31/12/2025
🎄At its best, travel is not about destinations alone — it is about the stories that quietly shape them.
Georgia’s New Year traditions reflect this philosophy: layered, human, and deeply connected to moments of cultural encounter.
🎄 One such story belongs to Tbilisi, on the final night of 1918.
On December 31 of that year, the city welcomed the New Year 15 minutes later than planned. The delay was not political, nor accidental. A respected military figure, Eugene Abkhazava, asked the city clockmaster for a brief postponement. He had given his word to welcome the New Year alongside his beloved, yet duty kept him away longer than expected.
🎄 The Christmas tree itself entered Georgian festive culture gradually.
From the second half of the 19th century, European customs began to influence local celebrations. Until then, Georgia’s more organic symbol was the Chichilaki — reserved for Christmas and rooted mainly in western regions.
⚜️ A rare photograph preserved in the British Library offers visual confirmation of this cultural transition.
Taken in Sokhumi in 1900, it shows a decorated Christmas tree in the home of the German settler Küpper family — the earliest documented image of its kind in Georgia.
🎄 The tree was adorned with flags from different countries, a gesture of openness and respect toward international guests — a quiet reflection of Georgia’s long-standing tradition of hospitality.
🎄 Photo: Sokhumi, 1900