ა - A, Alvis Khe (Poplar tree)
In Georgian culture and religion the Poplar tree has been a symbol of the biblical "tree of life", which stands in the Garden of Eden, full of beauty and wonderful fragrance.
A folk poem tells us, that it grows grapes at the very top, and he who shall taste its fruit, will be delivered from all misfortunes. In addition, it turns out that the cult of the Poplar tree existed in our culture even before the birth of Christ.
According to pre-Christian beliefs, the mythical Poplar tree growing at God's door was the throne of the divines. It was a bridge between the earthly and astral worlds, on whose branches sat the children of God (“Ghvtis Shvilni” in Georgian), and from its roots sprang the fountain of immortality. Even its leaf would fill a wounded prey with life-giving power:
“At that time a tree was growing on an inaccessible crop of rocks. The tree was beautiful and sweet-smelling. It was miraculous: if a beast, wounded by an arrow ate its leaves or seeds, it escaped death, even if the wound was mortal."
ბ - B Bordzali
Borzali, or Bordzali, or Bodzali, as it turns out, denoted the double-edged spear in Mingrelian. This weapon, as a thunderer (“Mekhmtkortsni” in Georgian), was an inseparable attribute of St. George. According to the Mingrelians, at the times of Thunderstorms, one was witnessing St. George, mounted on the white stallion, riding in heavens and slaying demons and evil spirits with this weapon. According to the same legends, at the place where the lightning would strike, it was the print of the St. George’s Bordzali that remained.
Bordzali, it turns out, was kept in almost all churches dedicated to St. George in Mingrelia, andin the village of Kheti (Khobi district), St. George's Church was even a kind of warehouse for these weapons. According to folk belief, the Bordzali was brought to the temple every year by the saint himself; The more weapons he brought, the luckier that year would be. In addition, there were some families in Mingrelia, who had to dedicate arrows forged from iron to the St. George's church in Ilori (village in modern day Abkhazia, western Georgian region, bordering Mingrelia).
Its also quite interesting, that in Mingrelian, the word “Bordzali” is also a synonym for thunder…
გ - G Gvelveshapi (mystic creature)
One of the names for the dragon was „Gvelveshapi”, that was a portmanteau of “Gveli” (Serpent) and “Veshapi” (Whale) . Gvelveshapi was the embodiment of the element of water in Georgian myth. He was often represented in myths and stories as the guardian and the possessor of the water springs, the devourer of the river, etc. In cosmogonic myths, it turns out that this sharp-teethed monstrosity was the chaos bearer, and the chaos itself, which would be defeated by the cosmic deity, would rip it apart and would proceed to create the universe from its parts: the earth from the lower parts, and the sky from the upper one..
In Georgian (and not only Georgian) legends, one of the major plot points in the tales of adventurous heroes is the fight with the dragon, where, as a rule, the dragon first devours the hero, and the hero then rips it apart from the inside and defeats this symbol of evil. Many such folk heroes were deified in the dragon's belly in such legends: Marduk in Mesopotamia, Indra in India, Heracles in Greece, and Amiran in Georgia.