Berikaoba: Spring Fertility Festival with Mud, Whips & Masks

Berikaoba is an ancient pagan festival in Georgia that drives winter away and welcomes a fertile new season. Long lost in the past decades across the country, the tiny village of Didi Chailuri in Kakheti never stopped the custom. And that’s where you want to be to experience the chaotic madness yet quite a fun event. 

As a kid, I remember seeing them even in Tbilisi, blocking streets, demanding money, and shouting their hearts out. I don’t recall when it stopped, but I last saw them probably decades ago. Luckily, a few years back, a friend of mine, Melanie Hamilton, who has an incredible sense of seeking out cultural traditions, learned about Didi Chailuri. 

In 2023, I witnessed the Berikaoba festival as an adult and even organized a transfer for my readers and social media followers who wanted to participate. We had a spectacular day!

I’ll be orginizing the transfer for Berikaoba 2025, so if you want to join, reach out either via email or Facebook/Instagram.

After all, Berikaoba has been Georgia’s Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2013.

What is Berikaoba, and when it started 

Berikaoba is an impromptu masqueraded folk performance rooted in the pagan celebration of fertility and rebirth. Unfortunately, the festival hasn’t been appropriately researched, and it is hard to know when it started, why, and how. 

But judging from the word-of-mouth storytelling, it’s a spring festival celebrating fertility both for people and crops in the upcoming season/year that dates back to 2500 or more years. 

The name comes from a Common Kartvelian root ber (ბერ), meaning “a child,” and typically involves several men, Berikas, disguised as animals or other creatures. 

In early spring, when almond trees started to blossom, and the ground had fresh, tiny grass, the men from the village, old and young, would get together and start the preparation for a festival to praise spring. 

The participants were chosen based on their performance in the previous year and would take new Berikas based on their skills. Once the list was complete, they’d start the preparation process of sewing costumes and masks. 

Back in the day, the scenes of Berikaoba ranged from explicitly erotic nature and reproduction ritual to social protest and political satire. 

Both masks and costumes for the mysterious character were mainly made of animal hide – animal skulls, horns, tails, and feathers were typical. To add colorfulness to their attire, they also used ribbons and bells. 

I was told that in the past, Berikas would also wear a phallic-shaped pendant made from wood, bone, or horn hanging from their belts. Moreover, each region of Georgia used slightly different ornaments and items to decorate their attire. For instance, Imeretian Berikas would have triangle-shaped shaped hat-masks made of leather. 

Over time, the theme, customs, costumes, and parade have changed, but the main highlights have been kept from generation to generation. In modern days, Berikaoba has become an agricultural holiday linked to marking the arrival of spring. 

Berikas are still the primary characters of the event – they are the ones who scare the winter away, welcome spring, and demand gifts from the locals in exchange for a bountiful spring. 

Dressed in upcycled clothes made of old materials cut into strips and stitched onto numerous layers of jeans, trousers, and pullovers, Berikas wear masks from old pillow covers, carpets, and t-shirts. They also have other decorative items, such as feathers, worn-out stuffed animals, doll heads, or sheep hide, to name a few. 

Berikaoba in Didi Chailuri – what to expect

Didi Chailuri, with less than 1,000 inhabitants, is one of the five villages that still celebrates Berikaoba in Georgia today. Organized by the local history teacher Eka Chikadze-Veshapidze, the Berikaoba has grown in size to attract visitors and preserve the tradition. 

Berikas, in the most chaotic way possible, start in the morning from the church of Didi Chailuri and move from door to door to pick the gifts – homemade wine, flour, bread, eggs, a few coins, basically whatever the family can offer them. 

Entire families, from the oldest to the youngest, wait for them at their doors with their gifts, excited for the event. Seeing this sleepy village enlivened on Berikaoba is a sheer joy! 

On their way, they dance, jump into puddles, growl, and use the rope whips to smack into the dry pavement or dirt road to bring noise and havoc accompanied by chattering in high-pitched voices. 

They also use these whips to keep spectators away as they walk down the main street. They are fears, so be mindful not to get whipped by chance. 

In return for the gifts from the locals and not only, they smear mud on your face, hands, and arms as a sign of blessing you. And in case of offending a Berika and not providing enough donations, they will roll on the ground, cursing you and your family. 

Depending on the year and the desire, Berikaoba might also include a staged play referencing historical and political events of Georgian history. Most often indicating the several invasions we’ve been through and survived. This was not the case in 2023. 

The procession moves slowly and takes around 3 hours to complete. Meanwhile, other activities await the visitors in the big field of Didi Chailuri. 

The highlight is the local wrestling, Chidaoba, an ancient form of martial art known for its brave code of conduct, accompanied by folk instruments and Georgian drum doli. Local boys of all ages participate in the wrestling to win sheep. 

Since 2018, Chidaoba has been enlisted on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Once done with the door-to-door parade, Berikas come to the field and make one last round of chaotic madness they are known for before relaxing and socializing with locals and visitors. 

There’s also wine and food provided, usually for free, as the festival doesn’t get any funding, and as Eka has told me many times, the village locals donate products and cover the expenses. In 2023, the Municipality bought the sheep as an award for the wrestling winner. 

