Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

woman bent forward sobbing and laughing hysterically.The people gasped."She is the dead woman’s younger sister who wants to marry the widower," whispered the teacher’s wife. "She has beenwaiting for a whole year."Shalva lured the bird from its perch with his high-pitched spirit voice. It fluttered down and performed a dance, cooing andnodding before the sister of the dead woman."The spirit of the deceased has accepted the new bride."Shalva called the bird back and put it into its cage, it had done its task. Everyone was relieved.Shalva’s voice returned to normal. Slowly drumming he removed the rags from the effigy and threw them into thefireplace. Then he produced a dagger and mumbling magic formulae, cut the bread effigy into small pieces that he putinto the pigeon’s cage to prevent the spirit of the deceased from returning to the world of the living.The session was over. Shalva would receive a handsome sum from the husband, who could now marry again.As she parted, the new bride threw a handful of grain into the bird’s cage.Alexandra and Niko walked home silently with the wife of the natsvali. The natsvali waited for them at his house. Hegrinned superciliously. "The old wolf did not want you around. It was a great honor that he let you watch his ceremony.We would not break up such a soul-calling session. It’s true, the priest is not happy, but he looks the other way, what canhe do? Without the ‘permission’ of the deceased the widower cannot remarry, and Shalva is the only person who canprocure it."He shrugged. "Magic hocus-pocus, but now everyone is happy, and Shalva made a few rubles."They sat around the fire, and Niko gave a full account of the evening."Oh," said Tamara coming to life, "there are stranger things happening in this valley in spring time. In April the khevisberiused to celebrate the deer sacrifice.""Tamara," the natsvali said, "maybe one should not talk about this old magic business, it is really barbaric and ancient."Tamara, a challenging twinkle in her dark eyes, paid no attention to his admonition. "This feast used to be celebratedevery year to confirm the power of my ancestors in the valley, they paid for it." She laughed at the natsvali. "Is that thereason why you don’t want me to talk about it? Look, father has ceased to support it, it has become an anthropologicalcuriosity, the memory of which will be dead in a few years. Allow me to describe it to these lowland professors!"Grumbling the natsvali poured more raki.Tamara told about the sacred grove where the tree grew that connected the middle-world of the living with the lowerworld of the dead and the upper world, in which the shamanic spirits live, who appeared as ravens in the tree. Every yearbefore planting time a deer had to be sacrificed by all the khevisberi in the valley to reconnect the three worlds, to vouchfor a good harvest, prevent disasters such as landslides and avalanches, and confirm the authority bestowed on theDadeshkeliani by the spirits in heaven.The young men would go out and snare a live deer. On their return the hunters were received with drums and bannersand taken to the grove where the khevisberi were waiting. They had purified the area and built an altar under the tree.First the spirits of the lower world, represented by snakes, had to be appeased."As a woman I have never been allowed to attend, so I don’t know whether the shamans actually handled the snakes.""Yes, of course, there used to be a whole basket of them," added the natsvali, showing the size of the basket with hishands. "They were given ewe’s milk and set free, quite a scary affair. Everybody watched where they were going. Theoldest khevisberi read an oracle predicting disasters, such as flooding and avalanches, from the snakes’ behavior. Theyare water spirits."Tamara continued. "Then grain was offered to the ravens, who came in large numbers from all over. They were hungryafter the long winter. Anyway, before the deer arrived the ravens were shooed into the tree where they sat cawing. If theysat around for a long time and made a great noise, it was a good sign."The hunters and the men from the villages arrived with the bound deer on a stretcher. A fire was lit near the altar and thedeer was tied to the back of the strongest khevisberi. Singing and drumming the shamans carried the animal around thealtar and the fire seven times."Eventually the deer was unbound. The scared animal lay very still, resigned to its fate. Had it kicked at this time, it wouldhave been a terrible omen, which meant that the spirits did not accept the sacrifice.""Well," interrupted the natsvali, "there used to exist an approved way to calm it, if it would not lie still someone would poura bucket of ice cold water over its head. Tamara, may I finish the story, I have attended this ceremony many times when Iwas a young lad?"Tamara smiled and made an inviting gesture. He had finally caught on."Four men would hold the animal. In a flash the oldest khevisberi made an incision with a special dagger, stuck his handin, ripped out the beating heart, and threw it onto the altar. The khevisberi stood around and watched the heart, if itpumped for a long time, it was a good omen for a prosperous year."He faced Tamara. "Your grandfather would then throw the heart into the air to feed it to the ravens, shouting, ‘Long liveSvaneti and the house of Dadeshkeliani!’ Again a lot of meaning was attached to how many ravens came and how long150