Nikoloba in Georgia: dates, meaning and how to experience it

By Mariam Lomidze, GTour desk · Fact-checked against the sources listed · Last checked 25 October 2026 · Editorial policy

What it is

Nikoloba is the Georgian Orthodox feast day of St Nicholas of Myra, observed on 19 December in the civil (Gregorian) calendar, which corresponds to 6 December in the Julian calendar still used by the Georgian Orthodox Church for its fixed feasts. The name follows a common Georgian pattern: “Nikolo,” the Georgian form of Nicholas, takes the suffix “-oba,” which turns a saint’s name into the name of a feast day, exactly as it does in Giorgoba (St George’s Day) or Barbaroba (St Barbara’s Day). The literal sense is simply “Nicholas’s day.”

The feast is kept by practising Orthodox Christians across Georgia, in parish churches dedicated to the saint and in family homes, and it carries particular weight for anyone named Nikoloz, Nikolo, or Niko, for whom it doubles as a name day — in Georgian tradition often marked more warmly than a birthday, with guests, a table, and toasts. It is not an ethnic festival with public spectacle but a liturgical and domestic occasion, combining church attendance within the pre-Christmas fasting period with a modest custom of gifts for children, loosely paralleling, but historically distinct from, Western Santa Claus traditions.

Historical background

• c. 270–343 — St Nicholas serves as Bishop of Myra in Lycia, in present-day Turkey; near-contemporary sources are scarce, and most biographical detail comes from later hagiography, see Britannica’s account of his life.
• 325 — St Nicholas is traditionally said to have been present at the First Council of Nicaea, convened by Emperor Constantine; his attendance is not recorded in the earliest conciliar lists and rests on later tradition.
• 327 — the kingdom of Kartli (Iberia) adopts Christianity as its state religion under King Mirian III, opening the Georgian liturgical calendar to universal, non-national saints such as Nicholas alongside local figures.
• Medieval centuries — as Georgian church practice absorbs elements of the Byzantine and Jerusalem liturgical traditions, parishes and chapels dedicated to St Nicholas appear across the kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti.
• 1087 — the relics of St Nicholas are translated from Myra to Bari, in southern Italy, an event commemorated by Eastern and Western Christians alike and marked separately in the Georgian Church’s calendar in late spring.
• 1827 — an arsenal explosion in Tbilisi’s Narikala fortress destroys the medieval Church of St Nicholas that stood within its walls, leaving it in ruins for over a century.
• 1921–1991 — under Soviet rule, public religious observance is suppressed; Nikoloba, like other feasts, survives mainly in private family practice.
• 1996–1997 — the Church of St Nicholas at Narikala is rebuilt under the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate, restoring one of Tbilisi’s most visited church sites.
• Today — 19 December is kept as a working day nationwide but with increased attendance at churches dedicated to the saint, and a continuing custom of small gifts for children.

St Nicholas belongs to the wider Christian world rather than to Georgia alone, and his veneration reached Kartli through the same channels that brought the broader Byzantine liturgical calendar: translated hymnography, Jerusalem-rite service books, and monastic contacts with Constantinople and Mount Athos. Because Georgia’s conversion in the fourth century coincided closely with Nicholas’s own lifetime, his feast entered Georgian practice early and has remained fixed in the Julian-calendar reckoning the Church still follows, even though the country’s civil calendar shifted to the Gregorian system in the twentieth century. This is why the feast falls on 19 December in everyday Georgian life, thirteen days after its Julian date of 6 December.

The twentieth century interrupted open observance but did not erase it; many families continued marking the day quietly, often folding it into preparations for the Georgian Orthodox Christmas on 7 January. Since Georgia’s religious revival after 1991, church life around Nikoloba has grown steadily, visible in fuller congregations and in the rebuilding of sites such as the Narikala church, even as the day has remained outside the list of official state holidays, distinguishing it from larger civic-religious feasts like Svetitskhovloba or St George’s Day.

Meaning and traditions

At its core, Nikoloba is a liturgical day: churches dedicated to the saint, and many parish churches generally, hold a Divine Liturgy in the morning, often preceded by an evening vigil the night before. Because 19 December falls within Shobis Markhva, the Nativity Fast that precedes Georgian Christmas, the day keeps a fasting character even though it is a feast: meals in observant households remain largely meat- and dairy-free, built around lobio (bean stew), lobiani (bean-filled bread), pkhali (vegetable pâtés), dried fruit, nuts, and preserves, with fish permitted on some calendars for feast days that fall inside the fast.

