Tbilisi Podcast · Eat This! Food & Wine Tours Georgia

From Fireworks to Feasts: How Georgia Celebrates Christmas and New Year

·40 min·2 clips

At midnight, Georgians make a New Year’s wish while the sky turns into fireworks from balconies.

The episode opens with the hosts in their new podcast studio in Vezisi, Saburtalo. Meg introduces the holiday topic in a relaxed, conversational way, and Tom joins in as the other voice in the room. The season in Tbilisi is already turning colder, the street lights are up, and holiday music is drifting through the background. The focus stays on Christmas traditions in Georgia. The hosts frame them through the Georgian Orthodox rhythm of New Year, Christmas, and then New Year again. They keep the tone informal rather than ceremonial, which makes the cultural material easy to follow. The main tradition they spend time on is mekvleoba. They explain that the mekvle is the first person to step into the house on New Year’s Day, usually just after midnight. The person enters with the right foot first. They throw sweets as they come in, and those sweets are tied to youthfulness, happiness, and prosperity. The first visitor is not random. The family chooses that person in advance because the role is meant to bring a positive influence into the year ahead. The hosts describe the ideal mekvle as someone energetic, friendly, and full of positivity. Meg also notes that she may still be getting some of the Georgian terms wrong, and that uncertainty stays part of the conversation. The episode keeps returning to the idea that the first step into the home can set the tone for the whole year. It also keeps the holiday feeling grounded in ordinary family life rather than pageantry. By the end, the conversation has sketched a holiday season that is part ritual, part hospitality, and part practical superstition. The closing turns back to holiday greetings and the promise of more regular episodes once the studio setup is fully stable.

As heard by us

A warm, conversational look at Georgian holiday customs and the rituals around them.

Georgia's holiday season comes through as lively and easy to picture, from the lights in Tbilisi and the cold weather to the odd rhythm of Christmas, New Year, and New Year again.

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Why you'd press play

You want Georgian holiday customs with the human messiness left in.

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