GeorgyKalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
According to Georgian tradition, the birth of a son in the family was celebrated by firing into the air. Not a daughter's birth, but only a son's. It was not necessary for this son to be the first child. The head of the family went out onto the huge balcony of a traditional farmhouse, consisting of two floors, and shot with a shotgun, or even more serious weapon, if it appeared at hand.
It was believed that a son continues the family line and family traditions, while the daughter gets married and continues the traditions of other families. Of course this kind of "male chauvinism" does not mean that the parents love their son more than their daughter, but in traditional Caucasian society such an imbalance was the natural outcome of the social function of men.
Today, medieval social traditions are gradually disappearing with the development of urbanization and gender equality. One cannot shoot from the balcony in urban settings, but a very generous reward for "maharobeli", that is, the messenger announcing the birth of a son, remains in force.
In Georgia, it is considered bad tone to spank a son, as it is, actually, in any other society. But in the Caucasus this social attitude has a very interesting and remarkable explanation - developing a man's self-esteem and intolerance for assault and battery. Modern social psychologists claim that this is not quite true, and maybe not true at all, and that such scruples often lead to the opposite result. The explanation is simple, though unexpected up to being unacceptable: if a boy is unaccustomed to physical contact, it can lead to fear of such contact at all, and in relationships with peers (in the modern, urbanized boyish band) - to weakness and, ultimately, to a certain desocialization. Of course, not always and not necessarily. But this example shows. how some traditional social values, when read literally, can lead to unexpected results. But one of the features of modern Georgian society is the fact that any counselling (even with the best specialist) on family matters is considered shameful. This is seen as almost betrayal of a family and a son.
For the past 20 years, Georgia has suffered several wars, including civil war, which killed tens of thousands. These tragedies have led to homelessness on a scale that can be seen as a social phenomenon, and fatherlessness has become quite noticeable. And this is a hindrance to a normal upbringing and development.
Another specific feature of a son's education is the particular attention to his enlightenment and learning. A family will do everything and will forego not just comfort, but basic living conditions in order to give the boy a good education. First they will send the son to study, and only then think what to eat.
And sometimes external and secondary issues are given much more attention than the essence. It is considered mandatory that the son goes to a prestigious school and interacts with peers from "good families." Parents remember that in the last century, when they were in Soviet schools, school friendships lasted a lifetime. Then it was all true, but modern times have changed this tradition, too: it is being gradually "eroded" by the freedom of movement, by a more liberal system of transition from school to school, and, finally, by the possibility of studying abroad.
The persistent efforts to educate a son in everything at once, disregarding his physical and mental powers, forces the boy, outside of school, to do sports (from the prestigious swimming and tennis to wrestling), learn several foreign languages, attend paid studios of national dance (luckily, last year President Saakashvili introduced the subject to the school curriculum), sing, paint and so on. Various contests are incredibly popular, including contests of intelligence and knowledge. One of them is called "The Most Intelligent" and is held annually on the TV channel "Rustavi - 2". Boys of 12-13 years who win the contest are awarded a brief trip to London, and the winner's happy father can proudly say at the feast with a glass of wine in his hand, "I am the father of the smartest!"
