Bells & bottles
THE SAZARE-MARANI OF LASHARIS JVARI
Perhaps the holiest of all the highland shrines of NE Georgia, the Cross of Lashari (G. ლაშარის ჯვარი) in Pshavi is rendered even more exceptional by the presence of a rather extraordinary belfry-cum-wine-cellar (G. საზარე-მარანი). The belfry itself stands around 4.5m tall, and the bell it contains bears the following dedication (copied from Bardavelidze 1974, p. 37; my free translation):
ქ:. ესე:. ზარი:. შემოგწირე:. მე:. ერისთავმა:. რევაზ:. შენ წმინდას გიორგის ლაშარეს:. ღმერთო:. ადღეგრძელ:. მისი დამწერი.
k:. this:. bell:. I offered:. I:. eristavi:. Revaz:. for you, holy Giorgi of Lashari:. God:. grant a long life:. to the author of this inscription.
As always, Bardavelidze's remarkable book includes several beautiful scale drawings of the belfry in question (please click for a larger image). The four kvevri are shown in the top-right-hand and the bottom drawings.
According to Pshavi's most famous shrine-priest, Bich'ur Badrishvili:
In these kvevris was kept the holy wine [G. ზედაშე, zedashe] for the rituals of the Cross of Lashari, especially for those which marked the arrival of the New Year and seroba*. This wine was brought up for seroba from Akhmeta [a town in western Kakheti], where the Cross of Lashari owned a large vineyard [G. ზვარი, zvari] and a wine cellar.
* An important mid-summer cycle of festivals; see Tuite, "The political symbolism of the mid-summer festival in Pshavi, then and now".
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