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KHEVSURS

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 777 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KHEVSURS , a See also:

people of the See also:Caucasus, kinsfolk of the Georgians. They live in scattered See also:groups in See also:East See also:Georgia to the See also:north and north-See also:west of See also:Mount Borbalo. Their name is Georgian and means " People of the Valleys." For the most See also:part nomadic, they are still in a semi-barbarous See also:state. They have not the beauty of the Georgian See also:race. They are gaunt and thin to almost a ghastly extent, their generally repulsive aspect being accentuated by their large hands and feet and their ferocious expression. In complexion and See also:colour of See also:hair and eyes they vary greatly. They are very See also:muscular and capable of bearing extraordinary fatigue. They are fond of fighting, and still See also:wear See also:armour of the true See also:medieval type. This See also:panoply is worn when the See also:law of See also:vendetta, which is sacred among them as among most Caucasian peoples, compels them to seek or avoid their enemy. They carry a spiked See also:gauntlet, the terrible marks of which are See also:borne by a large proportion of the Khevsur faces. Many curious customs still prevail among the Khevsurs, as for instance the imprisonment of the woman during childbirth in a lonely hut, See also:round which the See also:husband parades, firing off his See also:musket at intervals. After delivery, See also:food is surreptitiously brought the See also:mother, who is kept in her See also:prison a See also:month, after which the hut is burnt.

The boys are usually named after some See also:

wild See also:animal, e.g. See also:bear or See also:wolf, while the girls' names are romantic, such as Daughter of the See also:Sun, Sun of my See also:Heart. Marriages are arranged by parents when the See also:bride and bridegroom are still in See also:long clothes. The See also:chief ceremony is a forcible See also:abduction of the girl. See also:Divorce is very See also:common, and some Khevsurs are polygamous. Formerly no Khevsur might See also:die in a See also:house, but was always carried out under the sun or stars. The Khevsurs like to See also:call themselves Christians, but their See also:religion is a mixture of See also:Christianity, Mahommedanism and See also:heathen See also:rites. They keep the See also:Sabbath of the See also:Christian See also:church, the See also:Friday of the Moslems and the Saturday of the See also:Jews. They See also:worship sacred trees and offer sacrifices to the See also:spirits of the See also:earth and See also:air. Their priests are a See also:combination of See also:medicine-men and divines. See G. F. R.

Radde, Die Chevs'uren and ihr See also:

Land (See also:Cassel, 1878); Ernest Chantre, Recherches anthropologiques dans le Caucase (See also:Lyons, 1885-1887).

End of Article: KHEVSURS

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