Mingrelia. Aspects of Traditional Culture

Tedo Sakhokia (1868-1956) was a Georgian ethnographer, lexicographer, folklorist, writer, translator and educator. One of his most important works, namely "Ethnographic Writings", a study of Mingrelia’s ethnographic materials, includes the earliest scholarly works on several topics in Georgian ethnology, all of which make significant contributions to research into Georgian culture.

 

The selections in our book are extracted from two of the chapters in "Ethnographic Writings", namely "Wedding Customs in Mingrelia" and "The Cult of the Dead in Mingrelia", where Tedo Sakhokia discusses wedding-limitations and restrictions, different types of engagement and wedding ceremonies, as well as traditions for burial and mourning in Mingrelia.

 

Translated by George Hewitt