I pressed her to put the donation boxes last year as she felt shy about putting a price tag on food and wine. That’s your Georgian hospitality at its best, so I highly encourage you to make donations to keep this going! 

The night before, Eka makes her famous savory bread kada dough that you can participate in baking on an open fire in clay pots. It’s heavily delicious and finishes very fast! 

There’s also mtsvadi (grilled meat on a skewer), Shoti bread, cheese, snacks, and tatara, the grape juice to dip a string of walnuts and make churchkhela. Some of the locals also bring out churchkhela and wine to sell. 

By mid-afternoon, when the wrestling champion is appointed, food and wine are consumed, and the festival slowly comes to an end. The locals sporadically return to their homes, and Berikas take off the masks, signaling the end of the celebration. 

Berikaoba 2025 – date and practical info

The day of Berikaoba moves along the Easter dates in Georgia and falls 50 days before Orthodox Easter on Sunday. Berikaoba 2025 is scheduled for March 2, starting around 10-11 am. 

Sadly, there is no organized tour for you to join just yet. As mentioned earlier, I posted on my social channels last year and hired a car to bring them to the event. I will do the same yearly, so you can always reach out and ask. 

I have close contact with Eka, the organizer, and have first-hand information on what Berikaoba 2025 will look like. I won’t spoil the surprise, but I’ll say this – it will be bigger with more entertainment and shows, including Chidaoba.

Eka will make kada dough again to bake and serve the visitors. The locals will donate food, wine, and tatara, and the wooden stalls will sell local homemade products. 

There will also be a few donation boxes, so in return for their implacable Georgian hospitality, I can’t stress out enough how important your donation and financial support is for the community to keep the tradition going. 

Like last year, the Municipality will support the festival by providing essential infrastructure, such as toilets, trash bins, etc. As Eka tells me, despite the Municipality’s desire to be more involved in the festival, she and the whole village want to keep Berikaoba more social, cultural, and public-oriented. 

How to get to Didi Chailuri

Didi Chailuri is around 66 km from Tbilisi, taking just about 1:15-1:30 hrs to get there, depending on the traffic. It may take a bit longer with a marshrutka.

Car – the best and easiest way to get to Didi Chailuri from Tbilisi is to self-drive. You can rent a car at LocalRent for a day at affordable prices if you don’t own a car.

GoTrip – this is a service I used when I organized a transfer in 2023. Think of it as a long-distance taxi with very reasonable prices where the driver will wait for you and bring you back. 

You can’t find Didi Chailuri in the drop-down menu when booking the driver. Instead, put Manavi and write a comment that your destination is Didi Chailuri, 6km from Manavi, and you should be fine. That’s precisely what I did. Book the transfer here.

Shared taxis to Kakheti – standing near the Isani metro, these taxis go to various cities in Kakheti and are another convenient way to get there. You can take any taxi to Sighnaghi, Gurjaani, Manavi, and Dedoplitskharo. 

You can also take a Telavi shared taxi, but you’d need to ask the driver if he is bypassing the Gombori. Going via Gombori to Telavi is not what you want. 

The driver will most likely drop you off on the highway at the road leading to Didi Chailuri. From there, you have a 20 min walk to the center of the village. 

Marshrutkas – they leave from Samgori Bus Station (pin here). Marshrutka directly to Didi Chailuri leaves at 10:30 am, which is too late for Berikaoba. 

Instead, you need marshrutkas towards Sighnaghi, Bodbe, Badiauri, Kakabeti, and Gurjaani. And similar to the shared taxis, they’ll drop you off on the highway, so you have a 20-minute walk to the village. 

Marshrutkas depart from 9 am every 40 minutes or so to the villages mentioned above. Most likely, Telavi-Gurjaani marshrutka bypasses Gombori, but make sure you tell the driver your destination to be on the safe side. The price is 5 GEL to Manavi and Didi Chailuri to hop off on the highway. 

On your way back, you need to follow the same route – get to the highway and hail a marshrutka coming to Tbilisi.

Municipal green buses – based on my last conversation with Eka, the Municipality has brought big green buses that will run between Sagarejo and Didi Chailuri. She needs to get information on when the route will start, but she will keep me posted, and as soon as I know, I’ll share it on social channels and update here, too. 

Where to stay near Didi Chailuri

If you decide to make a weekend getaway out of the Berikaoba festival, you can spend a night in a few hotels nearby. 

Giuaani Winery (Manavi): my favorite mini-getaway hotel near Tbilisi with delicious food and great wine. Read my full review here. 

My Georgian village (Sagarejo): charming hotel with a beautiful garden and a terrace, seasonal outdoor swimming pool, and very cozy rooms. 

Hostel Georgia (Sagarejo): budget-friendly rooms with a shared bathroom, a garden, and some rooms with a fully equipped kitchen. 

Esquisse Design Hotel (Telavi): charming, beautiful rooms with mountain views. The hotel also has a seasonal outdoor and indoor pool, a restaurant serving delicious food, and a bar.