Lipanali
Lipanali ( Georgian ლიფანალი) is a Swan rite , which is dedicated to the souls of the deceased .
The Swans believe that the souls of their deceased family members come to their homes once a year, on the evening of January 18th, and stay in the house until the following Monday. They consider it their duty to serve the souls of their deceased relatives as best as possible, since the souls, according to the Swans, also take care of the souls of the family members who are still alive. For the Swans there is only a “thin wall” between this world and the next , so that the deceased represent an important part of their cultural and religious life.
The rite is still actively performed annually throughout Svaneti . However, it is particularly active in the northeastern part of Svaneti, the so-called Upper Svaneti . Since many Swans left Svaneti for ecological and economic reasons and moved to Kakheti , the number of people who carried the rite has decreased significantly. The rite is also performed by the swans living outside Svaneti, but often in a modified and weakened form.
literature
- Nino Abakelia: The Spatial-temporal Patterns of Georgian Winter Solstice Festivals (PDF; 93 kB) : In: Folklore. Electronic Journal of Folklore , Vol. 40 (2008), pp. 101-115, ISSN 1406-0957 .
- Tim Burford: Georgia . 3rd edition Bradt Travel Guides, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-84162261-3 .
- Elguja Dadunashvili: Popular religious practices among the Swans . In: G2W . Ecumenical Forum for Faith, Religion and Society in East and West , vol. 39 (2011), issue 6, ISSN 0254-4377 .