For a start, you should realize that most Georgian’s don’t celebrate Christmas on December 25- in fact, on our most important day, most Georgian kids are still at school and business are open as usual. That said, the streets are lit from around December 10 (check out the electric Christmas Tree in Freedom Square!) and the shops are well-decorated and packed with New Year offers from late November.
For Georgians, New Year is where it’s at.
The New Year tradition, while slowly becoming more Western in style (party after party and so on till dawn and beyond), starts with food and family. Most Georgian meet the midnight bell with their close and extended family at a dinner table laden with goodies of the season [See Where to Eat section] and wine. Like in the west, Georgians traditionally welcome the ‘First Foot’ (Mekvle) into the house, a senior person in the family who brings through the door with him good luck and handfuls of candies. Small gifts are given to children and then, at some time around 1am (or as soon as they can extract themselves from the bosom of the home), teens and students head out to celebrate at friends’ houses, bars and clubs.
Visiting friends (and feasting) continues into January first. When visiting guests, take some candy with you and say: “Gilocavt Axal Tsels, sixaruli, bedniereba, janmrteloba” which means ‘Congratulations on the New Year. Love, happiness and health!’
January 2nd is Bedoba and it’s said that anything you do today will reflect on the rest of the year- so don’t expect to see many people working or stressed!
January 7th is Georgian Christmas. This again means a family feast, but is much more about the Church, with parishioners staying at Mass on the night of the 6th to welcome the birth of Christ, then coming home to eat and drink to his good health, so ending the long fast which started in November.
January 14th is ‘Old New Year’ but is not an official holiday, nor does it have any specific traditions outside the Church. Though that won’t stop the party from continuing…!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE WHERE.GE TEAM!