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The area of Didgori battle (karibche.ambebi.ge)

After sig­nalling their intention to declare 12 August, Didgoroba (the day of Didgori) a public holiday, Georgia’s par­lia­ment has now been presented a proposal to add another Orthodox Christian holiday to the calendar.

A new leg­isla­tive proposal was reg­is­tered on 4 April to Parliament’s Health and Social Affairs Committee by the Left-wing Alliance, a fringe left-wing political party, which would turn another religious cel­e­bra­tion into a public holiday.

Khareba (georgian for Annun­ci­a­tion) — which is the Christian cel­e­bra­tion of ‘the announce­ment by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus’ — is observed on 7 April annually in Georgia.

The Alliance argues that Khareba is an extra­or­di­nary day, which ‘even survived the unbridled battle with the Soviet regime’ and is essen­tial­ly important to Orthodox Chris­tians.

The Health Committee has not yet decided whether or not to discuss the ini­tia­tive. According to par­lia­men­tary pro­ce­dures, if the leg­isla­tive proposal is accepted, the leading committee will be respon­si­ble for launching a leg­isla­tive ini­tia­tive, which can result in con­sid­er­a­tion of a draft law by par­lia­ment.

A few weeks earlier, an ini­tia­tive to declare the his­tor­i­cal holiday of Didgoroba a public holiday passed its first reading in par­lia­ment. Didgoroba cel­e­brates the 1121 victory of the Kingdom of Georgia over the Great Seljuk Empire (a medieval Turko-Persian empire and pre­de­ces­sor to the Ottoman Empire) in the Battle of Didgori. The day has become a part of Georgia’s national identity, as a day when the ‘Islamic threat to Georgian identity was defeated’.

There are 18 official public holidays in Georgia, including religious holidays, Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Day, Inde­pen­dance Day, and the Day of Victory Over Fascism.