The gang of masked figures came barreling down Didi Chailuri’s main street just shy of 11 a.m. on a March morning. Mud-streaked, screaming, and armed with whips, they brought chaos to the narrow streets of this otherwise sleepy village of about 1,200 people in Georgia’s eastern Kakheti region. But the berikas, as they are known, were not there to stir up fear. Their arrival marked the start of the ancient festival of Berikaoba. The tradition “can be traced to the beginning of (Georgia’s) early farming culture,” says Manana Khizanishvili, curator…
