The Feast-Day of Tamar and Lashari.
The Pshavi people of the eastern mountains of the Republic of Georgia perform a ritual which can be characterized as a syncretism of ancient polytheistic beliefs and Orthodox Christian faith, but which is qualified by city habitants of Tbilisi as "pagan". The ritual of Tamar and Lashari ce...
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| Format: | Video |
| Language: | Undetermined |
| Language Notes: | In English |
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[San Francisco, California, USA] :
Kanopy Streaming,
2015.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to this streaming video |
| Summary: | The Pshavi people of the eastern mountains of the Republic of Georgia perform a ritual which can be characterized as a syncretism of ancient polytheistic beliefs and Orthodox Christian faith, but which is qualified by city habitants of Tbilisi as "pagan". The ritual of Tamar and Lashari celebrates queen Tamar (12-13th century) and her son Lasha, deified by the mountain dwellers. Each year, and for three days, on the hillside of a Caucasus valley, pilgrims consecutively meet at two sanctuaries consecrated to these deities and worship them through prayers, songs and sacrifices, enjoying at the same time food and happy chats with friends they have not seen for a year. In addition to prayers and sacrifices by a shrine priest, religious songs are an essential part of the ritual. The purpose of this film is not to isolate the most archaic elements, nor to reconstitute an idealized image of a polytheistic ritual of the past, but it is to show the multiple dimensions of the festival as it happened in July 1991. Several centuries-old songs could be heard there, but also profane music, traditional and modern, rural and urban, oriental and occidental music. Filmmaker: Hugo Zemp |
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| Item Description: | Title from title frames. Electronic resource. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (streaming video file) |
| Playing Time: | Du:ra:ti |
| Format: | Mode of access: World Wide Web. |