars, defense strategy, the needs of large churches, construction issues (fortifications, bridges, roads) and the participation of community members in all this were discussed. The congress also dealt with legal issues - it approved the norms and forms of punishment. In the legal hierarchy, the Congress was considered the highest authority. He did not report to anyone. His decisions were final and non-negotiable..

In Svaneti, fertile lands were the property of specific individuals, and all members of the community had the right to use meadows, fields and forests. In addition, there were so-called. icon forest and land that were used for church needs and religious holidays.

Each civil or criminal case was considered by a local court, which included judges - mediators. In Svaneti they were called “Morvali”. Both sides in the litigation chose judges from the family clan, but an outsider could also be involved. “Morvali” listened attentively to everyone. The process of discussion, negotiations were long and could drag on for years. This continued until the matter was brought to full clarity and accuracy. Before the holy icon, an oath was given to be honest and just. After the oath, no one doubted the objectivity of the verdict, and “Morvali” made a decision, which in most cases was final and did not require revision. During the announcement of the verdict, the judge took a stone and plunged it deep into the ground, which meant the end of the case. Cases often ended in reconciliation. The court was fair and enjoyed universal respect. If the guilt of the offender was proven, he was expelled from his society, and the house could be set on fire. Sometimes death sentences were handed down.

In the last week of Great Lent, the so-called. Horiemma. The head of the family prayed, took two iron bars and, striking them against each other, expelled dark forces (kaji) from the house, then went out into the courtyard and fired a gun to frighten evil spirits. For all family members on the right hands, for cattle on the horns, and also on the plow, the mistress of the house wound black threads. This ritual protected people from the evil eye, kept livestock and tools.
During a drought, women threw bones into the nearest lake and, spending days and nights in prayer, asked God for abundant rain. In some communities, men carried the icons of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary (Our Lady), washed them in the river and asked in hymns to save the earth from drought.

Svan national cap

A Svan woman always shared all the difficulties and joys with a man, she was always there - both during plowing, sowing, and especially during harvesting. Therefore, a sickle was always given as a dowry to the bride, as a symbol of grain harvesting.

Severe nature and way of life brought up the Svans as hardworking, courageous and hardy people. Therefore, at the labor exchange in Georgia, the Svan worker and his work were paid twice.

Cuisine of Svaneti. On the Svan table you can see first of all khachapuri - cakes with meat or cheese. Suluguni is salty cheese. Meat. Lamb, veal and pork. A small pig, baked whole, often appears on the festive table. Cold appetizer of chicken - satsivi - with spicy seasoning. Svan salt mixed with pepper and fragrant crushed herbs. Occasionally they make shurpa, that is, meat broth, spicy, sometimes with potatoes. Almost every day they eat matsoni - sour milk, something like curdled milk. There are honey and nuts on the table. . Svanetian salt is known throughout Georgia,consists of table salt, tsitsak (pepper) and various aromatic herbs. Dishes prepared with this salt are distinguished by a special aroma, spiciness and are unusually tasty. Svan salt is also used separately.
All Svaneti dishes are made from local natural products, so they are very fragrant and environmentally friendly.

But there is no wine in the national cuisine in Svaneti, and all because the grapes in that part of Georgia do not survive, and therefore the wine is imported from other regions. Svans traditionally drink vodka, fruit or honey . The main attribute of the feast - mineral water , extracted from numerous sources with which the land of Svaneti is so rich.

The Svans maintained their tribal system for a long time. Quite recently, tribal relations were still alive here in their integrity. One genus included about thirty houses, only they were called not houses, but “smoke” - smoke, hearth, pantry, household. There were usually two hundred or three hundred relatives in the family. The settlement of the former family was called the "village".

For three years, on their piece of land, the Svens fought against Soviet power.For the first time, Soviet power won here in 1921. But a small group of party members led by S. Naveriani had to retreat under the onslaught of counter-revolutionary forces. A detachment of the Red Army, sent to suppress the counter-revolution, perishes together with its commander Prokhorov in the Inguri gorge, where an ambush was set up.The final victory comes in 1924, when the Svans they shoot the last Svan princes Dadeshkeliani, destroy their castle in Mazeri and restore Soviet power throughout Upper Svaneti. Its center becomes a revolutionary hearth - a small town Mestia .

