|H| 'LA SHAROBA' - a traditional feast
- happeaeco
- 16 jul 2017
- 3 minuten om te lezen
After hearing a lot of stories from Nodar about this traditional feast, we are very excited: It's finally the day of Lasharoba! Lasharoba is the valley's biggest celebration of the year. All people from the valley 'Pshavi', the valley where Nodar has his farm, gather on this day to celebrate together a religious orthodox ritual. There will be music, singing, dancing, laughters... A real unique feast to witness with plenty of food and drinks, we are told.
The ritual celebration takes place on top of a hill 4 km further down the valley, where a small temple is well hidden in the forest. We leave early in the morning accompanied by a horse carrying all our supplies. The ritual goes that each family has to bring a bull or male sheep to sacrify. Once sacrificed, people enjoy their animal on a good BBQ with some homemade wine and 'chacha'. Wodka, of course!
After a steep walk up, we arrive at the place of the temple. We don't get a particular warm welcome there. It's full of rough, strong Georgian men, and Jasmijn immediately gets chased away, as apparently women aren't allowed to be close to the temple... Nodar arrives half an hour later with our sheep. A bit higher up the slope, we wait for the celebration to start. Surrounded by animals to be sacrificed we feel slightly uncomfortable. You can feel the animals are stressed and seem to know what's about to happen...
A priest starts reciting some words while all men gather around the temple. Some strong men moves a big stone to uncover a well. The priest holds two honey wax candles and drinks a glass of wine before the first sheep is turned on its back above the well. The slaughterer takes his big knife and without any remorse cuts the sheep's troat open. The sheep squeals very loudly and the blood starts dripping in the well... The first sacrifice is a fact. A few minutes later, when the sheep is dead, the family who brought it takes it back and hangs the carcass on a tree to chop it into pieces. While the sheep is taken away, the next cow already is being slaughtered. The pace at which the animals are being slaughtered is impressive. Within an hour, at least fifteen sheep and five cows have been slaughtered and the nice, green forest has turned into a grim slaughterhouse full of hanging carcasses.
Now it is time for our sheep. Nodar gives the priest honey wax candles and drinks himself a glass of wine. Once done, Nodar takes the sheep back and a friend shepherd starts professionally chopping it. Sanata prepares the fire and after half an hour we start cooking the sheep in some wine. While our sheep is being cooked we realize all animals are slaughtered and the feast can really begin. Traditional Georgian music starts being played, girls are dancing, games are played, and of course, the homemade wodka and wine keeps on flowing everywhere. People visit each other to drink, eat, and toast on the celebration. Some of Nodar's friends pass by and join us for a few minutes before they jump to the next toast.
We are slowly getting a bit in the mood, when suddenly Nodar tells us we will leave in a few minutes... We have to be back home on time to milk the cows. Back to reality!
