1) According to general knowledge, Georgian society is defined by strict exogamy. Marriage between relatives is strictly forbidden up to seventh generation and it is restricted among inhabitants of the same village. In contrast, tsatsali could be a villager or even a relative.
2) Marriage, sexual intercourse and childbirth was strictly forbidden among tsatsalis; and
3) In traditional Pshavi-Khevsureti, as in other Caucasian mountainous regions, marital relationship was fundamentally asymmetric while complete equality was inseparable from tsatsloba.
It is noteworthy that when tsatsalis were not blood relatives, in many cases they would fall in love with each other (incest was extremely rare phenomenon in Georgian culture, and I am not aware of any cases when relative thathalis would fall in love with each other. Relatives’ behavior in this traditional relationship was presumably governed by strict societal ban on any kind of sexual relationship among relatives, thus I assume it would not go so far to acquire any romantic odor). Georgian folklore is amplified with verses describing the love between tsatsalis, and the oral history of mountainous people has accumulated great many suicidal stories about how tsatsali girl would prefer to die but not to marry another man in her life (the point is that she was not allowed to marry her tsatsali friend).
From the point of view of not a mere observer but of a Georgian raised in a traditional Georgian society, I identify several problems with this allegedly nice and healthy tradition. One of the main problems is the (a)sexual definition of this phenomenon: while girl had to remain virgin, she could enter into “sexual” play with his tsatsali, however without any kind of sexual intercourse. Current medicine and psychology has firm scientific belief of the detrimental effects of such pseudo-sexual “intercourse” that if repeated and perpetuated causes too many psychological disorders in both male and female body. Critics (Gaprindashili, 1995) claim this is one of the most negative aspects for such a custom, and I thoroughly agree. Another unfavorable consequence was above-mentioned suicides initiated by society’s ban to marry tsatsali, which was more widespread in females than males. This latter I explain by mountainous society’s more strict definition of framework what behavior was favorable for men than for women. For example, being in love, crying and longing for a beloved was generally viewed as a "woman's issue" and men would a priori reject notion to suffer from being far from their soul-mates.
Interestingly enough, tsatsloba as a phenomenon characterizing a way of life is against ancient Christian values practiced widely even in the mountainous regions of Georgia from as early as the 10th century. This issue makes us think that this custom is a remnant of the pre-Christian culture (along with numerous other remnants in the mountainous regions in Georgia, frequently mentioned by researchers but generally with no connection to the aim of this paper and thus not mentioned here except of one of them) which was never eliminated by Christianity itself but remained as some kind of adjustment of the Christian values to aforementioned harsh aspects of everyday life. One of such phenomena kadagoba is to be mentioned here, when during usual religious gathering an ordinary member of the society would suddenly fall on the ground and claim to have a temporary extraordinary ability to communicate with and receive immediate responses from God about the sharp and important for the whole community issue.
Sharashidze (1968) underlines the fact that the ground for Pshavi-Khevsuri culture was tsatsloba and kadagoba. Both of them were direct, first-hand relationships: tsatsloba between a woman and a man, kadagoba – a kadagi and the God. In contemporary highlands in Eastern Georgia no customs of tsatsloba and kadagoba has been observed since Second World War while other traditions are practiced widely (in slightly changed mode but anyway) (Tuite, 1999). As a matter of fact, the destruction of traditional Pshavi-Khevsuri religious system started exactly by losing these two customs (Sharashidze, 1968), and this fact has great importance for the aim of this paper.
What in fact caused the elimination of tsatsloba? Every tradition, characteristic, custom conveys some culturally important belief, which is crucial for a defined ethnographic unit. Evaporation of such customs indicates an important change in the societal understanding and culturally embroidered societal conscience. What historical moments facilitated to such changes in societal conscience in contemporary Pshavi-Khevsureti?
As I have already mentioned above, the centuries of daily life in the mountainous regions in Eastern Georgia would pass in seclusion, untouched and free from the influence of laymen and lowlanders, who were in routine touch with other cultures. The harsh choices of life that Caucasian mountains dictated to its inhabitants prompted the dedication of highlanders to their ancient ways, influenced “the essentials of their frugal interests” (Gogolashvili, 2003), determined the image of their ancient norms and constructed an interesting samples of complex social identity which was so much in tune with the natural conditions and climate. In particular, the tradition of tsatsloba suggests an emotional appreciation of beauty and rare available joy that depicts a true picture of spirit of living for centuries at the altitude of the clouds.