Only from 1917 to 1924, before the establishment of Soviet power in Upper Svaneti, 600 men died from blood feuds here. For seven years - 600 men of Svaneti, 600 shepherds, plowmen, fathers, brothers! Almost a hundred people a year were carried away at this time by blood feuds. And there were years in the history of Svaneti when these terrible numbers were even higher.

War, strife, blood feuds were a heavy burden on a small proud people, they were a terrible misfortune. Obviously, it is from here in Svaneti that the custom of wearing such a long mourning originates. After all, if about a hundred people died only from “litsvri” per year, the Svans, who had a very wide relationship, simply never took off their black clothes, they did not have time to finish one mourning, as another began..

Wearing a national costume is no longer customary in Svaneti. The tradition is dead . This can only be regretted. And earlier Svan could always be distinguished By round felt hat.

In the Caucasus, the Svans have never been a rich people, but have always been considered the proudest and most hospitable people..
Svans respect elders. If a person enters the room, older than those present, everyone stands up.

Svans are slow, reserved and polite. They will never hurt a person. The Svan language is distinguished by the absence of swear words.. The strongest curse among the Svans is the word “fool.

Svan churches are very small, but there are up to 60 of them in the village. People come to light candles.

Christianity came to Svaneti late, only in the 9th century, and until the 19th century, priests were rarely here

There are no cities in Svaneti. Settlement Mestia is the administrative capital. 2600 people live here. Wherein Mestia has an airport.

07.07.2015

One of the most mountainous and inaccessible regions of Georgia is Svaneti. The first plane was seen there in the middle of the last century, and the first modern road was built four years ago. Why the Svans are respected and why they are feared - Kirill Mikhailov understood.

The Svans are a small mountain people who live on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Range in northwestern Georgia. According to the tradition that developed in Soviet times, the Svans are classified as Georgians, although they speak their own language, which is an independent branch in the Kartvelian language family.

Presumably, the Kartvelian language family broke up into the Georgian-Zan and Svan branches at the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, so the Svans have reason to assert that they are a separate people, although all Svans speak Georgian, and their native language remains the lingua franca. According to various estimates, 30-35 thousand Svans now live in Georgia.

The history of this people can be traced from the sources from the time of Queen Tamara (end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th century), although there are references to the Svans even among ancient authors. Thanks to several important factors - a common Christian faith, a common script - the culture of the Svans is largely shaped by Georgian culture and forms part of it. At the same time, the small mountain people living in relative isolation, unlike the Georgians, retained the tribal system, which still determines the national character.

Here is how Kornily Borozdin, who served as an official in the Tiflis province in the middle of the 19th century, describes the Svans in No. 4 of the Historical Bulletin for 1885: cloth resembling a Circassian - approx.

ed.), on thick hair, cut in a bracket, instead of caps, some small mugs of cloth were imposed, tied with laces under shaved chins; at the same time, such a headdress also served as a sling, from which the Svanetians throw stones with extraordinary dexterity. Shoes, reminiscent of ancient sandals, consisted of leather (kalaban) shoes with wool on top, tied with straps.

blood feud

Blood feud for the Svans has long become a tradition - the film "Svan" (2007), based on real events taking place in our time, clearly demonstrates this. For an hour and a half, people of different ages with violent passion kill each other. Georgians like to say that when the question was being decided whether to send this film to one of the European film festivals, the main argument against it was that if now the main thing for Georgia is to join the European Union, then after this film, membership in a united Europe will have to be forgotten.

Colonel Ivan Alekseevich Bartolomey in the "Notes" of the Caucasian Department of the Geographical Society in 1855 describes his trip to Svaneti: and the rumors of their ossified cruelty are exaggerated; I saw people before me in my childhood, almost primitive people, therefore, highly impressionable, inexorable in blood-revenge, but remembering and understanding the good; I noticed good nature, gaiety, gratitude in them ... "

In fact, rumors about the cruelty and savagery of the Svans are still circulating. Georgians like to say that on the slopes of Elbrus, the bodies of soldiers of the First Mountain Division of the Wehrmacht, better known by its emblem as "Edelweiss", are still preserved frozen into the ice. This division is also known for the fact that on August 21, 1942, its fighters hoisted Nazi flags on both peaks of Elbrus. So, in Georgia they say that it was allegedly the Svans who drove the mountain shooters from the heights of the Caucasus, killing many, but Soviet propaganda was silent about this, because the Svans killed other strangers who came to their mountains - communists with the same fury.

