The first thing we did when we arrived in this land was go to the local church. It stands at one of the entrances to Ushguli, on top of a hill, overseeing the whole community of villages and overlooked by the glacier. I do not intend to sound religious or anything like that at all, but I can say with certitude about my immediate experience that there is something special in this church. Inside, between its cryptic stone walls, there is an energy that is so dense you can almost see it with your bare eyes. It was incredible, and shared with Dilara who is not a very frequent visitor of churches or other places of worship. People have been praying and meditating here for more than a thousand years (the church dates back to the 10th century) and I can tell you that we could feel the intensity of their prayers and presence.
The church is called Lamaria Church of Ushguli and it is dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God, as Swans call Mary "Lamaria". But before the Christian era Lamaria was an ancient and powerful deity worshipped here for many centuries. You could say that the spiritual energy here was accumulated from layers and layers of very ancient ways of praying.
So I started to learn a bit more about Swan spirituality and myths and came across a very interesting paper by Kevin Tuite. Through this paper I learn that Lamaria is the "goddess of the fertility of the land, of childbirth and the protection of women". She is also goddess of the hearth (which might be a testimony to a connection with the Persian concept of the hearth fire, maintained as a permanent presence in Zoroastrian homes. But this is my speculation that I hope to have a chance to explore).
I learn that Lamaria is also closely related to another powerful goddess, Dæl. If Lamaria is a goddess of hearth and more broadly of female energy focused on the household and birth, Dæl represents another, Aphrodisian aspect of femininity. Dæl is "the golden-haired, glowing, sexual predatory, touchy, jealous and lethal patroness of the game animals of the high mountains". In some myths both deities are much alike and their qualities merge. Both would be the representations of the same more ancient cult, which is also connected to the Mesapotamian Inanna-Ishtar. That is something that drives my speculative imagination as I remember Thomas Mann's stories about Ishtar and her dangerous seductive sensual allure (see T. Mann, Joseph and his brothers).
What inspires me for this project is to return to Ushguli and find out more about these myths, talk to local people, to the female monks living at the monastery close to the church, witness the rituals and festivals that are still present and celebrated and document it. Kevin Tuite gives a great description of one such ritual, the "tower feast", which involvs the construction of a snow tower at the heart of the community: "At the festivals of Aɣbæ-laɣrǣl and Limurq’wamal [the “tower feast”], the chief element is the building of a snow tower. Into the center of it is stuck a fir, linden or other sacred tree … at the top of which is attached a woman’s head scarf as a flag (in Upper Svaneti), or a human-shaped figurine “Lamaria”, which holds a dagger in its hand, and has a wooden phallus hung down in front; a torn piece of sieve-screen (called a “shield”) serves as its face … In Upper Svaneti, the round dance known as samti č’əšxæš is performed next to the Lamaria figurine, by six elderly men. While singing they climb up the snow tower and dance around “Lamaria”, after which they shake the tree until the “shield” falls down".