Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

The Last Feudal Wedding
in Kakheti
1899
In the early morning hours, shrouded by a cloud of dust, the bridal procession wound
from Tsinandali through the villages of Kakheti. Four splendidly costumed riders rode in front
followed by an arba, a two-wheeled cart, carrying a large wine barrel filled with water. This
innovation had been George Chavchavadze’s idea. Two men sprinkled the road with water to
cut the dust at least for the first few carriages.
On a second, larger arba crouched a band, a big drum, a clarinet, an English horn, and
a fiddle.
The bride and her parents rode in an open phaeton, another carried the ninety-five year
old Anna Chavchavadze, Deda’s mother, escorted by her two sons George and David, the
masters of Tsinandali. Behind them extended a train of twenty-five carriages, members of the
family and their guests.
The men were dressed in full Georgian regalia: blazing red vests under short, black
coats with sleeves long and wide enough that they could hide their hands in, and despite the
sunny weather high, black fur hats. All wore their daggers on the belt over their coats and, of
course, high boots with the inevitable horns up front.
The less glamorously dressed women wore black dresses held together by a red
cummerbund, its two long ends hanging down in front, and a simple, rimless, red cap covered
by a short, white veil.
Alexandra was dressed in the splendid,white Italian dress Manana had made for her;
her veil, held to by two little Chavchavadze girls, stretched over the lowered canopy of her
phaeton.
Alongside the carriages rode a dozen of liveried riders, sabers in hand—high fur hats, a
gun in their belts, bandoleers across their chests—a flourish left over from the days of robbers
and highwaymen. The villagers waited along the road, threw flowers at the bride, and cheered
whenever David Chavchavadze tossed coins among them.
The groom was not in Alexandra’s train. In the preceding night Ilia had taken Konrad to Kvareli.
Irakli had invited the German consul in Tiflis, Herrn von Bredow, an old friend of his and David
Chavchavadze’s, to act as Konrad’s best man. Clara von Arnim, von Bredow’s young wife had
offered to stand in for Konrad’s mother
.
On the ride from Kvareli to Alaverdi, Konrad recalled the last four turbulent days.
Alexandra and he were received with a formal yet warm cordiality in Tsinandali. He noticed no
trace of the arrogance Irakli had envisioned. The cosmopolitan grace of the Chavchavadzes
disarmed him. The older members of Deda’s family spoke conversational German fluently and
made him feel completely at ease.
His conversations with David Chavchavadze were an intellectual pleasure he had not
enjoyed since his days in Berlin. No Georgian boasting and toasting, no easy nationalist
outbursts marred the formal but relaxed dinners. It had all been a great delight.
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