It is possible to enjoy the taste of local food, be exposed to the local culture and get to know about the traditions of Abkhazia during one day by visiting the Harvest Day Festival. It has been celebrated in the Country of the Soul every year in the fall for 40 years. Our correspondent visited the Harvest Day Festival and learned how to cook ‘thorns’, why one should collect stones and the secret of perpetual youth.
The Harvest Day Festival is among the kindest and most important celebrations in Abkhazia, and there is a reason that a forest glade in the village of Lykhny was chosen to host this festival. This very significant place is over 1,500 years old and it was the capital of the Abkhazian principality from the 15th to the 18th century. The ruins of the residence owned by Chachba princely family and the functional Orthodox church built in the 10th century are still preserved. Here, already in modern times, the first president of the republic Vladislav Ardzinba addressed the Abkhazian people - under a 300-year-old linden tree - during the war of 1992-1993. And today, according to an iron-bound tradition, the head of Abkhazia himself gives the start to the Harvest Day Festival.
The Harvest Day Festival has been celebrated in Abkhazia for 40 years and is of great importance. It is a day of kindness, prosperity and hospitality. According to local farmers, this year’s crop is bountiful, so several tens of thousand tons of tangerines will be delivered to Russia.
The Harvest Day Festival is like Abkhazian Exhibition of Economic Achievements (VDNKh) similar to Moscow’s VDNKh. This time, 20 villages of the Gudauta District of the Republic of Abkhazia made their pavilions at the historical forest glade to display their goods. The city of Novy Afon and the representatives of the North Caucasus who came from Russia joined them. In the morning, there was a busy and festive atmosphere, even the cloudy weather could not spoil it. The heavy dark sky was hanging over the mountain peaks. The outlines of an ancient church were seen against its background. My white sneakers sank into the soggy road, and lines of cars drove to the forest glade in the village of Lykhny.
“On this day, we want to show that we honor and cherish our culture, centuries-old traditions and customs. And, of course, everything related to the harvest. This year it is better than last year. Today, there are 20 villages in the Gudauta District, with about 9,000 people living in them. Last year, we harvested about 1,000 tons of corn, this year we expect to harvest three times more. And we expect to harvest 1,000 tons more citrus fruits,” said Yuri Kvaratskhelia, deputy head of the Gudauta District.
There was everything on the tables, shimmering with bright colors. Amber-color fully ripened persimmons, tangerines looking like pieces of the sun, giant rough pumpkins, roasted domestic chickens covered with fat, mutton (cooked from young goat’s flesh), wild quails, smoked brine-ripened and green - fresh - cheese, as well as spicy khachapuri (cheese-pies), purple pickled products and snow-white mamalyga (hominy) looking like the snowy mountain tops surrounding the village. Its recipe is simple - jus boil water, throw corn flour into the pot, stir and ... mamalyga is done! No need to add salt and sugar. It is better to add cheese or smoked meat to mamalyga.
“Alder sawdust is used for smoking, it gives aroma. Our ancestors used to smoke meat. There were no refrigerators at those days, and it was necessary to store what they killed while hunting,” said Roman Bogatelia, a villager from Audhara.
At the Harvest Day Festival, meat was smoked and also boiled in huge pots - meat, hearts and livers. Bundles of bright red-color chili peppers are everywhere. Adjika sauce, the most popular seasoning in Abkhazia is made from chili peppers.
“Do you see this big stone? In the old days, women put red chili pepper, garlic, salt, red basil, spices on it and they reduced it all into a paste using another smaller stone. It was a hard job. The women were not strong enough and their husbands helped them. Now, it’s quite easy to do it, you just use a meatgrinder to crush the mix and that’s it. This year I made five liters of adjika sauce, but I think it will not be enough for the winter. We eat adjika with everything - with bread and mamalyga, and we can spread it on cheese. It’s really spicy, but our souls demand adjika,” smiled a resident of New Athos, Donna Kvarchelia.
