Berikaoba: A Georgian Festival of Whips, Wrestling & Wine

Berikaoba has to be THE most unique and fun festival that we have ever attended, EVER! You’ll be chased down the street by masked men with whips and they’ll smear mud in you face (I’m not kidding), and then everyone drinks wine and eats barbecue and watches a wrestling match.

It is as interesting as it sounds, but not quite as terrifying as it sounds. If you’re up for throwing yourself into a really unique cultural experience, this is the one. And if you asked me to recommend you a Georgian festival to attend, this is the one purely because it is SO fascinating.

Berikaoba was dying out in Georgia, being celebrated only by a few villages around the country. But locals are making a real conscious effort to keep this fascinating festival alive. And by you visiting, taking part and talking about it, you would also be helping to keep Berikaoba alive. Because honestly, we have been on the road for over three and half years, and NOTHING (I really mean nothing) compares to this unique experience.

So don’t bother doing your make up, definitely wear clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty, brush up on your Georgian (‘gaumarjos’ is the one you need to know!) and get ready for some mud, whips, and wine with the locals.

What is Berikaoba?

Berikaoba is an ancient Pagan festival dating back at least 2000 years in Georgia. It is a fertility festival to ward off winter and to welcome in the new spring season. So I guess it’s kind of ‘fertility’ for the plants and crops as well as for the people. The back story of Berikaoba isn’t well-documented so it’s hard to definitively say how old the festival is and its origins.

Local men dress up as the berikas in colourful masks and outfits made of strips of material, cardboard, feathers, stuffed toys, anything they can get their hands on. And the outfits can be pretty intimidating!

They wander the streets, whips in hand, going from door to door in the village. The locals give the berikas offerings of food and drink such as eggs, bread, chacha, homemade cake, etc. As they parade the streets, they whoop and howl and dance and whip the ground aggressively to make loud cracking sounds. They’ll chase people and smear mud in their faces. And when I say ‘people’, I mean anyone can be a target! But it is seen as a blessing, so roll with it and embrace the muddy face!

When is Berikaoba?

The timings on the day are very much rough ideas. The pre-festival cheese, bread and chacha was going by about 10am. (Yes, we were doing shots of chacha with locals who we had only met two minutes prior – Georgian hospitality at its finest!). We ended up leaving the festival around 3/4pm, so I’d recommend planning for a full day.

The dates of Berikaoba vary but usually fall around February/March time each year. Berikaoba depends roughly on the date of Orthodox Easter. I’ve listed the dates of the last couple of years of Berikaoba to give you a flavour of when it could be.

Berikaoba of 2026 is expected to be on the 22nd February.

• 2026 – 22nd Feb
• 2025 – 2nd Mar
• 2024 – 17th Mar

How to Get There

Unfortunately, it’s not all that straight forward.

Marshrutkas heading to Sighnaghi or Telavi may pass by, but you’d have to double-check with the driver that Didi Chailuri is on their route. Ortachala bus station is probably your best bet for picking up a marshrutka, but this is very much the risky option because you can’t guarantee you’ll get there in time for the celebrations.

The easiest way to get to Didi Chailuri is to hire a local driver on GoTrip. You pick your driver and pay a set fee to take you to your destination and back. And the best part is that the wait time at Didi Chailuri isn’t an extra add-on fee; it’s all already included. This means that you can leave whenever you are ready to leave as opposed to someone else’s schedule. Their website didn’t used to have Didi Chailuri as an option, but we had a word with them and they added it in for us!

It is our favourite way to travel in Georgia when the regular public transport options are limited. And we have personally had some really lovely experiences thanks to their local knowledge.

Our friend Baia, a Tbilisi local and blogger, has arranged local transport from Tbilisi to Didi Chailuri and back for the last few years of Berikaoba. We visited Berikaoba for the first time with her!

Where to Stay

Giuaani (££)

📍N10, Sagarejo Region, Village Manavi

Or maybe you don’t fancy the hour’s drive there and back in a day and would rather stay somewhere nearby?

One of our favourite wineries (Giuaani) is really close and even has onsite accommodation and a restaurant that serves great food. Combine your Berikaoba experience with a relaxing night or two at a winery. Make sure you take a tour and wine tasting too; we’ve taken the tour twice! Tell Giorgi we recommended you visit!

🛏️ Plan your Stay 🛏️

Our Experience at Berikaoba 2025

We arrived at around 10am before the berikas begin wandering the streets. We heard some cracking of whips so followed the noise til we stumbled upon the berikas all getting themselves ready.

Now, this was where I got nervous. Those whips were powerful and the costumes wouldn’t be out of place in a horror film!

But as we got closer, they saw us nervous foreigners, and welcomed us with open arms. We had never met these people before, but now we were eating bread and cheese with them, and drinking chacha at 10:30am! Georgian hospitality at its finest! Gaumarjos.

Then the berikas started practising their whipping, and oh my god, these are proper old school heavy-duty whips. They whoop and squeal and shriek and jump around while cracking the whips aggressively on the ground.

We spent three hours following the berikas around the village as they knocked on every door of the village. They were greeted with huge smiles and food and drink at each house. And the berikas were even sharing it around with the people following the procession. But they were also chasing people and scaring them off and grabbing them and wiping mud on their faces. Yes, we all got covered in mud! And while it might sound terrifying (I was definitely nervous about it), it was all done in good spirit, and if you felt uncomfortable, they backed away.

Honestly, if you manage to get your trip to Georgia aligned with Berikaoba, ABSOLUTELY incorporate it into your itinerary. Our friends just happened to be heading out to Georgia to see us at the exact same time, and it was the absolute highlight of the trip!

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