I must admit, Lamproba caught me off-guard this year. The Svan holiday commemorating a military victory with burning birch torches is counted a certain number of days from Orthodox Easter. This year it fell on February 1.
Fortunately, I was able to call a good friend and neighbor in my village of Etseri, and ask him to make me three extra torches, which I could not do from Tbilisi. He obliged. This autumn, though, I must make my own!
Then I put out a call for interested male friends in Tbilisi to join me on a trip up to Etseri for the event. Two answered, Georgians. We combined the trip with loading and planned distribution of about 100 gift boxes for children from the Samaritan’s Purse charity, and then really had a good thing going. One of the guys drove us up in his truck, the closed back full of the boxes.
To my surprise, the road up from Jvari into Svaneti remained free of snow and ice the whole way to Etseri. Usually, at least our last little steep zigzag up from Pari is less clean. But we didn’t even need shovel or chains or anything, although we had them. The truck also handled our snow-covered last 1 km from the main road to my house with ease.
Then we had some shoveling to do just to open the gate and make a space to drive in. But it’s been a gentler winter so far, with less snow and cold than when I did this a year ago. Then, you could walk into my yard over the fence, the snow was that high. This year, definitely not. We were soon parked. I turned on the electricity, got a fire going in the big Svan stove, and we retired to bed early, knowing that the alarm must go off at 7 tomorrow morning.
I had picked up my three torches soon after arriving, and left them upside down overnight in a bucket of diesel to be easier to light. This worked well, especially as by tradition the top ends are split to dry them out better and keep a fire more easily. We walked into the pre-dawn darkness with our flames, feeling the powerful symbolism of what we were doing. Falling snow did not hamper us, although it is unusual on this day, along with temperatures only just below freezing. I shot some video clips on my phone.
10 minutes later we arrived at our hamlet of Iskari’s designated bonfire spot, and sure enough, the conical-shaped fire was already burning, a handful of local men already there to greet us. They are always glad when someone makes a special trip for Lamproba, and I do this yearly. My two Georgian friends were experiencing this for the first time, but at least there was no language barrier between them and the Svans, of course. They acquitted themselves very well, getting to know my neighbors and joining in with me in the praying for each family in the hamlet in turn, holding up three little round ceremonial loaves of bred and facing the rising sun but praying to the Big God, as I had been told was proper years ago here.
I also shot 20 or so still frames on my digital camera. But I have long known that trying to get good video and stills at the same event is tricky for one person: there is too much distraction. I got a few useable shots, but nothing spectacular. My neighbors declared that, of all the guests I have brought to Lamproba the last few years (usually foreigners with little Georgian), these two were the best. After a few hours, we went back home, rested, and as the snow had stopped for a bit, unloaded the gift boxes from the truck into the house.
The next morning, one of my visiting friends had a sudden family issue to deal with, so we dug the truck out of the new snow and I sent them off on their long journey back to Tbilisi. Several of the teachers offered to help me distribute the boxes to all the children, an offer I gratefully accepted. It’s a bit chaotic for one person to handle alone. I am here for a week still, so we are getting this done.
I was also able to attend Qiqoba, the feast which happens two days after Lamproba. Here, too, we echoed our prayers for village families, and ate and drank together. And the singing! I told them it was better than any concert-hall experience. You can find the Qiqoba video on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/anthony.tony.hanmer).
Every Lamproba is different, yet the same thread of ritual runs through them, originating from a time unknown to the present, right across Svaneti, and indeed everywhere where Svans live. It’s a joyful time, a community time, and this is when and where I feel most at home, in deep winter, in the darkness pierced by torchlight as dawn approaches, with my friends. Grateful.
Blog by Tony Hanmer
Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with over 2000 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
