GEORGIAN-GREEK “MYTHOLOGICAL RELATIONS” ON THE EXAMPLE OF ONE WEST GEORGIAN FOLK FESTIVAL

Abstract

Studying one of the West Georgian folk holidays - Tedoroba, we came to a certain point of view that its "strangeness" can be explained by the influence of Greek culture.

Tedoroba was a famous West Georgian fertility festival. On this holiday, people especially prayed for the abundance of domestic animals. According to materials that have come down to us, this festival took place in a special form in Guria (one of the regions of western Georgia). This "strange" ritual was used to reproduce horses. Judging by the scientific literature available to us, this so-called "strange" ritual has not been studied before.

The participants of this ritual were only mail. This folk festival in Svaneti, Guria, and Samegrelo was dedicated to the vigor and propagation of horses. The study of this so-called “strange” festival brought us to the colonization of the Black Sea by Greeks, and Greek mythology. In my opinion, this holiday may be connected with Poseidon who is believed to give birth to horses from water. 

Based on Georgian and foreign historical, archaeological, ethnological, religious, and mythological literature, we have come to a certain point of view that in the mentioned holiday there are traces of pagan Greek religious and mythological thinking associated with the sea, Poseidon, and related religious beliefs.

Keywords: Georgian-Greek relations; mythology; sea; horses; Poseidon.