Torch this Place: Svaneti

Off the rant roll of the past couple of weeks for now and on to much more agreeable things.

Last Sunday, the February 5, was Lamproba in this part of Svaneti; elsewhere up here in the mountains it's celebrated on different dates and in slightly different ways, and may be remembered by Svans in other parts of the country in addition. But I find myself best able to enter into the spirit of this particular local holiday with full gusto here in Etseri.

Lamproba, the Festival of Torches, commemorates a centuries-old military victory achieved through the lighting of said torches to surprise and overwhelm the enemy. When? Who? Lost in the mists of time which were Svaneti in the silent Middle Ages. But the skeleton of the tale, and its remembrance, lives on.

Men make birch torches, one for each living male family member of any age, by splitting one end of a cut bough repeatedly with an axe until it fans out slightly and is much easier to burn. Before sunrise on the appointed day, once a year at about this time, they gather by hamlets in agreed places, bringing their already lit torches in procession, then assembling them in the snow into a magnificent bonfire.

They also bring small round loaves of special bread, and toasting drink, either moonshine or wine. The hamlet's elders hold these offerings aloft as the sun rises and pray a blessing for the men of each family there represented. The fire burns for some hours, and all gathered try to prolong this until the torches are entirely consumed, often melting the snow under them down to the ground in the process. Then they head off to the home of whichever family has the task that year of providing the hamlet's supra, or feast, and things proceed as they usually do at such events in Georgia, only without undue emphasis on the dead, who, at this event, only get the obligatory remembrance toast or two, nothing more- the emphasis here is on blessing!

I have participated in Lamproba or its similar versions in Etseri's hamlets of Iskari (where our house is) and Ladreri (from where I was introduced to the village in 2000), as well as in Mestia and Ushguli when I lived there. But my original hosts from 17 years ago in Ladreri have always, every year, made my torch, and it burns there, with or without me. This means a lot, and I try to be there and nowhere else for the event, to show respect and appreciation for this honor.

It's strictly a men's event, and one which unites us in brotherhood, friendship, neighborhood and more. We cherish it. One of the many joys I have living here is also the opportunity, as the years build up, to compare not only successive days, but repetitions of annual or frequent events to each other. And I may say that Lamproba has never let me down; it's a good one. An important ritual, simple but profound, the contrasts of fire, pre-dawn, cold, snow and heat, and sunrise all playing off one another as we enter in. As they say for all such positive holidays, mravals daestsarit, may you meet many such: in other words, may your life be both long and good, measured in these high points! Bring on the lit torches!

Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with over 1350 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/

He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri:

www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti

Tony Hanmer