საქართველო (Sakartvelo) - Women Wooing

Here is another beautiful cover from Khatuna. Sadly, the cover was slightly crumpled, but anyway, what I was really after were the stamps!

Here we have issues that I can now cross off my want list:

• 2006 Europa CEPT: Integration in the Eyes of Young People
• 2008 Europa CEPT: Letter writing!
• 2003 Women for Peace: this issue pays tribute to UNIFEM, or the United Nations Development Fund for Women. UNIFEM provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programs and strategies that promote womens' human rights, political participation and economic security. Since 1976 it has supported womens' empowerment and gender equality through its program offices and links with womens' organizations in the major regions of the world. This is probably the favorite UN branch of a devout feminist. Also, I can't help but notice that the two women in the depiction on the stamp seem to be wooing each other! Is it just me or are they really?

The other stamps are:

• 2006 Painting (Overprint)
• 2008 Fresco of King David IV of Georgia. In Georgia, King David IV is called Agmashenebeli (English: the builder) because he played an important role in regaining Georgia, expanding its terrain, and fending off the Christian lands from the Turkish Seljuk Sunni Muslim invaders in the 11th century. He is called "the builder" because he as able to not only regain Georgian lands from the invaders, but also because he was able to conquer parts of Armenia and Albania to include in the dominions of the Georgian kingdom.

საქართველო (Sakartvelo)

Here is another neat cover from Georgia with many stamps. This time the themes are UNESCO world heritage sites, fruits, and mountains.

First, to the world heritage sites.

Jvari Monastery (Georgian: ჯვარი, ჯვრის მონასტერი) is a Georgian Orthodox monastery of the 6th century that stands on the rocky mountaintop at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers, overlooking the village of Mtskheta, which was formerly the capital of the Kingdom of Iberia.

According to traditional accounts, on this location in the early 4th century Saint Nino, a female evangelist credited with converting King Mirian III of Iberia to Christianity, erected a large wooden cross on the site of a pagan temple. The cross was reportedly able to work miracles and therefore drew pilgrims from all over Caucasus. A small church was erected over the remnants of the wooden cross in c.545 named the “Small Church of Jvari”.

Bagrati Cathedral (Georgian: ბაგრატი; ბაგრატის ტაძარი, or Bagratis tadzari) is a11th-century cathedral church in the city of Kutaisi, the region of Imereti, Georgia. The construction of the cathedral, named after Bagrat III, the first king of united Georgia, started at the end of the 10th century and was completed in the early years of the 11th century. Although partly destroyed by the Turks in 1691, its ruins still lie in the center of Kutaisi. The Gelati Monastery, whose main buildings were erected between the 12th and 17th centuries, is a well-preserved complex, with wonderful mosaics and wall paintings. The cathedral and monastery represent the flowering of medieval architecture in Georgia.

Svetitskhoveli (Georgian: სვეტიცხოვლის საკათედრო ტაძარი, Svet'icxovlis Sak'atedro T'aʒari; literally, "the Living Pillar Cathedral") is the royal cathedral of Georgia, used for centuries for the coronation and burial of Georgian monarchs. More importantly, it is considered one of the holiest places in Georgia since the Robe of Christ is believed to be buried here, having been brought to Georgia in the 1st century by a Jew from Mtskheta named Elias. The story tells that on his return to Mtskheta, his sister Sidonia came out to meet him and, on seeing the sacred robe, was so overcome with emotion that she clutched it to her breast and died in a state of religious ecstasy. As it was impossible to pry the robe from her grasp, it was buried with her near the confluence of the two rivers where the 11th century cathedral is now located.

Samtavro Monastery is a little 4th century church that marks the site where St. Nino lived and prayed, while a larger 11th century building holds the tombs of her contemporaries - Georgia’s first Christian monarchs, King Mirian and Queen Nana.

Next, on to the fruits:

Since botany is not my forte, I thought it might be better if I were to show some pictures of the real fruits with their commons names and some information relating the fruit to Georgia.

This fruit shown on the stamp on the extreme right is, of course, a pomegranate (punica granatum). Pomegranates originated from Persia, but have been harvested in Georgia for centuries. The one in the picture looks delicious! Seems nice and juicy; haven't had one myself, though.

This fruit on the left hand side shows a Quince, which is realted to the apple and pear family, as you can see. The quince is native to Gerogia and the Caucasus region. To be honest, this is the firt time I have ever encountered this fruit, and I do not think that would be able to tell much of a difference if I saw them in the market nest to pears! I wonder how they taste.....

Unfortunately, I cannot identify the strange fruit in the middle! I tried looking it up using its taxonomic classification, however nothing seemed to match! Does anyone know what this fruit is? It seems rather exotic because of the mouth-like opening shown on its side! Is it a plum? Or a nut? I really can'te tell. If only I could read Georgian.....

