The Concept of Tradition in the Georgian Cultural Context

Abstract

In recent years, some European social anthropologists have paid great attention to the study of the dynamics of ethno-cultural traditions. Specialists have studied not only their origin but also the conditions and causes for their disappearance or revitalization.

Ethno-cultural traditions are transient and collectively recognized principles, historically formed from generation to generation in the process of creation and development of an ethnos (tribe, people, nation); norms of multifaceted relations between people in all spheres of life are based on them. The term “tradition” was adopted in the Georgian language late and corresponds to the term “customs”.

In the 19th century, a campaign began against the policy of Russification in Georgia, aimed at eradicating Georgian national ideology and customs; the entire period of Georgia’s being under Russian rule including the period of the Soviet regime was accompanied by various measures against national traditions and customs. First of all, it was a series of reforms carried out against Georgian legislation, the unification of the judicial system and establishment of Russian laws, the transformation of the Georgian Church and the education system, etc. Russian state institutions tried to eliminate national customs under the pretext of fighting against harmful traditions.

In Soviet times, in the 1920s, as well as in the 1970s there was organized a largescale campaign against harmful customs and traditions. Traditions have been assessed as positive and negative, by their role in social progress. There was declared a fight against all the customs and traditions that were contrary to progress. Nevertheless, the old customary norms in Georgia have always played an important role in social relations and everyday life, defining the rights and obligations of a person to their society.

In the post-Soviet period, the operation of the national tradition as one of the markers of identity has become more unlimited and has acquired a different meaning. Especially when the existence of an ethnic culture or its elements is under threat. Often, the confrontation between the traditional and the non-traditional leads to the revival of an already forgotten tradition. Due to the limited capacity of state institutions, the degree of preservation of customary norms has been higher in the mountains of Georgia. It seems that this is the basis for a little reasoned opinion that the customs that have developed in the modern life of Georgians (for example, the traditional s u p r a ) refer only to the mountain communities.