However, the seclusion of mountainous regions in Georgia was greatly disturbed after Second World War. Accelerated changes in social life and global culture started to take place in the country and particularly in its economic, political and cultural center, situated in the lowlands, and together with this the highland regions faced an unbalanced and distorted confrontation with the modern changes in public life, especially with the invention of television and consequent doses of global mass culture that television (along with other types of mass media: newspapers and magazines) started to spread out indiscriminately. Thus, the applicability of modern concepts of general social standards and norms to those of the highlanders, and vice versa, became the major issue of concern of the society, because while comparing the state of ethnic culture to the general picture of modern life even in the neighborhood of the region where this culture exists, the first important issue is the controversy between the old attitude and vision of life and ways of the contemporary lifestyle (Gogolashvili, 2003). Here we encounter one of the brands of diffusionism which emphasize different cultural mechanisms of transmission. This variant stresses “infiltration or migration into adjacent lands as the main means by which groups of superior cultural potential spread objects and ideas among their neighbors” (Wolf, 1997, p.124). which is well-known phenomena in Anthropology.
Bardavelidze (1974, 1982) rightly points out that for many decades after the Second World War the mountainous regions of Georgia were practically neglected with respect to financial support for their economic and cultural needs. The help they received (building roads and electric stations during Soviet period) was initiated by the more serious requirements and reasons of the “Soviet republican importance”. As for immediate cultural needs of them, the direct attention received would be either spontaneous or superficial and limited to occasional local celebrations and festivals (Gogolashvili, 2003). Scarcely anything was done to facilitate everyday life chores and the personal/spiritual needs of the people. As a result, the tendency to leave highlands, their traditional areas, and to migrate to lowland, which could offer far more means for every aspect of life, was initiated soon after Second World War. This tendency was constant and led to sharp and steady devastation of mountainous areas. Besides, this process of migration was usually associated with the young generation, whose members had to become successors of all traditions, and if there were nobody from younger generation at the mountainous village, who would continue tradition of tsatsloba?
The point I elaborate upon does have its historical meaningfulness. Devastation of highland villages was considered to be the sharpest problem in Soviet Georgia in the second half of 20th century, and in order to encourage youth to return to their homelands several state programs were run by the state governmental agencies in late 70-80th (Ochiauri, 1991). In addition, several documentary or feature films were shot and circulated widely on national TV programs. However, this highlighted issue never received an adequate response from the youth that had been used to far easier living conditions in lowland and did not want to abandon their new “motherlands”.
Another important reason for fading out tsatsloba lies in Soviet restrictions of discourse on sexuality. During the Soviet era, authorities tried to impose a prudish moral code on their comrades, outlawing sex and nudity even in arts and literature. Starting from Lenin’s era (“The revolution demands concentration. It cannot tolerate orgiastic conditions! Dissoluteness in sexual life is bourgeois, is a phenomenon of decay”. Zetkin, 1934), the situation only worsened during Stalin’s period: scientific research about sexual behavior was banned; erotic imagery in art and literature was outlawed; painters made sure to depict fierce-looking women in peasant blouses buttoned up to their chins; homosexuality was prohibited as a capitalist vice in 1934; sex - like so much of Soviet life - went underground. And it took such extreme shape that in 1988 one Soviet woman declared in a televised satellite debate between the United States and the Soviet Union: “There is no sex in the Soviet Union”.
Surely no such sexual custom could survive under such stressful conditions. But what about the period after communism? Why tsatsloba was never reinvented after demise of communist empire?
There are numerous researches done about the reinvention of nationalism and traditions after destruction of Soviet Union. Let me bring an example from the Central Asia: many Kyrgyz people refer to bride kidnapping in their country as a “national tradition”, thus justifying its existence (Kleinback, 2000). And though this tradition was somewhat faded during Soviet times, it has revived since 1990s and constitutes one of the most acute problem of women’s human rights violation in Central Asia (where unconsented marriages frequently lead towards unhappy wives’ suicides through their self-burning). Historical context is needed for understanding this practice in 21st century’s countries, and this context is mutually intertwined with the notion of the revival of tradition.
Definitely in connection with this goes the notion of Muslim religion’s revival in Central Asia and Christianity’s revival in post-Soviet Georgia. During the Soviet era, Islam's and Christianity’s intellectuals were repressed, and most progressive Muslim and Christian leaders were silenced or annihilated (Tabyshalieva, 2000). Revival of religions and religious rituals go on tune with the notion of national revival and national identity (re)construction. From my own observation as well as according to the general belief in Georgia, the majority of Georgians who turned back towards the religion in the beginning of 1990s were merely supporting the then-popular idea of national identity revival, and was in no way connected with suddenly increased trust in God.
