Good to know
Good to Know
- Lomisoba is held annually on the seventh Wednesday after Easter; exact dates shift year to year based on the Orthodox Easter calendar.
- This is an active religious and cultural pilgrimage event, not a tourist spectacle. Participants are genuine pilgrims making spiritual commitments.
- The festival involves ritual animal sacrifice (primarily sheep, also calves and other livestock), which is a documented and integral part of the tradition and often draws animal-rights activism and counter-demonstrations.
- If driving the Georgian Military Highway on Lomisoba day, plan for substantial traffic delays.
- The monastery can be visited outside the festival period for a shorter hike (~7 km round trip) and to see the site itself.
Events
Lomisoba
- Date
- June 3, 2026 (seventh Wednesday after Easter; dates vary by year)
- Location
- Zemo Mleta village (~10 km south of Gudauri, in the Mtiuleti region)
- Access And Logistics
- Significant traffic congestion expected on the Georgian Military Highway on festival day. The pilgrimage to the church involves a challenging uphill climb at night in often harsh weather conditions (cold, rain, sometimes hail).
- Cultural Significance
- The biggest and most important festival in Mtiuleti. The festival dates back to the pre-Christian period and has historically linked to the worship of a pre-Christian deity called Lomisa before being absorbed into Orthodox Christian tradition and linked to Saint George, Georgia's patron saint.
- Description
- An ancient festival combining pre-Christian pagan rituals with Georgian Orthodox Christian traditions. Thousands of pilgrims from across Georgia and neighboring regions undertake a nighttime pilgrimage to Lomisa Church, a 9th-10th century shrine located at 2,300 meters on a mountain ridge above the village. The festival centers on spiritual healing, with participants performing special rituals for the sick and engaging in traditional animal sacrifice.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
Sources cited for this category
These are the sources cited in this signature annual events research for this city. Individual figures may not each trace to one of them.
More About Gudauri
Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.