THE NEWSPAPER SAKHALKHO GAZETI AND THE FRONI VALLEY

Abstract

The paper analyzes publications about the villages of the Froni Valley that appeared in the newspaper Sakhalkho Gazeti (“People’s Newspaper”).

Sakhalkho Gazeti was the daily political and literary organ of Georgian Social-Federalists. It was published between 1909 and 1914 and devoted significant attention to pressing national issues, addressing the problems, hardships, and struggles of the Georgian people.

A portion of the correspondence focused on agricultural issues. The authors often discussed the quality of the harvest and its storage. Reports frequently mentioned the destruction of crops caused by droughts, rainy weather, or hail, which received considerable attention in the newspaper.

Among the problems faced by the population, a particularly notable one was the spread of the acute infectious disease cholera in the Froni Valley. The publications discussed the causes and geographic spread of the disease, as well as doctors’ lack of professionalism and the neglect shown toward patients.

Superstition was deeply rooted in Kartli, including the Froni Valley. One of its manifestations was fortune-telling. The paper provides numerous examples of how fortune tellers, merchants, and cunning opportunists of that time took advantage of peasants’ illiteracy and gullibility. As a result, there were frequent calls for the establishment of schools and the provision of proper education for the population.

To study the social conditions of the Froni Valley, an important source is the series of publications concerning issues of serfdom and land reforms carried out in the valley.

The paper also discusses in detail the churches and monasteries of the Froni Valley and the national treasures preserved there, which were repeatedly targeted by invaders of different faiths.

Key words: Froni Gorge, education, landlord, strangers, priest, orchards and vineyards, icons of the moon, household, plowing and sowing.