International Online Conference: “Anthropological Aspects of National Holidays”

On May 29, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University hosted an online conference “Anthropological Aspects of National Holidays” dedicated to Georgia’s Independence Day. The conference was organized by the Institute of Ethnology at the TSU Faculty of Humanities. 

Representatives of TSU, Armenian Academy of Sciences and the University of Bergen participated in the conference. Speakers, among them Giorgi Cheishvili (TSU, University of Bergen), Elina Troshenko (University of Bergen), Satenik Mkrtchyan (Armenian Academy of Sciences) and Elene Beraia (TSU), presented papers about the history and traditions of celebrating national holidays in Georgia, Armenia, Latvia and Turkey, as well as their essence and ongoing transformations. 

Elene Beraia spoke about the history and development of marking Georgia’s Independence Day since 1918, thematic transformations, its historical and symbolic links to the idea and practice of freedom and statehood. Elina Troshenko spoke about state and public aspects of celebrating holidays in Latvia, quality of citizen engagement and state policy. Satenik Mkrtchyan’s paper focused on the influence of present challenges on holidays. Citing Armenia’s example, she discussed the novelties and difficulties related to changing usual forms of marking holidays amid the pandemic. Giorgi Cheishvili spoke about the form and essence of marking holidays in Artvin Province, Turkey, the importance of ethno-cultural details, influence on memory. Along with asking specific questions about empirical materials, the participants discussed general-theoretical issues of holiday research.