It is New Year’s Eve and the busiest time of year for shops and markets and bakers. Everyone is preparing for the New Year feasts, which will begin after midnight tonight and continue well into the next day.
It is one of the most important celebrations of the year.
Tables will be groaning beneath the weight of barbecued pork, roasted turkey, satsivi (chicken boiled in nut sauce), suckling pig, boiled and fried fish, fruit, nuts, salads, lobiani (bean bread), khachapuri (cheese bread), churchkhela (long strings of nuts dipped in grape juice), suluguni cheese, mchadi (corn bread) and cakes.
This will be accompanied by Georgian wine, traditionally drunk from ram or goat horns called kantsi.
Some of the horns can take 2-3 litres of wine and it is traditional to drink the horn dry in one go!
Bread is an important part of the feasting and bakers have been working all night. People have been queuing outside our local baker since 5.00 a.m. this morning, each waiting to collect their 40 or 50 breads!
We were lucky. Our taxi driver (the one with the beautiful white Volga) collected our breads when he picked up his. He had been queuing for 6 hours!
We will be thinking of family and friends at midnight. There is a tradition here called Mekvle (somebody who visits you first in the New Year). The appearance of a Mekvle, who wishes happiness, success and prosperity to everyone in the coming year, is a long standing tradition and is often performed by a family member who is let out for a few seconds to let him/her enter first and bring joy.
Georgian hospitality, generosity and love of life is famous. In fact, it goes back to the beginning!
“When God was distributing portions of the world to all the people of the Earth, the Georgians were having a party and doing some serious drinking. As a result, they arrived late and were told by God that all the land had been distributed. When they replied that they were late only because they had been lifting their glasses in praise of Him, God was pleased, and gave the Georgians that part of Earth He had been reserving for Himself.”
I wish all my friends a very happy and prosperous New Year. I wish I could be your Mekvle and be the first to greet the New Year with you.
Sounds really nice and yummy!
Love the foundation legend!
Happy New Year my friend!
Love…
Milka.
Happy New Year Milka. I wish you every success in 2012! Love from your friend Bassa xx
I like to wish my Georgian canine friend a happy and safe New Years. I love your traditions. Maybe I can start the Mekvle tradition in my town.
Handsome
Thank you very much Handsome! Wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year!
Happy new year, Bassa! I wish you lots of happiness in 2012! 🙂
Happy New Year Dianda. Thank you for all of your lovely comments this year. Wishing you a fantastic 2012. Keep blogging!
Thanks for the very interesting story about the tradition in Georgia, Bassa!
Wow ram or goat horns that contain 2-3 litres! Plus 40 or 50 breads!!! surprised me! You were lucky that the driver got yours wating for 6hrs!
Thank you very much for your wonderful posts this year, Bassa!
I wish you, your tall person, De and the little person a very Happy New Year!!!
love from Kevin xx 🙂
Thank you Kevin. Happy New Year to you and your family. Thank you for all of your wonderful comments this year! Love from your bassa xx
Puts our drunken parties and fireworks to shame! Can I come celebrate with you?
Come on over Rumpy! I would love to celebrate New Year with you 🙂
P.S. Don’t forget to bring your drinking horn (the large one!) 🙂
Happy New Year Bassa! We send you 13 wishes for health, prosperity, fun, love and a happier year than ever before. This post taught us a lot about the traditions of Georgia! Great post and we 12 collies all hug you Bassa!
We also wish your family a prosperous, fun, loving and healthy New year!!! Dad wants to try the drinking horn! 🙂 He says it sounds like fun!
God Bless You !
Chuck and the 12 celebrating Collies!
Happy New Year Chuck and the 12 amazing celebrating Collies! I wish you all good health, happiness with each other and others and much success in 2012. Love from your Bassa xx
HAPPY NEW YEAR HONEY!!! 🙂
Happy New Year!! I wish you the best of the best in 2012! xx
i wonder how long it takes people to drain that wine in one go…hmmm…happy new year Bassa from Cassie, Keanna, Princess, and Vanilla Bean xoxox
It doesn’t take them long! Happy New Year Cassie, Keanna, Princess, and Vanilla Bean xxxx
What wonerful New Year traditions. You had my mouth watering with all the mention of the food escpecially the bread, I love breads 🙂
Happy New Year to you Bassa and your family!!
You would love the bread here. It is baked in traditional clay ovens and is usually hot when we pick it up from our local baker 🙂
What a wonderful tradition! I wish you could be my Mekvel too Bassas.
Happy New Year to you, the tall one, De and the small one.
It sounds like you get to have a very nice feast. I love hearing about all the food you get to eat, but my person says she loves learning about your traditions. Happy New Year!
Can I come over to your house for New Year’s next year?
Happy New Year! My, this was interesting, your traditions were a learning experience! Thank you for sharing.
Hi Bassa. You came up as the top supporter on my blog this past year. Thank you so much. You’ve been a great encouragement to me,.
Happy 2012 Bassa! We loved reading this legend- thanks for sharing such a cool tradition!!!
We enjoy reading your blog so much and have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award! You can see it here: http://loveofmydogs.com/2012/01/03/versatile-blogger-award/
All the best!!
-Deanna and the gang: Harley, Scarlett, Chelsea and Roory
Thank you so much Deanna and the gang: Harley, Scarlett, Chelsea and Roory! I will prepare a post and send you a link x
Great post! Learned more about Georgian merrymaking! Picked up a pair of kantsi before I left Tbilisi. Now I know how they are used. 🙂