Celebrating Christmas in Georgia

"A gift or a present is the transfer of something, without the need for compensation that is involved in trade. A gift is a voluntary act which doesn't require in return".

Gift giving comes from Roman traditions. People gave gifts to the Emperor and wished him good luck. However, the tradition goes back even further to the Babylonians. It's known, that Three Wise Men brought gifts at the birth of Jesus.

Christmas is a great day. Everyone tries to be kind and nice. People give presents to each other this day. If I wanted to give a present to my close friend, I'd buy her a French perfume, because I know she would love it. She likes perfume very much.

Maybe for many people Christmas is associated with gifts and snow and winter. There are so many films about Christmas and its miracles and stuff like that, and I really enjoy watching those films. Well, in Georgia, people don't usually celebrate Christmas with gifts. Gifts are more like a New Year thing. Children open their gifts in the morning of January 1-st, or if they are very impatient, they can get them at midnight, as early as when the clock strikes twelve!

So, Georgians celebrate New Year more like Catholics celebrate Christmas, I mean, with gifts and Santa Clauses and so on. There are festivities and they show films with Santa Clauses in them and miracles and wishes that come true, etc. I was really glad they filmed this movie called "New Year's Eve", because that's the film that is more suitable for New Year in Georgia and how it is celebrated, because Christmas is kind of another thing.

Alilo tradition

Alilo is a tradition Georgian people have on Christmas eve. It has become really popular in recent years and it kind of resembles Halloween, but just in a way that people (mostly youngsters) go door to door and they receive candies or money mostly. The tradition represents the people who saw Jesus been born and went to tell this happy news. I think, this tradition is performed in towns and villages better, than in the big cities, because people live in houses in towns or villages and it's easier to go door to door. There is a walking from the Rose Square to Sameba Cathedral organised by the Church of Georgia every year on this day and many people join them. They also collect some useful stuff for homeless children and so on.

There is this Alilo song, which is performed by at least 3 people and it's a really pretty song, especially when youngsters on Alilo sing it.

And Christmas is usually celebrated with people going to churches in the evening or so, and being there for some time. They also keep the fast and Christmas is the day when the fast ends.

Christmas is a holy day for Christians, but it's celebrated on two different days: December 25-th and January 7-th by Catholics and Orthodox, respectively. So, it's pretty much confusing. I would really love everyone to celebrate Christmas on the same day.

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