Old New Year (Bedoba week) 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

Old New Year — in Georgian, Dzveli Akhali Tseli (ძველი ახალი წელი), literally “old new year” — is the second New Year’s celebration that Georgians keep each January, thirteen days after the internationally recognized 1 January. The opening day of this observance is popularly called Bedoba (ბედობა), from bedi, meaning “fate” or “fortune,” with the suffix -oba that Georgian uses to name a day or state devoted to something. Bedoba is understood as a day whose events, visitors and mood set the tone for the entire coming year, and in rural tradition the preceding week, running from Christmas on 7 January to Old New Year on 14 January, is sometimes referred to loosely as Bedoba week, with each of its days believed, according to folk belief, to foreshadow one of the first months ahead.

The holiday is observed by Georgians of all regions and generations, though it is strongest in family homes rather than in public squares. It is not tied to a single saint or church council; rather, it survives because the Georgian Orthodox Church continued to calculate its festal calendar on the Julian reckoning after the country’s civil calendar moved to the Gregorian system in the early twentieth century. What began as a technical thirteen-day gap between two calendars became, over a century, a second and more intimate New Year’s Eve — a last, unhurried family gathering that closes the long chain of winter holidays running from Christmas through Epiphany.

Historical background

• 327 (traditional date) — Christianity is proclaimed the religion of the kingdom of Kartli under King Mirian III, bringing Georgian church life into the Byzantine liturgical and Julian calendar tradition that still governs its festal calendar today (Britannica).
• medieval period — the Georgian Orthodox Church, like other Eastern Orthodox churches, fixes its annual cycle of feasts, including the Circumcision of Christ and the feast of St Basil the Great on 1 January, according to the Julian calendar (Britannica).
• 1918 — Soviet Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar for civil use, a reform that eventually extends across Soviet territory, including Georgia, while the Russian and Georgian Orthodox Churches retain the Julian calendar for liturgical dates (Britannica).
• 1920s — with Georgia’s civil calendar now Gregorian and the church calendar still Julian, a thirteen-day gap opens between the state’s 1 January and the church’s 1 January, giving rise to two distinct New Year dates.
• Soviet decades — state atheism campaigns discourage religious Christmas, and 1 January is promoted as the principal winter festival with secular figures such as Tovlis Babua (“Grandfather Snow”); the Julian New Year survives quietly within families as an informal, non-ideological custom.
• 1991 — Georgian independence restores Orthodox Christmas, 7 January, as a public holiday; Old New Year, 14 January, remains a beloved but unofficial family tradition rather than a statutory day off.
• present day — Old New Year continues nationwide as the closing celebration of the winter holiday season, observed with a family supra, Bedoba fortune customs and, in western Georgia, the Chichilaki ritual.

The persistence of Old New Year says less about calendrical stubbornness than about how Georgian households absorbed and domesticated a Soviet-era compromise. Deprived for decades of an openly religious Christmas, families kept the old Julian date of the New Year alive as a private, apolitical echo of the pre-revolutionary calendar — a second chance to gather, bless the house, and set intentions for the year, without state attention. After independence, when Christmas returned to public life, Old New Year did not disappear; it kept its place as the gentler, smaller feast that follows the larger public holidays of 1–2 January and 7 January.

Today the holiday functions as a kind of calendrical hinge between the Soviet and the Orthodox understandings of the New Year, and this duality is precisely what gives it cultural weight. It is one of relatively few living customs in Georgia that can be traced, with reasonable documentary confidence, directly to the mechanics of calendar reform rather than to a saint’s life or a historical battle, making it a useful lens for understanding how Georgia’s Orthodox identity survived the twentieth century.

Meaning and traditions

The central custom of Bedoba is the mekvle (მეკვლე), the first person to cross a household’s threshold after midnight or on the morning of 14 January. In most regions the mekvle is traditionally a man, chosen in advance for good character and good fortune, who arrives carrying basil, sweets, a pomegranate or dried fruit, and sometimes a few coins, which he scatters gently inside the door for prosperity. Families treat the identity and mood of the mekvle as genuinely consequential: a cheerful, generous first-footer is thought to bring a good year, while an unlucky or unwelcome one is gently avoided for next year’s visit. Regional variation exists — in parts of Samegrelo and Guria women may also serve as mekvle, and some households simply designate a family member rather than inviting an outsider.

The table itself echoes the Christmas and New Year suprasupra already laid in early January: gozinaki (fried walnuts bound in boiled honey), churchkhela (strung nuts dipped repeatedly in grape-must), satsivi (walnut sauce with poultry), khinkali, and local wine poured for a tamada, or toastmaster, who leads a sequence of toasts to family, ancestors, peace and the year ahead. In Guria, Samegrelo and Imereti, households display a chichilaki — a small, conical “tree” made of curled shavings from a dried hazelnut or walnut branch, Georgia’s answer to the fir tree — through the Christmas and New Year period; on or after Old New Year it is traditionally burned, carrying off the misfortunes of the closing year. Supra singing often includes Georgian polyphonic songs, recognised internationally as a living tradition of exceptional value (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage), and wine poured from clay qvevri, the ancient fermentation vessel still used across the country’s wine regions (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage).

When it happens

Old New Year always falls on 14 January by the civil (Gregorian) calendar, thirteen days after 1 January, because it marks 1 January according to the Julian calendar still used by the Georgian Orthodox Church for its festal cycle. The date does not move from year to year. In 2026 it falls on Wednesday, 14 January; in 2027 it falls on Thursday, 14 January.

