The Spaciotemporal Patterns of Georgian Winter Solstice Festivals
The Spaciotemporal Patterns of Georgian Winter Solstice Festivals

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the rituals and ritual symbols of winter solstice festivals in Georgia, which are discussed from a spaciotemporal perspective and which, in their turn, are based on cosmological symbolism. The article aims to show how everyday life changes through ritual into a winter mythicoritual scenario and how the surrounding built environment of a society is being mythologized. How a place of dwelling as a microcosm is opposed to macrocosm; how symbolism conveys further the dialectic of the hierophanies by transforming things or humans into something other than what they appear in the profane experience. The article investigates who are the main characters of the ritual performance. For this purpose, the selection of ritual guests and their symbolic meanings in various rituals are discussed. Also, an attempt has been made to explain what they symbolize. While exploring the rituals from the spatiotemporal perspective, it is possible to distinguish between three kinds of ritual guests: (i) the first-foot, who through ritual embodies the transcendental supernatural powers, which are represented by different saints (predominantly by St Basil, in other cases by St George, and others); (ii) Evangelical “shepherds”; and (iii) the spirits of the dead, who are divided into “visible” spirits of the dead, embodied by a group of disguised mummers, and invisible ancestral spirits of the family. All these ritual guests were unavoidable visitors at winter solstice festivals and were responsible for ensuring the wellbeing and prosperity of the family. By means of the rituals and ritual guests the society communicated with the outer world and guaranteed welfare for the forthcoming New Year.

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