Human Chain

All across Georgia, people gathered at 3pm to form a human chain. Apparently a real human chain stretched through all three of the Baltic countries during the independence protests in the early 1990s, and it has become a symbol of solidarity against Russian aggression in the former USSR countries.














I've never seen so many people at one time in Sighnaghi, it was pretty powerful. Even though threatening to rain, there must have been more than 5000 people on the streets that are normally occupied by no more than 50-100.

So we lined up, and kept lining up... and there were too many people, so we gradually inched our way out of town and extended our train nearly to Bodbe Convent a couple kilometers outside of the city. The two Nino's and I located ourselves amongst Tamuna's boys choir, all in red chokhas, and sang songs of protest, and songs of unity. Teuna and Sopo from Sighnaghi's St. George's Church were there, and they surprised me by singing an unpublished chant they had apparently memorized from a transcription I made and gave to Shergil five years ago.



















In terms of the protest, I found it amusingly very un-Georgian. The idea of a long chain of people demands sophisticated organization to move people to designated spots and get them to stay there.... also to form lines.... is this starting to sound funny to anyone else who has been to Eastern Europe? On top of that, Georgians like to be around other people, and think that those who say, go off on walks by themselves, are deranged, lonely, or just odd. Why not take company? So standing in a solitary line, with only your immediate neighbor to talk to, was somewhat non-characteristic, and it showed in our inability to actually form a coherent chain. Nontheless the event was gratifying, and we cheered every time the teenager with the beat-up car, stereo blasting, careened around the corner horns blasting and waving a flag out the window.