Kolkhoba

Kolkhoba (Georgian and Laz: კოლხობა) is an annual festival held each year at the end of August or the beginning of September in the southwestern part of Adjara, an autonomous republic of Georgia.

[1] According to 19th-century ethnologist Niko Mari, the main Kolkhoba celebrations took place since the medieval period on 7 August from the coast of Sarpi (modern-day Georgia) to Hopa (Turkey) and involved locals gathering on the shore and swimming.

[1] It isn't clear when or why the original Kolkhoba celebrations disappeared, but causes may include the progressive depopulation of the region since the 17th century and the increased influence of Sunni Islam as Lazeti became an Ottoman marchland, in constant warfare with the Christian Kingdom of Imereti.

Since then, the Ministry of Culture of Adjara and the Khelvachauri Municipality have been the sole organizers of the holiday,[4] although it has gained the attention of nationwide figures at times, including the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II who attended the celebration in 2011.

While the central location of the festival has been in Sarpi, Adjarian authorities have recently sought to move it to Gonio, where lay the ruins of a Roman-era fortress and though Laz folklore had traditionally the main component of the holiday, Kolkhoba has now become a commemoration of the ancient history of Colchis, with a particular focus on the mythical figure of Aeëtes and the myth of the Argonauts.

Already in 1978, a reenactment of the battle between the Argonauts and Colchian troops took place in Sarpi, while theatrical plays of the myth held at the Gonio Fortress have become an annual part of the holiday in recent years.

[4] A 2015 report by Batumi State University noted that "locals feel that the celebration has lost its originality and has become too formal," proposing to decentralize the organization of Kolkhoba and leave it only in the hands of the Town of Sarpi.