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Article

Open Access

Vine and Woman—One of the Cardinal Symbols of Georgian Identity (Ethnological Research)

Author(s)

Nino Ghambashidze

Full-Text PDF Download XML 1469 Views

DOI:10.17265/2159-5526/2017.05.006

Affiliation(s)

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia

ABSTRACT

At the center of one of the ancient Georgian mythological narratives, we find a figure of the great mother Nana in the land of Batonebi. It is one of the images of paradise, suffused with eternal light, ruby marani (location for storing wine in special pitchers), and a poplar growing nearby. This poplar is the tree of life, the tree of immortality on which, in some variants, vine is climbing up. In the fourth century, as the tradition and chronicle says, before coming to Georgia for preaching Christianity, St. Nino was given a vine cross by the Blessed Virgin. In the twelfth century, the Georgian king Demetre I wrote a hymn entitled “You Are the Vineyard” which is dedicated to Blessed Virgin, the patroness of Georgia. If we look at the way in which the religious mentality of Georgians developed, we can notice a line of symbols: the vine, representing the tree of life/cross, and the holy woman (the great mother Nana, the Holy Virgin, and St. Nino), who is connected with it. The vine cross, the "Georgian Cross” that Our Lady gave to St. Nino is one of the obvious images of Georgian identity containing pre-Christian worldviews as well. different age understanding of intimacy.

KEYWORDS

Ethnology, religion, mythology, linguistics, ethnomusicology

Cite this paper

Sociology Study, May 2017, Vol. 7, No. 5, 285-291

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