The custom most visible to outsiders is the giving of small gifts to children, said to come from St Nicholas himself — walnuts, mandarins, sweets, sometimes a modest toy, often left for children to find in the morning. The practice draws on the saint’s reputation, recorded in hagiography across the Christian world, for secret charity, most famously the story of him anonymously providing dowries for three impoverished sisters so they would not be forced into destitution; this episode is widely cited as the root of the global custom of Christmas and St Nicholas’s Day gift-giving. In Georgia the gesture tends to remain understated compared with Western commercial Christmas customs, though urban families increasingly blend the two.

For anyone bearing the name Nikoloz or its diminutives, 19 December also functions as a saxelobis dghe, a name day, when friends and relatives call, bring small gifts, and share a table — a tradition that in Georgia often carries more social weight than a birthday. Regional variation is modest: mountain communities in Svaneti and Racha, where many villages keep a church or shrine dedicated to a particular saint as a communal patron, mark the feast with a church visit and a shared meal if St Nicholas is the local patron, while in Tbilisi and other cities the day is marked mainly through parish attendance and family gift-giving.

When it happens

Nikoloba falls every year on 6 December by the Julian calendar the Georgian Orthodox Church uses for fixed feasts, which corresponds to 19 December in the Gregorian civil calendar used in daily life. In 2026 this is Saturday, 19 December; in 2027 it falls on Sunday, 19 December. The date is fixed rather than moveable, unlike Easter-linked feasts, so it will continue to fall on 19 December for the foreseeable future, since the Julian-Gregorian gap does not widen again until the year 2100.

Nikoloba is not among Georgia’s official public holidays, so schools, government offices, banks, and most businesses operate on their normal schedule. The only visible change is at churches, where morning liturgies draw larger congregations than on an ordinary day, and in some households, where the evening includes a small family gathering or gift exchange.

Where to experience it

The Church of St Nicholas inside Narikala fortress, above Tbilisi’s Old Town, is the most visited site associated with the feast; rebuilt in the 1990s after the original was destroyed in an 1827 explosion, it holds a liturgy on the morning of 19 December, typically beginning around 8:00–9:00, and offers wide views over the old city afterwards. Sioni Cathedral and other central Tbilisi churches also hold fuller-than-usual services. Outside the capital, village and town churches dedicated to St Nicholas across Kakheti, Imereti, Racha, and the mountain regions hold their own morning liturgies, usually without any tourist infrastructure, making a courteous, quiet visit the right approach.

Visitors attending a service should dress modestly — covered shoulders and knees, and a headscarf for women is customary, though not always strictly enforced outside monasteries. Georgian churches have no pews, so standing throughout is normal; candles are bought and lit near the entrance, photography during the liturgy itself is discouraged, and conversation is kept low. Arriving a little before the stated start time avoids disrupting the service.

Did you know

• St Nicholas’s feast is fixed on the Julian calendar, so while most of the world marks it on 6 December, Georgia — following its Church’s reckoning — observes it on 19 December.
• Georgia’s Church separately commemorates the 1087 translation of St Nicholas’s relics to Bari, Italy, as a secondary summer feast, alongside the main December observance.
• The story most often cited as the origin of Christmas gift-giving worldwide — a bishop secretly providing dowries for three poor sisters — is attached to this same saint venerated in Georgia on 19 December.
• The Church of St Nicholas at Narikala fortress in Tbilisi stood in ruins for roughly a century and a half after an 1827 gunpowder explosion before being rebuilt in the 1990s.
• Nikoloz remains one of the most enduring personal names in Georgia, meaning the feast functions as a widely shared name day as much as a church holiday.

Practical tips for visitors

Because Nikoloba is not a public holiday, transport, shops, and restaurants function normally, which makes it an easy day to combine with ordinary sightseeing. Mid-to-late December in Tbilisi is cold, typically between 0°C and 7°C, with occasional snow, so warm layers are advisable, and modest clothing should be carried for any church visit. In mountain regions such as Svaneti, Kazbegi, or Racha, snow can already affect road conditions by mid-December; check pass status in advance and favour organised transport or a 4×4 for independent travel. Domestic trains and flights run to their usual schedules, and city churches require no booking — simply arrive respectfully before or during the morning liturgy.

Combine it with

Tbilisi, home to the Narikala fortress church and the capital’s wider Orthodox life, pairs naturally with a visit around Nikoloba: explore Tbilisi. For a qu