Another one of Georgia’s specialties is its folklore – folk dances and songs, tales and legends around the country. Stories of heroes and villains, dances and songs that tell those stories and places that immortalize, sometimes exaggerated, historical legends and figures.
Georgian dances in particular are extremely beautiful to witness. Folk dances are performed to Georgian folk songs, such as Khevsuruli, Krimanchula, Rachuli, etc.
Georgian dances perfectly capture nature and graceful beauty of Georgian women and strength of Georgian warrior men. Every dance has a story and dancers are the ones who tell that story. Georgian dancers dance on their toes with very thin dancing shoes, women leave impression that they are gliding on stage and men jump and land on their toes without even blinking an eye, making the performance even more captivating.
In Georgia you can also visit many cultural places that are famous for their folklore and legends. For example, capital of the country, Tbilisi. Georgian’s believe that Tbilisi was found when King Parnavaz of Georgia was hunting one day and his falcon caught a pheasant in the air, after looking for them for hours, King and his warriors found them dead in boiling spring waters. King was so impressed with hot springs that he decided to build the city around it and call it Tbilisi (“tbili” in Georgian means “warm”). You can visit the place where king’s falcon fell and legend of Tbilisi started even today, it is in old Tbilisi called Abanotubani.
Svaneti is also known for its rich folklore and legends, Dartlo Tower in Svaneti is famous for its legend of a little girl who drowned in waters nearby. Locals say, every full moon you can see the reflection of mother brushing her hair in the lake. Another place of legends in Svaneti is Devil’s Ravine, where it is believed by locals that fiends live and they scare anyone who steps a foot in ravine after the dark. Fiends generally are big part of Georgian folklore, in many songs, plays and books you can encounter stories about them, some good and some evil.
Georgian songs and poetry are also big part of its history, folk songs in Georgia were a way to tell and immortalize stories. Many songs and pieces of poetry in Georgia were never written down, they were told to youngsters from their parents and grand-parents, to be retold to their children and grandchildren, so that the story would never be forgotten.
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