However, in German sources about the combat path of the Edelweiss division, serious losses inflicted by the Svans are not reported. There is a story on the Internet of one climber who, in a Svan village, was allowed to shoot from a perfectly preserved German Mauser 98k rifle, but most likely this is not a combat trophy: in early 1943, the division was hastily withdrawn from the front due to the threat of encirclement and sent to Greece. And part of the weapons and equipment had to be simply abandoned in the mountains.

Svan towers

One of the most famous symbols of Svaneti is the Svan towers. Most of them were built several centuries ago according to the same architectural plan: height up to 25 meters, base 5 by 5 meters, four or five floors with wooden ceilings, each floor has one narrow window, usually facing south, on the top floor there are several windows, but all of them are not adapted for archery or firearms. Until now, there are disputes about the purpose of the Svan towers: whether they are military or sentinel structures, or economic, but certainly not residential. To imagine how the Svans lived a century and a half ago, let us turn again to the memoirs of Kornily Borozdin: hermetically sealed. The soil here will not give birth to anything but rye, sometimes not ripening, from which smelly vodka (araki) is driven, and for three months the mountains are covered with grass, which at that time can feed a ram (herd of rams and sheep. - K. M. ) and cattle and then, except for a small amount of honey, game, foxes, small animals, there is nothing - literally nothing.

Three months have passed, the box has slammed shut, i.e., the snow has covered everything, and if people have not made provisions for the coming nine months, they will inevitably find themselves in a worse situation than those blocked in the fortress and driven to exhaustion by hunger; there you can, after all, run out to the enemy, but here you can’t run out anywhere. Consequently, one cannot exist without stocks, and where can one get them from, if not from neighbors, and, moreover, without giving anything for them for a very simple reason, since there is nothing to give of one's own. How, after that, to take from the neighbors, if not secretly and not by force? Call the free Svanets whatever sentimental nicknames you want, but, nevertheless, this does not interfere with the essence of their predatory profession at the expense of their neighbors: Karachay, Mingrelia, Princely Svanetia.

Judging by the conditions in which the Svans lived, the towers were primarily sentinel and signal: in case of danger, a fire was lit on the tower, then on the next, and so the whole gorge could quickly find out about the approach of the enemy. The towers are still a sign of the wealth and well-being of the clan, since they were mostly built near residential buildings, and not in the wilderness, and belong to families who try to preserve these structures.

Svaneti is a tiny and extremely beautiful country, now it is a region of Georgia. Here, the wild streams of mountain rivers run with a roar. Here, the peaks of the mountains are decorated with snow-white caps, and the path to them passes through cold never-melting glaciers. In these parts, narrow, not very populated by proud freedom-loving Svans to this day, river valleys ... Svaneti is divided into Upper Svaneti (Zemo Svaneti), bordering in the north along the Greater Caucasus Range with Kabardino-Balkaria and distant in the south from Lower Svaneti (Kvemo Svaneti) Svaneti Range. Mestia is the administrative center of Upper Svaneti, it is an urban-type settlement, where about 2700 people now live. The center of Lower Svaneti is the village of Lentekhi, where about 1800 people live.

I hold postcards from the set in my hands, admiring the views of ancient Svaneti. Yes, and it is not so ancient on these postcards, just over a hundred years ago these photographs were taken. During my, alas, so far only a cursory visit to these places, twice - in 2012, I, to my joy, saw that many old houses were preserved in these parts, and the Svanet towers also rise above Mestia as many centuries ago . Some traditions and customs of the Svans have not been lost either. Until now, it is not difficult to distinguish a Svan in the crowd among other Georgians, and not only by the characteristic Svan cap.

