View source for Tetri Giorgi

{{Short description|Name for Saint George in Georgia}}
[[File:Tetri giorgi 5.jpg|thumb|The Tetri Giorgi Church near [[Alaverdi Monastery]] in [[Akhmeta]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]].]]
[[File:Coat of Arms of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918 document).jpg|thumb|Tetri Giorgi and the Seven Celestials – 1918 design of the emblem of the [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]].]] 
'''Tetri Giorgi''' ({{lang-ka|თეთრი გიორგი}}, "White George") is one of the local names of [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Saint George]] in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], specifically in the country's northeastern highland districts.

Tetri Giorgi was used as a national symbol, as part of [[Coat of arms of Georgia (country)|Georgia's coat of arms]] in the years 1918–1921 and 1991–2004. 
The name of Tetri Giorgi has also been adopted by several political and non-political organizations, significantly by an [[anti-Soviet]] [[Tetri Giorgi (organization)|Georgian émigré group]] in Europe and a 1990s paramilitary unit.

== History ==
[[Saint George]] was venerated in Georgia since Late Antiquity.<ref>{{Cite book|ref=har|title=Sakralität und Mobilität im Kaukasus und in Südosteuropa|chapter=St. George in the Caucasus: Politics, Gender, Mobility.|last=Tuite|first=K. |editor-last1=Darieva|editor-first1=Tsypylma|editor-last2=Kahl|editor-first2=Thede|editor2-link=Thede Kahl|year=2017|publisher=Verlag der Österreichen Akademie der Wissenschaften|location=Vienna|pages=21–56|url=http://mapageweb.umontreal.ca/tuitekj/publications/2017-Caucasus%20StGeorge-Tuite.pdf}}</ref>
The [[Name of Georgia (country)|exonym ''Georgia'']] was applied to the country from the 11th or 12th century,
probably by false etymology, but inspired by the great popularity of the saint there.<ref>{{Cite book|ref=har|title=Theologische Realenzyklopädie, XII|chapter=Georgien|last=Assfalg|first=Julius|year=1984|pages=389–393}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|ref=har|title=Philologie, Typologie und Sprachstruktur: Festschrift für Winfried Boeder zum 65. Geburtstag|chapter=A New Theory on the Etymology of the Designations of the Georgians.|last=Khintibidze|first=Elguja |editor-last1=Bublitz|editor-first1=Wolfram|editor-last2=von Roncador |editor-first2=Manfred|year=2002|publisher=Peter Lang Verlag|location=Frankfurt am Main}}</ref>

The cult of ''Tetri Giorgi'' is associated with the [[Kakheti]] region in particular.
It is [[Syncretism|syncretistic]], combining the Christian saint with the cult of a local lunar deity.<ref>Yarshater, Ehsan (ed., 1983), ''The Cambridge history of Iran'', pp. 533-534. [[Cambridge University Press]], {{ISBN|0-521-20092-X}}.
"lurking within the Georgians' conception of St George may be a Moon deity, as is evidenced ''inter alia'' by the saint's nickname: ''ťeťri Giorgi'' (თეთრი გიორგი), 'white George'."
S. H. Rapp, ''The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature'' (2014), [https://books.google.com/books?id=T8VIBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA152 p. 152],
referencing [[Kevin Tuite]], [http://www.mapageweb.umontreal.ca/tuitekj/publications/Lightning_Sacrifice_Possession-2004-2.pdf "Lightning, Sacrifice, and Possession in the Traditional Religions of the Caucasus"], ''Anthropos'' 99.2 (2004), 481&ndash;497 (487f.).</ref>

A feast day of Tetri Giorgi (''tetrigiorgoba'') separate from the feast day of the Christian saint was once marked annually on 14 August, when many pilgrims from the eastern Georgian provinces attended an overnight feast at the saint's chief shrine – a 14th-century church overlooking the village Atsquri in what is now [[Akhmeta Municipality]], Kakheti.<ref>{{in lang|ka}} [http://www.folk.ge/index.php?section=164&lang_id=geo&info_id=551 თეთრი გიორგი (Tetri Giorgi)]. State Center of Folklore of Georgia. April 14, 2008. Retrieved on April 30, 2009</ref>

== In heraldry ==
In May 1918, the [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]] – newly independent from the [[Russian Empire]] – chose the equestrian depiction of Tetri Giorgi as a centerpiece of its [[Coat of arms of Georgia (country)|coat of arms]]. But the image was rendered more secular as its Christian symbolism was disfavored by Georgia's [[Georgian Social Democratic (Menshevik) Party|Social-Democratic government]], recalls [[Revaz Gabashvili]], a critic of the contemporary Georgian government.<ref>{{in lang|ka}} Gabashvili, Revaz, "მოგონებები" ("Memoirs"), pp. 119-120, in: [[Guram Sharadze|Sharadze, Guram]] & [[Levan Sanikidze|Sanikidze, Levan]] (ed., 1992), დაბრუნება (ქართული ემიგრანტული ლიტ-რა) ("The Comeback — Georgian Émigré Literature"). Tbilisi: Metsniereba.</ref> 
In this design, Tetri Giorgi is shown as an armed horseman below a depiction of "the Seven Celestials" (the seven [[classical planets]]).

This coat of arms was in use until the [[Red Army invasion of Georgia|Soviet takeover]] in 1921 and again in post-Soviet Georgia from 1991 to 2004.

==See also==
*[[Tetri Giorgi (organization)]]
*[[Armazi (god)]]
*[[Kopala]]
*[[Uastyrdzhi]]
*[[Saint George and the Dragon]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Saint George}}
{{Georgian mythology}}

[[Category:National symbols of Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Christianity in Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Georgian words and phrases]]
[[Category:Supernatural beings identified with Christian saints]]