leqsebi

VIOLET ON THE MOUNTAIN
17. Iavnana (“Lullaby”). Sources: Ko 26; Go 79-81. Recited in the Kartlian village K’arbi by Ek’.
Bidzinashvili. Musical settings: GFS (two variants for women’s chorus, both in 3/8 meter); HGF #2
(solo and two-voice chorus, in 4/4 meter, accompanied by the panduri, a three-stringed lute). The
women’s vocal ensemble Mzetamze has recorded no fewer than ten variants of the Iavnana on their
first two CDs. In its basic form this lullaby comprised the melody, rhythmic pattern, refrain, and
certain of the verses; the rest was improvised on the spot. The two flowers, violet and rose,
frequently appear together in Georgian folk literature. In “The knight in the leopard’s skin” they are
symbols of happiness and fulfillment (sometimes opposed to the saffron, a sign of sorrow). Only
once are the two flowers mentioned with contrastive senses: ornive mikhvdet ts’adilsa, igi
vardobdes, shen ie “May you both attain your desire; may he [Tariel] be a rose and thou [Nestan-
Darejan] a violet” [VT 1267, Wardrop’s translation]. K’ot’et’ishvili notes that in a certain folk tale
[cited in Ko 324], the violet is associated with the “queen of the underworld,” and the rose with its
king. In both cases, the violet is linked with a woman and the rose with a man. The Western reader
would never imagine that this charming lullaby, with its sumptuous images of satin, gold, and rubies,
was addressed to the supernatural beings that the traditional Caucasians dreaded more than any
others. The word “lords” (bat’onebi) is a euphemism for those contagious diseases, measles and
smallpox, which until recently exacted a horrible toll of death and disfigurement among the children
of the Caucasus. As portrayed by the Svans of a century ago, “Smallpox and Measles are brothers.
They have a mother who lives atop a high cliff by the sea shore … In the center of their home stands
a pillar encrusted with human eyes. [The mother said:] ‘My child Smallpox brings all of the eyes he
has ruined, and we fasten them to this pillar.’” [HEE I, 147-148]. The “lords” strike where they will,
and can only be warded off by being persuading, in the most deferential terms, to leave. The
Ossetians, an Indo-Iranian people of the central Caucasus, would put on great month-long feasts to
appease the spirit of smallpox [MIE 48-60], and among the Georgians not so long ago the Iavnana
was sung as part of a ritual for curing sick children. A detailed description of this practice is given in
the story Bat’onebma ar daits’unes, “The lords were not displeased,” by the 19th-century writer
Anastasia Eristav-Khosht’aria, from which I quote this excerpt: “A chair covered with a red cloth
was placed before the sick children. On the cloth were little pastries, sweets, cloth scraps in various
colors, dolls, flags, red-dyed eggs, and so forth. This was a banquet set for the lords. In a low voice
Melana recited the Iavnana to the children:
The violet and the rose, nana,
O violet, naninao,
O you lords, o you merciful ones,
O violet, naninao,
I pluck a violet, I spread out a rose,
O violet, naninao,
Bring relief to our little ones,
O violet, naninao!
“Melana rose to her feet and circled around them, dancing and waving her hands (khelebis k’vants’it
chamouara):
The lords are out in the garden,
O violet, naninao,
A white mulberry is bearing fruit,
O violet, naninao,
I was in a grove of trees,
O violet, naninao,
The aspen tree wrapped around an aspen,
O violet, naninao,
We came here from the white sea
O violet, naninao,
Seven brothers and seven sisters,
125