Don Curry at the Tuschi People

Don Curry landed in the territory of a very special people yesterday. The inhabitants of Tusheti are called Tuschi. Of course, they are Georgian citizens, but this relatively small people has maintained its independence for centuries. The Tuschi have their own language, their own festivals, and an overall unique culture. It is speculated that although the Tuschi are officially Christians, they still maintain pre-Christian practices and customs. In many villages and other places, there are special prayer or sacrifice shrines that only men are allowed to approach. The life rhythm of many Tuschi is also very peculiar. While they spend the summer months in their home villages in Tusheti to engage in livestock farming or enable growing tourism, their lives in the winter months are spent in their own Tuschi villages south of the Caucasus. Only a few elderly people overwinter in their actual homeland. For them and for the Georgian border troops, a helicopter flies once a month into the snowy high-mountain landscape to provide supplies. Otherwise, they are completely cut off from the outside world. There is no transportation connection in any direction. One of the peculiarities is that the Tuschi in Tusheti never eat pork, but they do in the villages south of the Caucasus.