Festivals in Georgia, month by month

Georgia's biggest family celebration: fireworks at midnight, a heavy festive table and two days off work.

Singing Christmas processions that walk through Georgian towns collecting food and gifts for people in need.

Georgians celebrate the birth of Christ on 7 January, after a night liturgy and the Alilo street processions.

A second, quieter New Year that follows the old Julian calendar, with more fireworks on the night of the 13th.

The feast of Christ's baptism, when churches bless water and many believers take home bottles of holy water.

A winter night of burning torches in Upper Svaneti, held to honour the dead and to call for a good spring.

A pre-Christian village carnival with masked players, mock weddings, comic plays and plenty of wine.

A national day off when Georgians bring flowers to their mothers and grandmothers.

A second spring day off in March, when women receive flowers and small gifts from colleagues and family.

A day of remembrance for the people killed by Soviet troops at a peaceful rally on Rustaveli Avenue in 1989.

The most important feast of the Georgian church: a midnight liturgy, red eggs, paska bread and a four-day national holiday.

Kutaisi's spring city festival, with concerts, folk dance and market stalls in the centre.

A one-day tasting in Mtatsminda Park where small producers pour the first wines from the previous autumn's harvest.

A public holiday remembering the end of the Second World War in Europe, when families honour Georgian veterans.

A church holiday honouring the apostle who, by Georgian tradition, first brought Christianity to the country.

A church-backed day off with a large procession in central Tbilisi.

Georgia's national day, marking the 1918 Democratic Republic, with flags, concerts and fairs in Tbilisi.

A Tushetian community festival in the lowland village of Alvani, with horse racing and folk music before the move to summer pastures.

A mountain pilgrimage from Mleta on the Military Road to St George's church on Mount Lomisi.

A folk music, craft and food festival held among the historic houses of Tbilisi's open-air ethnographic museum.

Batumi's summer jazz festival, which has brought international jazz, soul and funk names to the coast since 2007.

Georgia's largest rock and alternative music festival, held over two days by Lisi Lake on the edge of Tbilisi.

Svaneti's most sacred feast, held at a remote 10th-century church above the village of Kala.

Tusheti's main summer feast cycle at the village shrines, with sheep sacrifice, beer brewing, horse races and song.

A summer festival in the tower village of Shatili, with horse racing, Khevsur music and folk wrestling.

Tusheti's organised summer festival in Omalo: horse racing, folk dance, shepherds' contests and Tushetian cheese.

A commemoration of King David the Builder's 1121 victory at Didgori, held at the battlefield memorial of giant swords.

The feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, a public holiday with pilgrimages to churches dedicated to her.

Batumi's city festival, with concerts, fairs and fireworks in the old town and on Europe Square.

A regional wine fair for the producers of Khvanchkara, Usakhelouri and Tvishi in the mountains of western Georgia.

Harvest season in Georgia's main wine region: picking, pressing, qvevri filling and long supras in the vineyards.

A classical music festival in the gardens and concert hall of the Chavchavadze estate in Kakheti.

An old harvest and church festival at Alaverdi Cathedral, with liturgy, songs and wine in the Alazani Valley.

Tbilisi's city festival: two free days of food, wine, music and crafts across the Old Town.

Kakheti's biggest one-day wine festival, with hundreds of wineries pouring in a park in Gurjaani after the harvest.

Mtskheta's feast of the Life-Giving Pillar and Christ's robe, a public holiday with a liturgy led by the Patriarch.

Western Georgia's grape harvest, from Imereti's Tsitska and Tsolikouri to the late-picked Khvanchkara grapes of Racha.

Telavi's harvest wine festival in the courtyard of King Erekle II's palace.

Poti's city festival, named after Phasis, the ancient Greek trading town that stood at the mouth of the Rioni.

The last grape harvest of the year, when Chkhaveri and other late varieties are picked in the humid west.

Telavi's festival in honour of King Erekle II, born in the town in 1720.

The day of Georgia's patron saint, celebrated with liturgies, feasts and pilgrimages to St George's churches.

Festive lights, a big tree and holiday markets that keep central Tbilisi busy through the winter holidays.

Georgia's main film festival, a week of Georgian and international cinema in Tbilisi each December.