These photographs are over 100 years old. Even then, at the beginning of the 20th century, these mountainous regions attracted travelers, and there were legends about the freedom-loving proud people of these places - the Svans. Their customs, traditions, ability to live in such harsh lands delighted, surprised, their directness of views and childish ingenuity evoked good smiles, gave rise to anecdotes and, at the same time, again, could not but admire. Their severity, hot temper and adherence to principles scared away. Stories about some historical characters, passing from mouth to mouth, were overgrown with various details - where sometimes fiction became larger than the truth in size.

But, nevertheless, many stories are told to this day by the old-timers of these places.

For example, about Konstantin Dadeshkeliani, who ruled princely Svaneti. He was way too harsh. Rule hard. His subjects disliked him. And they began to grumble. They were especially indignant at how Konstantin Dadeshkeliani, without missing a single wedding, enjoys the right of the first night. Somehow, Governor-General Gagarin called him to Kutaisi to deal with him. Yes, this is what came out of it...

The governor of the Russian tsar is sitting at a large desk. Prince Dadeshkeliani enters with his eight horsemen. The governor-general did not bother to understand, did not even greet the prince, but immediately began to reprimand the prince for his unworthy behavior. Silently listened to him Konstantin Dadeshkeliani - raising his head high, standing proudly and beautifully. He was generally handsome - tall, strong. There were legends about his strength - they say he could hold a three-year-old bull on one hand, standing on his balcony. And at this time, the skin was removed from the bull.

Well, this proud Svan of a princely family is standing and silently listening, listening to the reprimand of the governor of the Russian Tsar. Doesn't interrupt. He listens for a long time. And then also, silently, without comment, he draws his saber and cuts Gagarin in half with one blow. The guards of the governor-general rushed at the Svans. The same easily fought back, jumped on horses and galloped off into the Caucasian mountains.

In 253 BC, the Georgian king Saurmag evicted his most recalcitrant subjects to these lands. The king called these lands the "Country of Peace and Tranquility". Maybe this is the reason for the excessive love for freedom, the steadfast unwillingness to be "pressed" on them by the Svans in the blood, from those distant times, the descendants of them and those very recalcitrant subjects?

The highlanders defended their independence for a long time. Only in the XV century. the princes of Dadeshkeliani captured several western communities of Upper Svaneti - Chubukhevi, Pari, Lo-Khamuli, Tskhumari and Becho. But in the southern spurs of the Main Caucasian Range, where the two-horned beauty rises - Mount Ushba, in the upper reaches of the Inguri, Svanetia forever managed to remain free, not knowing the power of feudal princes. Lower Svaneti had a different fate. It became part of the Megrelian principality when the princes of Dadiani subjugated this territory. However, they could not cross the Zagar Pass. And Upper Svanetia has been called Free Svanetia since that time. Its capital has long been Mestia.

And defending your freedom was not easy. For many centuries, the Svans waged constant, exhausting wars with warlike newcomers, who often came from the neighboring princely Svaneti. It seemed that nature itself stood guard over the freedom of the Svans. The path to them from the enemies lay through impregnable rocks, through passes or along the narrow gorge of the Inguri River. Try to hit and conquer those who are not waiting for you and do not want to give up their freedom!

There is a saying in Upper Svaneti: " A bad road is one from which the traveler will surely fall, and his body cannot be found. The good road is the one from which the traveler falls, but his corpse can be found and buried. And the beautiful road is the one from which the traveler may not fall"So, there were no excellent roads to Upper Svaneti. Only a bad road was waiting for the conquerors.

Until 1937. In 1937 a highway was laid here. It was then that the Svans saw the wheel for the first time. Sledges (even in summer, rolling through the mud) and bulls are used to move objects to this day in Svaneti, but there are already carts in every village. Yes, and cars, jeeps conquer the mountains. And once, the appearance of cars in Svaneti was a big event. Old-timers say that the old Svan, having seen the first car in his life, went to the barn and brought out a large armful of hay. He was very offended when the car ran over the hay and drove away.

Until recently, tribal relations were preserved in full inviolability in Svaneti. One genus included about thirty houses, called not houses, but "smoke". "Smoke" is also a house, hearth, pantry, household. There were usually 200-300 relatives in the family. The settlement of the former family was called so - the village.

