Several thousand Georgians attended the Didgoroba festival in the region of Kvemo Kartli near the capital Tbilisi on August 12. The annual gathering on the field of Didgori celebrates a 12th Century victory of Georgian troops against Seljuk Turks.
Playing around an armored military vehicle, many of the people attending wore caps and T-shirts with inscriptions "I ♥ Georgia" and "5", a pre-election campaign slogan and the ballot paper number respectively for the United National Movement, Georgia's ruling party.
This year's gathering appeared to have a more political slant, as police controlling access to the field only allowed "those on the list" to enter, with no mention of what the list was. At one point police stopped, about five kilometers from the Didgori field, several minibuses with young activists from government opposition party Georgian Dream. Several folk art groups refused to perform at the festival as a protest against strong political support of Georgia President Mikheal Saakashvili, who made a speech at the gathering.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
In the remote mountain villages of Georgia’s northwest region of Svaneti, 84-year-old Bauchi Qaldani of Adishi is universally regarded as a wise man. And Qaldani, a village elder now in his fifth decade as a mediator and matchmaker, is still ready to dispense his wisdom whenever called upon. "I was born for others," he says.
Shaved from poles of hazelnut wood 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) to 3 meters (about 10 feet) tall, chichilakis with their wispy, whimsical boughs symbolize both the bounties of life to come and the sorrows of life past.
Almost every day, Ramiz Beridze, a 78-year-old widower, climbs a hill in his native region of Achara, a Georgian province on the Black Sea, to set a net for birds of prey. Falconry is the only thing that he does and the only thing he enjoys.
Almost every day, Ramiz Beridze, a 78-year-old widower, climbs a hill in his native region of Achara, a Georgian province on the Black Sea, to set a net for birds of prey. Falconry is the only thing that he does and the only thing he enjoys.
