Ushguli, August 2007

The evening of Maryamoba (see yesterday's pics) gave me my first ever Svan wedding - a nice change from the 6 or 7 funerals I've been to in Svaneti. It felt like God was saying, Enough mourning already - let's party! Below are two shots from the feast, blurred intentionally because ALL of the subjects are in witness protection programmes. No, seriously, they are. No, really... OK, I didn't have my flash with me but rather wanted to capture the moment on film anyway. This is what a 1/4 or 1/2 second shutter speed looks like handheld by a SOBER person, in case you've ever wondered.

The top shot is as we left Ushguli towards Lentekhi. My two American lady tourists, having driven all the way from Baku to Uahguli, now wanted to return to Tbilisi by another, worse, route, just for the heck of it. At least it gave us a change of scenery - and the road was no rougher, better even, than the worst they've been on in Azerbaijan...

Wedding, Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Mtskheta, Georgia, February 2007

Now there's a mouthful of a name!

Svetitskhoveli is one of the oldest churches in Georgia, at least foundation-wise. It's magnificently set in Mtskheta, which was the old capital, functioning as such from c. 500 BC to 500 AD, the date of Tbilisi's accession to capital city status. So St. Nino brought Christianity here in c. 337. Here, also, legend has it that a Georgian Jew visiting Jerusalem for the Passover acquired the robe of Christ at His crucifixion. Returning to Mtskheta, he was greeted by his sister who, clutching the robe, died instantly, it then being irremoveable from her hands. She and it were buried together in what became the foundation of the cathedral. "Svetitskhoveli" translates as "Life-giving pillar": during construction, one of the church's pillars hung obstinately in the air, refusing all attempts to settle it, until Nino's prayers prevailed.

The cathedral has also long been a favourite wedding venue for Georgian couples. Thus the photograph. Until a few years ago it was Georgia's largest church; but that position has, as with Tbilisi, been taken by a young upstart, Tsminda Sameba (Holy Trinity). However, this church will always have the weight of a venerable history for its glory.