And Russian dominion penetrated these lands slowly. Tsiokh Dadeshkeliani in 1833 began to seek protection from the tsarist autocracy in order to protect himself from his brother Tatarkhan. And Tatarkhan makes the same "knight's move". It was then that the territories of Chubukhevi, Lohamuli, Pari, Etseri, Becho and Tskhumari were preserved by the princes Dadeshkeliani. The tsarist government also has its own strategic interest in supporting the princes of Dadeshkeliani, since these lands are located with other unconquered peoples of the Caucasian mountains. Upper Svaneti begins to be ruled by a bailiff by appointment from the Russian authorities. In Tiflis, the princes Dadeshkeliani are received by Count Vorontsov, they are awarded officer ranks and various positions.

But the Svans are an incorruptible people. In 1849, the bailiff Prince Mikaladze barely survived, having carried his legs from Free Svanetia, I ran away to Mingrelia. No, the Svans cannot be "loyal subjects", this is not their free business!

The royal governors for a long time were tormented by the question of how to subjugate Upper Svaneti. What if you go not only with fire and sword, but also with a cross? Almost the entire population of Upper Svaneti was Christian, but, so to speak, with pagan admixtures. It is possible to direct forces to the rise of Christianity ... And here also the "liberation" of the peasants in 1861 went into action. Just shortly before this reform, Konstantin Dadeshkeliani and the governor of Kutaisi, Prince Gagarin, was leaving. In the end, Prince Konstantin was caught and executed. His brothers and children were expelled from Svaneti. In the same year, another prince, Otar Dadeshkeliani, also lost his princely honors. The reason was his acceptance of Islam. The tsarist officials dealt with this prince, deprived him of his lands. Thus, Chubukhevi, Becho and Pari passed into the use of the Russian treasury. And the ideas of "liberation" of the peasants found support at first among the local population, but not for long. The Svans quickly figured out what was happening, and they did not want to enslave themselves even more. And although the land reform applied only to the princely lands of Upper Svaneti, the whole country rebelled against the tsarist autocracy.

1905-1924 - years of great upheavals in Svan land. The country is coming out from under the power of the Russian Tsar. In 1918 Peasants set fire to the castles of the princes Dadeshkeliani. In 1921 in Svaneti there was an uprising against the communist regime led by Boris Pirveli. Initially, the Georgian military units sent to suppress the uprising went over to the side of the rebels, but then, under the onslaught of armed aircraft and artillery, the uprising was brutally crushed. What is noteworthy is that for a couple of years after that, the communists did not dare to meddle in Upper Svaneti without armed guards. However, in 1924 revolutionary-minded Svans shoot the last princes of Dadeshkeliani, destroy their castle in Mazeri, and Soviet power is established throughout Upper Svaneti.

Stories about Svaneti can be told endlessly ... Now I will start the story about postcards that I will not keep at home, but will send to good people who are interested in the history of Georgia. In the meantime, the postcards are in my hands - and I write about what I see on them.

Almost on each of the postcards you can see ancestral Svan towers. They are 10-20 meters high. It is believed that they were built in the XII-XIII centuries, during the "golden age" of Svaneti (as well as the whole of Georgia), during the reign of Queen Tamara. They served as a refuge not only from external enemies, but in times of blood feud they were a reliable shelter. And blood feud, it should be noted, exhausted Svaneti even more than battles with external enemies - after all, sometimes even one unkind word was enough to ignite enmity between the "smoke" for several decades. They say that sometimes families sat in them for years, eating smoked meat carcasses for the future, having large supplies of water and, of course, ammunition. The towers had access directly to the house, and the Svan's house itself was like a fortress.

View of the community of Mestia.

It was typical for men of that time in Svaneti to wear a Circassian coat made of thick domestic cloth or a tur-skin thrown over. But the head of the Svans wore pointed hats of white or black colors with fields lowered down, in the summer - round papanaks, barely covering the crown or hood - when they went to the mountains. Representatives of the upper class of both Dadeshkelian and Dadian Svanetia were often the owners of magnificent hairstyles. In general, Svans are more often characterized by hair cut in a circle, shaved or not very large beards, mustaches.

