Azerbaijanis in Georgia celebrate Novruz with a surreal twist

Text and video by Onnik James Krikorian

Georgia is known for its music festivals, from the traditional to electronic, jazz, pop, and rock. Minorities, however, are rarely included in larger events, including ethnographic one. Nonetheless, they still practice their culture as well as that of the majority. This is particularly the case for Georgia’s largest minority, ethnic Azerbaijanis. Numbering around 230,000, most living outside Tbilisi, the capital, in the Kvemo Kartli region of the country.

Later this month, on February 25, Georgia’s ethnic Azerbaijani community will celebrate its main festival, Novruz, just as their ethnic kin will in Azerbaijan itself.
Better known to many as the Persian New Year, it is also celebrated in Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, and elsewhere. The month long celebration will start by celebrating Water Tuesday, with each subsequent Tuesday dedicated to the remaining three of the four elements – fire, earth, and wind. The main Novruz event itself, however, will be held on 20-22 March depending on the country and peoples marking the holiday. For Azerbaijanis, however, that will be on the 21sh March. For all but at least one small ethnic Azerbaijani village of Sartichala-Mughanlo in the Gardabani district. Unlike their ethnic counterparts in Georgia, the roughly 4,000 residents there will mark it on the 22nd. They will also mark it very differently. Though they will light the traditional fires and layout their kitchen tables the same way, villagers dress up as animals, cartoon and film characters, and even world leaders.

Brandishing sticks, they lightly use them on those in attendance who then donate money for the village. Though the sight of this can be startling for anyone unaware, the money collected is used for charitable causes when the need arises. For repairing the mosque, for example, or as one villager, 62-year-old Gambar Huseynov, recounted, assisting socially vulnerable families or individuals. This unique and often surreal festival is also marked on each of the four Tuesdays beforehand. Passed down for generation to generation, it’s precise origin remain unknown, says Huseynov. It’s been celebrated like this for maybe 100 years, he says. Maybe even 200. It is nonetheless a festival not to be missed.