Both bride-kidnapping and religious issues in the Central Asia I assume are linked with so-called post-colonial nationalism, which is a pride in one’s national identity. This identity is connected with the said nation that has broken free of colonial rule by a larger world power. Not only Soviet Union but also Eastern Communism regimes can be located under the label of such “large world power”.
For instance, Beller (1991) elaborates on causality of another example of national revival by making an interesting comparison between histories of Western and Central Europe. He states that while "invention of tradition" has become a major, and most intriguing, cottage industry within the historical profession, there does seem to be a large difference between the histories of the Western European nation-states on the one hand, and the histories of Central European nations on the other hand. Simply saying, the histories of France, Britain, Italy and Germany (with some qualification) work and convince, whereas those of the Central European nations are much less convincing, much shakier in the claims they make on our credulity. The reason for this is that, no matter how much is invented, a British, French, Italian or German historian can follow centuries of continuity of a "national" state while this is not the case in Central Europe. Either there were states whose history had come to a halt, or whose history had only now to be either disinterred or invented anew. What was lacking in each state was authority, the authority of continuous tradition. Nationalism was the means chosen to fill this gap, or replace it by a completely different set of bridges between the inhabitants of the region (Beller, 1991). However, nationalism is, from the viewpoint of the functional differentiation thesis, an illusionary ideology which brings forth logically impossible inclusion, namely the national identity of modern individual (Tokuyasu, 1999).
For the sake of this paper, I will not engage into the debate with the functionalists’ challenge whether those customs were merely compensatory mechanisms in former patriarchal societies. This would shift my focus from my primary goal towards discussing functionalism-related issues that I am not going to undertake here, especially because of lack of material here at CEU (as well as the focused research on this tradition in general) about preconditions of tsatsloba.
As particularly for tsatsloba, Georgia continues to be a traditional country where premarital sex is sinful and not welcomed by the society. However, there is gradually increasing tendency to introduce girlfriend-boyfriend institution in the country. But even if this institution is fully introduced and established in mountainous regions (which is not the case now) tsatsloba will no longer be applicable there. To my understanding, one reason for it is that there is no more seclusion of mountainous regions in Georgia. Just on the opposite and still to my surprise, during my recent visit in Germany I recently met a German man married on a Georgian girl from Pshavi region, who told me that this girl had the opportunity to go to Germany for a year to be a babysitter there and this was the way they met. This means that the roads and possibilities are open for everybody including people from formerly secluded areas, and no sense of seclusion in the case today (Baliauri, 1991). It goes without saying that for people who has full access not only to the culture from lowlands but even to modern Western values and culture (in whatever sense this “culture” may have) any tradition like tsatsloba would seem simply foolish to follow. Why foolish? Because:
1) By introducing contemporary technical equipment to highlands (this process has started to some extent as early as the period after World War II) there are steadily increasing chances to escape such harmful aspects of everyday working life which would inevitably cause young women to lose their beauty rapidly and would justify the institution of tsatsloba;
2) Because of outside influence, there is increased tendency of introduction of boyfriend-girlfriend institution in Georgia and in case tsatsloba would be reinvented it would be seen as having a girlfriend-boyfriend rather than an old custom of ethnic origin;
3) There is no guarantee that in the light of today’s wide-spread television and mass media tsatsali (both a girl and a boy) will resist great interest in an opposite sex and will not succumb to his/her bodily calling, thus thwarting all the notion of tsatsloba; and
4) Even if tsatsloba occurred again, due to lack of modern societal restraints on marriage politics it would be impossible to ban marriage between the two tsatsalis. Thus the whole phenomenon of tsatsloba would lose its sense and become merely mockery.
To my understanding, these are but a few reasons why I think this formerly deeply rooted tradition tsatsloba will not be reinvented again in contemporary highlands of Eastern Georgia. However, as Geertz (1973) argues in his The Interpretation of Cultures, cultural analysis is intrinsically incomplete. The more deeply it goes, the less complete it is. It is like that Indian story about the world rested on a platform which rests on the back of an elephant which rests on the back of a turtle, and it is turtles all the way down (Geertz, 1973, p.28). To my understanding, the credibility of cultural analysis, in search of all-too-deep-lying turtles, is quite suspicious especially when the issue discussed is an old and outlived tradition such as tsatsloba. Nevertheless, I attempted to look at this tradition from the lenses of modernity to understand what has blocked its viability in nowadays world full of re-invented national characteristics and identities.