On such slopes houses are built, and the land is broken up into pastures.

The Svans are characterized by large balconies in their houses, surprisingly with wide long boards in the floor - such houses are typical even now. Only in almost every house on the balcony or roof now sits a satellite dish.

I personally stayed in a similar house, in Mestia, with a very good family.

Cultivated fields. Bulls plow the land to this day in some villages of Svaneti. Since ancient times, the Svans have managed to use for sowing corn, potatoes, and other vegetables any little bit of a slope area available for sowing. And all these "patches" of cultivated land are located at an altitude of 1700-2400 meters above sea level!

Towers, towers... Nevertheless, their main purpose was salvation from blood feuds. Men could hide in them not only themselves, but also with their whole family. And as for the invaders... So after all, not a single enemy managed to set foot on the self-loving land of Free Svanetia! More than once, the towers were also saved from avalanches descending from the mountains - because they were erected "wisely" so that with their sharp angle they would cut through the layers of ice and snow rushing into the valley.

In this photo we see bulls pulling a sled. In the summer!.. And indeed, this method of transporting various utensils can still be found in the Svanetian outback. Practical. On mud, clay, the sled glide perfectly. And a cart on wheels will only get stuck and wrap mud around the rims.

Ushguli is the highest (2200 m above sea level) permanent settlement in Europe after the Dagestan village of Kurush (2560 m above sea level). The photo shows a general view of Ushguli.

View from the slopes of Mount Tetnuldi.

These ancient churches - St. George in the village of Nakipari (community of Ipari) and St. Kvirike and Ilvite (community of Tsirmi) are famous for their frescoes, made royal painter Tevdor at the turn of the XI - XII centuries. The drawings of this talented representative of the Georgian school of icon painters are distinguished by the brightness of images, vitality, and dynamism. Their hearts are light and joyful.

More than once in my blog I will write about the Svans, more about their customs, traditions, about what I myself saw, being a guest in their families. I hope that when I return to Georgia, I will definitely, and more than once, visit this region.

Act one

Childhood...

Son, be friends with the Georgian guys, with the Azerbaijani, with the Armenians, but never go near the Svans..., Father said...

Why are they just like us...

Such, but not so... People They are very good, fair, honest - everyone would be like that... But the Svans do not forgive insults, and You are only seven years old... First you say, and then you think...

Georgia, military camp, military unit 61615, Soviet KGB troops, special government communications ... The central alley from the club, on both sides of the residential buildings - families of officers and ensigns are quartered here, between them - an officer hostel for bachelors ... 1986 ... Proudly along the alley a tall man is walking, strongly built, a huge dagger hangs on his belt ... There is a semblance of a backpack behind his back ... At the sight of his mother, children are hurriedly taken from the street ... A man walks with his son ... the boy is about eight years old, his head is held high ... A silent nod towards the military patrol (officer and two soldiers)… The officer answers with the same barely noticeable nod, intently escorts the Father and the Son to the borders of the unit… A man with a dagger passes between two posts on which barbed wire was once stretched and slowly leaves along the trodden path… Swan came to buy food…

Who are these Svans? Those who were feared even in parts of the KGB like fire?

Here is what the Great Soviet Encyclopedia says:

“... Svans, an ethnographic group of Georgians; live in the Mestia and Lentekhi regions of the Georgian SSR. The Svan tribes, who in ancient times occupied a vast territory on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus (see Svaneti) and partly on the northern slopes (mainly in the upper reaches of the Kuban River), together with the tribes of Karts and Megrelolazes (chans) formed the basis for the formation of the Georgian people. The Svans speak the Georgian language, in everyday life they also speak the Svan language. In the past, they were characterized by local features of culture and life (original forms of tower architecture, developed alpine economy, remnants of military democracy, etc.) ... "

Wikipedia is less verbose:

“... Svans live in the Mestia and Lentekhi regions in northwestern Georgia, united in the historical region of Svaneti (Svan Shwan), as well as in the Kodori Gorge of the Gulripsh region in Abkhazia. The number in Svaneti is about 60 thousand; in Abkhazia - 2 thousand people. The total number of about 80 thousand people ... "

