The supra table
A Georgian feast is run by the tamada, a toastmaster who sets the order of the toasts. Between them come polyphonic songs sung in three voices, among the first traditions UNESCO ever recognised.
Three-voice singing, recognised in 2001
The supra
A supra is a Georgian feast, and it has a structure. Dishes arrive all at once and stay on the table, plates stacked on plates as more comes out. One person, the tamada, runs the evening: he decides the order of the toasts and how long each one is, and nobody drinks out of turn. The toasts move through peace, family, the dead, the guests — and a good tamada is judged on how well he speaks, not how much he pours.
There is a Georgian saying that a guest comes from God. It is the kind of proverb that sounds decorative until someone you have just met rearranges their evening around you.
Singing in three voices
Georgian traditional song is polyphonic: three independent vocal lines at once, not a melody with harmony under it. It predates the country's conversion to Christianity and was among the very first traditions UNESCO recognised, in 2001.
One of those songs, Chakrulo, was included on the Voyager Golden Record in 1977 and is currently somewhere outside the solar system.
What to expect as a guest
Meals run long and refusing a refill takes several attempts. Arriving with something small is normal, and being told the visit was too short is close to guaranteed.
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