The Georgian Diaspora in the North Caucasus: Some Aspects of Spiritual Culture

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2020-52-4/188-198

Abstract

In recent years, the Lomisoba holiday has become an important event in life of the Georgian diaspora in North Ossetia. It is held on the first Wednesday after the Holy Trinity (Troitsa) in the vicinity of the village Balta, located on the Georgian Military Highway. The origins of this holiday go to the Georgian region of Mtiuleti, where locals venerate St. George of Lomisy, whose personal holiday – Lomisoba – is held annually in the village Mleta. The Georgians of Balta, as well as the inhabitants of the neighboring villages Chmi and Nizhny Lars, maintain many folk traditions from the sphere of spiritual culture (folk beliefs, family and calendar rituals). This is partly due to the maintenance of constant contacts with relatives from neighboring regions of Georgia. As a rule, holidays in most of the multi-ethnic regions of the Caucasus have always created favorable conditions for communication between representatives not only of different peoples, but also of different confessions. According to the collected materials, this is still the case for the festive culture.

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