Why were Svans tolerated in military camps, why were they allowed to walk around with cold weapons? The answer is simple - someone wise realized that if you started to oppress the Svans - it was hardly possible to have military personnel with families on the territory of Georgia ... Completely close the military camp, which had schools, a sanitary unit, several shops, a kindergarten, etc. it would have been impossible... Sooner or later there would have been casualties, and therefore an open conflict... Therefore, the Svans were treated with respect and fear... The Georgian politicians of the "Rose Revolution" did not adopt this tactic...

Conflict...

There are no indifferent or neutral opinions in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict in the North Caucasus. Either for or against... Neutrality is inherent in the Slavic peoples, but not in the peoples of the Caucasus, although both Slavs and Caucasians are, for the most part, Christians... One faith and such different opinions...

1993 - The Abkhazian troops successfully repelled the attacks of the Georgian troops, but did not occupy the Kodori Gorge, moreover, they recognized this territory as neutral ... There were reasons for this and the Abkhazians knew them very well ... The Svans were not against their autonomy ...

In Svania, an armed formation is being created, called the "Hunter" - the leader of which is Emzar Kvitsiani ...

Emzar Bekmurazovich Kvitsiani was born on April 25, 1961 in the village of Chkhalta, Kodori region, Georgian SSR, in a Svan family (a nationality, an ethnographic group of Georgians living in the Kodori Gorge). Father - Bekmurza Kvitsiani, mother - Mariam Gurchiani. Kvitsiani has a sister, Nora...

In 1988, Kvitsiani graduated from the Economics Department of the Novosibirsk Agricultural Institute. Photo-1R According to other information, Kvitsiani received his higher agricultural education in Volgograd. In Soviet times, Kvitsiani was prosecuted three times - for hooliganism, theft and on suspicion of murder. The investigation in the last case was not completed due to the political upheavals associated with the collapse of the USSR ... (Data from the site https://www.lenta.ru/lib/14163606/)

Eduard Shevardnadze, in my opinion, the most experienced politician and diplomat, in order to avoid aggravating the situation in the region, appoints Emzar Kvitsiani as a political representative in Svaneti... DOB-2R Emzar Kvitsiani held this position until the Rose Revolution... With the coming to power of Mikhail Saakashvili Georgia is trying at any cost to subjugate Abkhazia, and with it Svania, to official Tbilisi... "Hunter" turns out to be outlawed, and what is important, the fighters of the detachment were left without a salary. Consequently, their families are without a piece of bread. Kvitsiani removed as political representative...

The Rose government appoints its ministers, local representatives, and so on. Civilized negotiations failed:

Saakashvili throws out a sharp and careless remark: "I will make the mother of the one who raises his hand against the Georgian state cry."

Kvitsiani did not remain in debt: “His swearing will cost the president dearly. If he wanted to remember my mother, he could come here on July 4, when she was buried. If they talk about our mothers, we will visit their mothers. The Svans did not forgive anyone for insulting their mother ".

For Gruzin, the remark thrown by Saakashvili is identical to a foul language, rudely insulting the interlocutor and his entire family ... The conflict turned out to be inevitable ...

Mikheil Saakashvili, instead of resolving the situation through negotiations, sends troops to Abkhazia... Significant forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of Georgia were sent to the Kodori Gorge, one of the columns was detained by Russian peacekeepers... after two hours of negotiations, the column was let through... DOB-1L

Put an end to the 1994 peace treaty...

Here are the demands of Emzar Kvitsiani, under which the conflict could move from a political channel to a personal offense and be resolved by two men in other ways:

1. Dismiss Interior and Defense Ministers Vano Merabishvili and Irakli Okruashvili.

2. Restore the functioning of the "Monadire" ("Hunter") unit in the Kodori Gorge

3. Stop the persecution of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

4. Stop accusing refugees from Abkhazia of betrayal.

5. Punish those who ordered the murder of 27-year-old Sandro Girgvliani and other victims of the death squads.

Action two

Why did Leonid Kuchma learn Ukrainian?