To conclude, it should be noted that some culturally determined traditions and customs lasted for many centuries (for example, many scholars believe that tsatsloba had deep roots in pre-Christian period), because the ethnic mentality of a particular society was determined by the centuries of estrangement induced this society’s geographical and climate factors. Besides, difficulties in many aspects of everyday life and ethics would facilitate invention and establishment of such customs. But that is not the case in the modern Caucasus anymore. As Giddens (1995) rightly pointed out, tradition is not static, because it has to be reinvented by each new generation as it takes over its cultural inheritance from those preceding it. It means that tradition is located not only in space but also in time. Current Georgia is rapidly advancing contemporary country where no geographical unit enjoys seclusion so characteristic just a century ago. Let me just hope that some other “traditions” deeply embedded in the societal conscience (such as bribery and laziness, these two evils widely spread during communism) will vanish completely as tsatsloba and other culturally determined, formerly deeply rooted and now meaningless customs did.
Lela Purtskhvanidze
MA in Gender Studies
CEU, 2003 - 2004
Bibliography:
Baliauri, N. (1991). Stsorproba Khevsuretshi [Tsatsloba in Khevsureti]. Tbilisi: TSU
Bardavelidze, V. (1957). Древнейшие религиозные верования и обрядовое графическое исскуство грузинских племен. Tbilisi: Metsniereba
Bardavelidze, V. (1974). Agmosavlet saqartvelos mtianetis traditsiuli sazogadoebriv-sakulto dzeglebi, I. Pshavi. [Traditional societal-ritual monuments of Eastern Georgia, I. Pshavi]. Tbilisi: Metsniereba
Bardavelidze, V. (1982). Agmosavlet saqartvelos mtianetis traditsiuli sazogadoebriv-ritaul dzeglebi, II. Xevsureti. [Traditional societal-religious monuments of Eastern Georgia, II. Khevsureti]. Tbilisi: Metsniereba
Beller, S. (1992). Reinventing Central Europe. Center of Australian Studies Working Paper. Retrieved March 21, 2004, from http://www.cas.umn.edu/wp925.htm
Gaprindashvili, Z. (1995). Tsatslobis zogierti aspeqtisatvis. [For some aspects of Tsatsloba]. Tbilisi: Metsniereba
Geertz, C. (1973). Thick Description: Towards an Interpretative Theory of Culture. In The Interpretation of Cultures. Basicbooks.
Giddens, A. (1995). Consequences of Modernity. Polity Press.
Gogolashvili, K. (2003). The Mountain as a Concept of Human Nature. Alienation in Time and Space: Vision of the World as a Unity of Order and Drama. Retrieved March 5, 2004, from http://www.inst.at/berge/kaukasus/gogolashvili_k.htm
Kharadze, R. (1939). Didi ojaxis gadmonashtebi svanetshi [Remnants of big families in Svaneti]. Tbilisi: Metsniereba
Kharadze, R. (1963). Teritoriul-mezobluri gaertianebani Svanetshi [Territorial-neighboring units in Svaneti], pp.387 – 402. Tbilisi: TSU
Kleinbach, R.L. (2000). Kyrgyz Bride Kidnapping: Third Edition. Retrieved March 21, 2004, from http://faculty.philau.edu/kleinbachr/new_page_1.htm
Maglaperidze, V. (1983). Qalis saxe “Amirandarejanianshi” [Women in “Amirandarejaniani”]. Tbilisi: Tsiskari.
Makalatia, S. (1935). Mountain Regions of Georgia. Tbilisi: Metsniereba
Nijaradze, B. (1962). Historical-ethnographic essays, I. Tbilisi: TSU
Ochiauri, A. (1991). Kartuli xalxuri dgeobebi agmosavlet saqartvelos mtianetshi (Pshavi). [Georgian folk gatherings in a mountainous region of Eastern Georgia (Pshavi)]. Tbilisi: Metsniereba
Pshavela, V. (1964). Complete collection of works, Volume IX. Tbilisi: Soviet Georgia
Sharashidze, G. (1968). Le systeme religieux de la Georgie paienne. Paris: Maspero.
Tabyshalieva, A. (2000). Revival of Traditions in Post-Soviet Central Asia. World Bank Discussion Paper No. 411, Europe and Central Asia Gender and Development Series. Pp. 51 –57 Washington: The World Bank
Tokuyasu, A. (1999). Pluralization of Meaning-Construction in the Global Age. . Retrieved March 21, 2004, from http://www.mt.tama.hosei.ac.jp/~atokuyas/SocioA03.html
Tuite, K.J. (1999). For etymology of Tsatsloba. . Retrieved March 21, 2004, from http://www.caucasology.com/amirani1/kevin.PDF
Wolf, E. (1997). Anthropology among the Powers. US: Social Anthropology
Zetkin, C. (1934). Lenin on the Woman Question. New York: International Publishers