And, for the last stamp:

The mountain in the stamp on the left side is Mount Ushba (Georgian: უშბა), which is one of the most notable peaks of the Caucasus Mountains. It is located in the Svaneti region of Georgia, just south of the border with the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia. Although it does not rank in the 10 highest peaks of the range, Ushba is known as the "Matterhorn of the Caucasus" for its picturesque, spire-shaped double summit.

Update:

Ms. Khatuna Kipinani, who sent this cover, has informed me that the "strange fruit" that I was unable to identify is actually an orchid! No wonder it seems to have an opening, which would be quite strange for a fruit. Really, I would fail a botany test on identification if I were to ever take one!

საქართველო (Sakartvelo)

Georgia is a transcontinental country in the Caucasus region, situated at the dividing line between Europe and Asia. Georgia is bordered by the Russian Federation to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, Armenia to the south, and Turkey to the southwest. It covers a territory of 69,700 km²; its population, excluding Abkhazia and South Ossetia (called the Tskhinvali region by Georgians), is 4.4 million, with nearly 84% ethnic Georgians.

The history of Georgia can be traced back to the ancient Kingdom of Colchis and Iberia, and it was one of the first countries to adopt Christianity as an official religion early in the 4th century. At the beginning of the 19th century Georgia became part of Russian Empire. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917 Georgia was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1922.

Georgians call themselves Kartvelebi (ქართველები), their land Sakartvelo (საქართველო), and their language Kartuli (ქართული). According to legend, the ancestor of the was Kartlos, the great grandson of the Kartvelian peopleBiblical Japheth.

The native Georgian name for the country is Sakartvelo (საქართველო). The word consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i (ქართველ-ი), specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli – Iberia of the Classical and Byzantine sources. By the early 9th century, the meaning of "Kartli" was expanded to other areas of medieval Georgia held together by religion, culture, and language. The Georgian circumfix sa-X-o is a standard geographic construction designating "the area where X dwell", where X is an ethnonym. (For another example, the Mingrelian minority in Georgia lives in Samegrelo.) The term Sakartvelo came to signify the all-Georgian cultural and political unity early in the 11th century and firmly entered regular official usage in the 13th century.

Ancient Greeks (Strabo, Herodotus, Plutarch, Homer, etc.) and Romans (Titus Livius, Cornelius Tacitus, etc.) referred to early eastern Georgians as Iberians (Iberoi in some Greek sources) and western Georgians as Colchians.

The origin of the name Georgia is still disputed and has been explained in the following ways:

1. Linking it semantically to Greek and Latin roots (Greek: γεωργία, transliterated geōrgía, "agriculture", γεωργός, geōrgós, "tiller of the land", and γεωργικός, geōrgikós, Latin: georgicus, "agricultural").
2. The country took its name from that of Saint George, itself a derivative of the aforementioned Greek root. Or, at the very least, the popularity of the cult of Saint George in Georgia influenced the spread of the term.
3. Under various Persian empires (536 BCE-CE 638), Georgians were called Gurjhān (Gurzhan/Gurjan), or "Gurj/Gurzh people." The early Islamic/Arabic sources spelled the name Kurz/Gurz and the country Gurjistan (see Baladhuri, Tabari, Jayhani, Istakhri, Ibn Hawqal, etc.). The contemporary Russian name for the country, "Gruziya," is similar. This also could evolve or at least contribute to the later name of Georgia.

The terms Georgia and Georgians appeared in Western Europe in numerous medieval annals including that of Crusaders and later in the official documents and letters of the Florentine de’Medici family. Jacques de Vitry and English traveler, Sir John Mandeville, stated that Georgians are called Georgian because they especially revere and worship Saint George. Notably, the country recently adopted the five-cross flag, featuring the Saint George's Cross; it has been argued that the flag was used in Georgia since the 5th century.

Modern Georgian states have used differing names in different periods. The first modern Georgian state proclaimed on May 26, 1918 adopted the name “Democratic Republic of Georgia”. As part of the USSR from February 25, 1921, the country was called the “Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic”. When Georgia broke from the USSR on December 25, 1991, it adopted the name “Republic of Georgia”. Since it adopted its present constitution on August 24, 1995, the official name of the country is simply “Georgia”.

On August 8, 2008, the day of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony and while most political leaders were in Beijing for the said event, Georgia engaged in an armed conflict with Russia and separatist groups from South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In the aftermath of the conflict Russia recognized Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, but the West insists that they are still part of Georgia. On August 28, 2008, the Parliament of Georgia passed a resolution declaring Abkhazia and South Ossetia "Russian-occupied territories".

Here's a chart of the funny-looking Georgian alphabet, which I honestly thought looked like alien writing the first time I saw it. Apparently, the set above is not the only one; there are two other set of alphabets that don't look remotely anything like the one above but share the same letter names and sounds! And, what makes this more weird is that these three alphabets can be used interchangeably, so do you need to know all three alphabets to read Georgian? How confusing that would be!