As you know, any ruler must communicate with his people in the state language, for reasons of high-quality transmission of information and paying tribute to the traditions of the people and language. For ten years in Ukraine, the president was a man who was very difficult to talk with the people entrusted to him because of his lack of confident command of the state language ... Russian, which Leonid Danilovich spoke much better than Ukrainian, contrary to the statements of nationalist organizations, is understood by everyone . In any case, the main meaning can be disassembled, as well as other related languages ​​of the Slavic group.

During the four years of living in Georgia, at a primary school age, I was able to learn only two words, and even then I doubt the correct pronunciation ... But Georgian children knew at least two languages ​​​​from an early age - their native Georgian and Russian ... Russian was with a funny accent, but there was mutual understanding , in my opinion, even better than Ukrainians with Russians ... I remember very well the programs of Georgian television, which in the GSSR occupied most of the air of two channels - the third was Ostankino ... I couldn’t understand anything on the Georgian channel, no matter how hard I tried ... Although in everyday communication, Georgians intuitively understood speech ...

Apparently, in modern Georgia, in addition to the Russian language, English has also begun to be intensively studied. The President of Georgia freely, violating all diplomatic rules of etiquette, without an interpreter, speaks in English with the world community. Everyone is touched - oh, well done, how well he knows English ... The president likes laudatory odes and he decided to speak English with Georgians, they say, you will understand, and whoever does not understand - let him teach! ..

Now let's project the situation to Ukraine. For ten years, Leonid Danilovich, conquering his ignorance in the sphere of Ukrainian language proficiency, tried to communicate with the people in the state language. Even in the Eastern regions of Ukraine, where, it would seem, they will understand anyway, we hear the terrible surzhik of the president ...

Kuchma knew that if he started speaking Russian, they would not tolerate this and the days of his presidency would be numbered...

Kuchma knew that speaking Russian from the presidential rostrum is a gross disrespect for the inhabitants of Ukraine, and all regions.

Kuchma knew that they would not understand him either in Western Ukraine or in Eastern ...

The action is final

Photo-4L And so, why did Mikheil Saakashvili decide to just spit on his people, ethnic traditions and address the Georgians in English at a difficult moment for them? The president knows the Georgian language perfectly, as well as, perhaps, several other languages ​​(as I mentioned, Georgians are very good at foreign languages) ... Moreover, with great difficulty, but Abkhazians, Ossetians, Svans and other national minorities would understand it little Georgia... There is only one conclusion - the appeal should have been understood without translation errors by English-speaking countries... Here is a vivid example of Mikheil Saakashvili's puppetry...

Epilogue…

The concept of friendship among Georgians differs in many ways from a similar word among the Slavic peoples. These people are not able to betray a friend - they simply do not have such an ethnic option ... People are different among Georgians too - some have more civilized European views on friendship, others have the traditions of their ancestors ...

To have a friend among Georgians is to have strong support, to have a Georgian enemy... it is better not to consider such a prospect...

Let's go back to the Svans... In simple terms, the Svans are highlanders, a harsh people who honor and respect traditions to the smallest detail. The Svans are still cultivating blood feud in their concepts. Although this people belong to Orthodoxy, the Svans do not forget pagan traditions either. Friendship and enmity among this people until the end of life. The Svans have a very sharply developed self-esteem ... It was the Svans - mountaineers and rock climbers from birth - that formed the backbone of the Soviet units that defeated the German mountain rangers from the Edelweiss and Tyrol divisions during the Second World War, who did not let the Nazis in Transcaucasia. The Svans are still armed not only with Kalashnikovs and grenade launchers, but also with captured Schmeisers.

How this military-political conflict will be unleashed - time will tell, but in Georgia, apparently, not everyone was warned by caring parents that one should be careful with the Svans ... An insult in the Caucasus can cost a lot!

P.S. When a truck was taking me with my mother to the Tbilisi airport in order to leave this magnificent country for many years, majestic landscapes blurred in my eyes, a beautiful mountain landscape ... blurred from tears because. I understood that it would not be very soon, and perhaps never, I would not see this wonderful country ... A dream still lives in me to this day - to return to Georgia ...