programa "logosi"

nilia erT SemTxvevaSi kelaptriT anu xe-sanTliT, sxva
SemTxvevaSi xe-cxeniT an xe-xariT; iseve rogorc yabaxSi Sejibris
dros xe _ frinveliT.
religiuri kompleqsi: saflavi-xe-Sewiruli cxoveli (cxeni
an xari), an maTi Semcvleli kelaptari TavisTavad umaRlesi
realobis niSania, romelSic farTo kosmologiuri azri
devs da Sesabamisad, samyaros "centrisa" da "samyaros RerZis"
aRmniSvnelia eliadeseuli gagebiT, rac niSnavs, rom saflavs,
rogorc kosmizirebul sivrces Tavisi centri aqvs gardacvlilis
saxiT da RerZi (xe-cxeni, xe-iremi, xe-xari, kelaptari,
jijbaxi) saxiT.
Nino Abakelia
SACRED TREE AND ITS ALLOMORPHIC VARIATIONS IN
THE MORTUARY AND MOURNING CUSTOMS OF
GEORGIA
Burial customs and the rituals associated with them in traditional culture
represent mythologized relations between the living and the dead, descendents
and their ancestors, between the world of the living and the world of
the deceased (the Nether world). In these mythologized customs of the
mortuary rituals the sacred tree has its definite place and role.
In Georgian culture as well as in many other cultures the sacred tree is
associated with the different phases of human life. But in every concrete
case the sacred tree reveals different information.
In this paper a ritual object, called kelaptari (i.e. artificial waxen tree),
made by close relatives or nurses of the deceased and brought to the funeral,
after forty days or at the annual commemorative ceremonies, is considered
to be a variation of the sacred tree.
Relatives of the deceased dressed in mourning clothes, riding horses and
on foot moved in procession from the far villages. They carried a big kelaptari
in front of them, which was held by the grief-stricken woman (or if it
was too heavy, it was carried by several men). Passing villages, lamenting
women screamed loudly so that everybody guessed that somebody had died
and the procession moved towards the village of the deceased.
The survived data in different parts of Georgia describing the custom are
complementary to each other and gives more or less complete and clear
picture of it.
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