FROM THE HISTORY OF STUDYING BERIKAOBA-KEENOBA

Abstract

From the public holidays, history has preserved two important spectacular holidays: Berikaoba and Keenoba. The process of studying them begins from the second half of the 19th century (G. Tsereteli, I. Grishashvili, K. Kekelidze, M. Abramishvili, S. Makalatia, V. Bardavelidze, J. Rukhadze, T. Kurdovanidze and others) and continues to this day. Berikaoba was associated with the awakening of nature and was considered the beginning of the history of Georgian theater, Keenoba is of later origin and should reflect the various vicissitudes of the fight against the enemy of Georgia. At the end of the 19th century, along with the restriction of Keenoba in the cities, the so-called “Keenoba Tail” appeared, which was reported by a correspondent of the newspaper “Kvali” (1894). By 1926, both events had almost been canceled, so the poet Ioseb Grishashvili in his letter “The Literary Bohemia of Old Tbilisi” tries to provide posterity with information about the Keenoba, the first description of which belongs to Davit Bebutashvili (1817-1827).

I. Grishashvili and subsequent researchers rely on him and mention Giorgi Tsereteli as well, but without reviewing his letters - without analyzing them. Therefore, we tried to provide a full analysis of the information of G. Tsereteli, E. Grishashvili and an unknown correspondent in this article, which, we believe, will be important for the history of studying Berikaoba-Keenoba.

Keywords: Keenoba; Berikaoba; The tail end of Keenoba; G. Tsereteli; I. Grishashvili.