While the rest of the country celebrates Easter every year at home around the dinner table, one village in western Georgia marks the day with a rugby-like scramble that effectively blocks traffic for hours on the country’s East-West national highway. The game, lelo ( "goal" in Georgian), has no rules, no time-outs and no limit to the number of men who may play. The object is to bring a 16-kilogram ball, brought out by a priest, to the riverbank, where the winning team will be able to claim it and deposit it on a cemetery plot of their choice.
Justyna Mielnikiewicz is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
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