Old New Year is not a statutory public holiday in Georgia; the legally recognised winter holidays are 1–2 January (New Year), 7 January (Christmas) and 19 January (Epiphany). Government offices and most large businesses operate as usual on 14 January, though many smaller shops, family-run restaurants and offices close early or take a shortened day so staff can travel home, and the general atmosphere across the country is noticeably quiet by evening as households gather privately.

Where to experience it

Because Old New Year is a home-centred holiday rather than a public spectacle, the most authentic way to see it is through a family supra, typically arranged through a guesthouse host in Kakheti, Imereti or Svaneti, where travellers staying in family-run accommodation are often invited to share the evening table. In Tbilisi’s Old Town, some traditional restaurants in the Sioni and Betlemi quarters lay a smaller version of the New Year table on the evening of 13 January into 14 January, with wine, toasting and occasional live polyphonic singing. Churches such as Sioni Cathedral in Tbilisi and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta hold a Divine Liturgy on the morning of 14 January for the feast of the Circumcision of Christ and St Basil the Great, drawing modest congregations rather than the large crowds seen at Christmas or Epiphany.

Visitors attending a church service should dress modestly — covered shoulders and knees, and a headscarf for women is customary, though not always strictly enforced for foreign guests — and remain quiet and observant rather than photographing the altar area. If invited into a Georgian home for the evening, it is courteous to bring a small gift such as sweets, fruit or a bottle of wine, to accept the first toast offered by the tamada, and to avoid clinking glasses loudly or drinking before the toast is finished, since the sequence of toasts carries real social weight at a Georgian table.

Did you know

• Georgia is one of a small number of Orthodox churches, alongside the Russian, Serbian and Jerusalem Patriarchates, that continued using the Julian calendar for feast dates after most civil calendars switched to the Gregorian system in the twentieth century.
• The thirteen-day gap between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is not fixed forever; it widens slowly because the two calendars handle leap years differently, meaning Old New Year will eventually drift to a later Gregorian date in future centuries.
• The chichilaki, Georgia’s woodshaving “Christmas tree,” is traditionally burned rather than stored, a custom understood as carrying the old year’s troubles away with the ash.
• Georgian polyphonic singing, often performed at the New Year supra table, is inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
• The qvevri method of fermenting and ageing wine underground, used to produce much of the wine poured at Old New Year suppers, is itself a recognised item of intangible cultural heritage.

Practical tips for visitors

Expect cold, often snowy weather across most of Georgia in mid-January, with lowland Tbilisi and Kakheti typically a few degrees warmer than mountainous Svaneti, Racha or Kazbegi, where roads can be affected by snowfall; check conditions before travelling to highland regions. Public transport, banks and most shops operate normally on 14 January, but it is sensible to confirm opening hours for smaller restaurants and family guesthouses in advance, since some close early for their own celebrations. Travellers wishing to join a family supra should book through a guesthouse or tour operator ahead of the date, as spontaneous invitations, while genuinely warm when offered, cannot be relied upon. Modest dress is advisable for any church visit during this period, and a light scarf or shawl is useful for women entering churches.

Combine it with

Old New Year pairs naturally with a winter visit to Kakheti, Georgia’s wine region, where qvevri cellars and family suppers are most accessible; with Mtskheta-Mtianeti, home to Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and its Old New Year liturgy; and with Svaneti, where snow-bound villages and distinctive Highland customs around the winter holidays offer a quieter, mountain counterpart to the lowland supra.

Questions travellers ask

Is Old New Year a public holiday in Georgia?

No. Only 1–2 January, 7 January and 19 January are statutory holidays; 14 January is an unofficial but widely observed family custom, and most workplaces operate normally, though some close early.

Why does Georgia celebrate New Year twice?

Because the civil calendar switched to the Gregorian system in the early twentieth century while the Georgian Orthodox Church kept the older Julian calendar for its feasts, leaving a thirteen-day gap between the state’s 1 January and the church’s 1 January.

What should I bring if invited to a Bedoba supra?

A small gift such as sweets, fruit, flowers or a bottle of wine is customary and appreciated; arriving with empty hands is considered impolite at any Georgian family gathering.

Who is the mekvle and what do they do?

The mekvle is the first person to enter a home after the New Year begins, traditionally bringing basil, sweets or coins for luck; the household’s fortune for the year is thought to reflect the character of this first visitor.

Will churches be open on 14 January?

Yes, a Divine Liturgy is held for the feast of the Circumcision of Christ and St Basil the Great, though attendance is smaller and quieter than on Christmas or Epiphany.

Is it still cold and snowy in mid-January in Georgia?

Yes, particularly in mountain regions such as Svaneti, Racha and Kazbegi; Tbilisi and the eastern lowlands are usually colder but less snow-affected, and road conditions in the mountains should be checked before travel.

Do shops and restaurants close on Old New Year?

Larger supermarkets and chain stores generally stay open, but many smaller, family-run shops and restaurants close early or for the evening so staff can celebrate at home.

Can tourists join a Georgian family celebration?

It is possible, usually through a guesthouse host or a local tour operator who can arrange an invitation in advance; genuine hospitality is common in Georgia, but such visits are best organised rather than expected spontaneously.

Sources

• UNESCO ICH: Georgian polyphonic singing
• UNESCO ICH: Ancient Georgian qvevri wine-making method
• Georgian National Tourism Administration
• 1. Old New Year
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• 3. Old New Year