All kinds of fruit pastilles (plum, raspberry, fig) are offered for dessert, as well as the familiar churchkhela (traditional Georgian cuisine candle-shaped candies), it is called ajinjukh in Abkhazia. Tourists can taste dried persimmons - the local ‘chocolate’ - and mountain honey harvested from the honeycombs. Local people also offer Abkhazian lemonades made from local fruits - from tangerines, cornelian cherries, and quinces. There are several lemonade factories in the republic.
“And this is a thorn, such a grass. You need to boil thorns, put them in a jar and close tightly. Later on, you take it out, crush it with a meatgrinder, add nuts and spices. Once Nikita Khrushchev was treated to such a dish, and he ordered to grow more of this grass. But we do not grow it, we just pick it up in the woods,” explained Vissarion Chitonava from the village of Ankhua.
Vissarion Chitonava is 72 years old. He is wearing traditional Abkhazian clothes during the Harvest Day Festival, with the medals glittering on his chest. The former businessman was awarded for his courage during the 1992-1993 war. He said that he had already retired from business but kept on cultivating his garden. And his garden, like many others in Abkhazia, is ‘endless’.
- Don’t you get tired of working so much? After all, you are of a respectable age ... Share the secret of your youth ...
“It’s difficult to say what the secret of my youth is. I think, it’s clean air and good food. I get up in the morning and think it healthy to drink some black wine. I warm it up to make wine thick and take a couple of spoons to add me some energy. And, of course, we should love each other. When the sun comes out, you wake up and kiss your wife. When you come to your office, hug your secretary, she feels good, and you feel good, too” Vissarion Chitonava laughed heartily.
The Harvest Day Festival in Abkhazia is not just about delicious food. It is about cherishing Abkhazian traditions and respecting the national culture. Therefore, the guests coming to the Harvest Day Festival are not only the residents of the republic, but also numerous tourists. In recent years, special tours have been organized from Soya. The cost of such a tour is from 1,500 to 2,000 rubles.
“We specifically wanted to come to Abkhazia for the Harvest Day Festival. We wanted to show Abkhazia to our children. All food and fruit are delicious, including Abaza buns, cheese pies, finger-licking meat, and sweet tangerines. Everybody likes Abkhazia’s delicious tangerines! Some other attractions are Abkhazian music and dances. The atmosphere of friendship and unity at the Harvest Day Festival is so amazing,” shared her impressions Yulia Lebed, a guest from Russia.
Unusual music attracted us to the pavilion of the Amzhikuhua village. The silver-haired musician was holding something resembling a violin in his hands.
“This is a kemancha, it’s called a lyre in Greece, and a violin in Russia. They used to play kemancha at weddings, festivals and celebrations,” the musician explained.
- What’s your name?
“Ashot, or Ashotik. And everyone calls me Pushkin in the village, I had curly hair as a child. Our village used to be called Agaraki. After graduating from the school, I got training to become a driver, joined the army and served in the Irkutsk Region in Siberia, and then returned to my native village. I have seven sisters, so I had to take care of them and help my parents. Once, I saw someone playing the kemancha, asked to teach me play it. I’ve been playing ever since, and I’m already 86. The kemancha is not passed down from father to son, but to a person who plays it best. My kemancha is already 300 years old, it was brought to our village when the Armenians fled from Turkey, and then they passed it down from generation to generation. I’m looking for some young talented person now to give it to him, because I’m tired of going to wedding parties,” the silver-haired musician Ashotik said.
Any Caucasian holiday and festival cannot be without dzhigitovka (off horse riding skills). Horse jockeys with Abkhazia’s flags lined up on a historic forest glade in the village of Lykhny. There was one woman among horse jockeys, Kama Azhiba from the village of Lykhny, who is the only horse female-jokey in the Country of Soul. She had been going in for horseback riding since she was nine years old and won the first place in horseraces, covering six kilometers in a ‘couple’ of minutes. Now, Kama is a mother of three children, but she couldn’t help accepting the invitation to take part in the Harvest Day Festival, and Kama even has a national costume specially made for this important event.
“The local craftswomen did their best to make the costume very fast and it took them just three days. I met the horse named Prospect, and we ‘understood’ each other in a couple of days of joint preparations for the Harvest Day Festival. A female saddle is, of course, unusual for me, but when you approach a horse with soul, any horse can obey you,” shared Kama Azhiba.
