14
Apr
Dedaena Day
14th April is Mother Language Day in the Republic of Georgia. Regardless of their first language, all citizens of this east European country annually celebrate the day when the nation and its government have united against the Soviet attempt to deprive the state status of Georgian – one of the oldest living languages, still in use almost unchanged since ancient times.
In the 1970s the vast majority of the developed and developing countries neither have heard about a small republic, which shared its name with one of the states of America, nor they were aware of the language called Georgian. The world gullibly believed that everyone in the USSR was Russian, and speaking Russian only.
In those dark times for Georgia, its citizens faced a threat to lose their language and as a consequence of many similar steps already in action by Soviet Russia, the Georgian nation was meant to change into a Russian-speaking breed. The head of the Georgian Republic, Eduard Shevardnadze was introduced to the plan. As he recalled after years, the plan belonged to the Chief Ideologist of the Communist Party, Mikhail Suslov. Shevardnadze tried to explain that the Georgians would never agree on granting the state status to the Russian language instead of their mother tongue. Suslov did not want to hear any objections.
Shevardnadze arranged a face-to-face conversation with the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Leonid Brezhnev who promised to get involved whether the situation became uncontrolled. There was no one else left to turn to. Shevardnadze realised he was solely responsible for the future of the language and the entire people of his country. He knew he was running out of time, too. He created a cunning plan. (Famous for being an extremely sly politician, Shevardnadze was nicknamed the 'white fox').
The head of the Georgian Republic flew back home and initiated the nationwide study of a new project of the constitution, which did not have Georgian as the state language of the Republic. The word spread quickly and the people became aware of the situation.
On 14th April 1978, at 10 o’clock in the morning, hundreds of Georgian students and professors marched from the Tbilisi State University towards Rustaveli Avenue, where the government seated, discussing the new reading of the constitution. The police forces blocked the streets in central Tbilisi but young people managed to overcome all barriers. Obviously, the Georgian policemen did not try hard enough to stop the demonstration. The rumour has it they were instructed not to complete their duty properly. Or, maybe, they simply shared the feelings of the people about Article 75.
Another group of protesters gathered near the Shota Rustaveli statue in the Zemeli area and joined the approaching first group. The third wave walked from Polytechnic University. One more group came down Lagidze Street from the Georgian Conservatoire. The initial movement of 15,000 protesters grew into a demonstration of 100,00 citizens.
One more massive group of protesters had gathered in the central park (later renamed Dedaena Park) near Dry Bridge.
Local students and professors arranged a demonstration in the city of Batumi as well.
People stood still in front of the House of Government all day, only chanting ‘Deda ena! Deda ena!’ (‘Mother language! Mother language!’ from time to time. Every single member of the government could hear the voice of the nation. The demonstration was peaceful but seriously annoying for the agents of the Soviet government. The older generation had a fresh memory of the previous Georgian protest on 9th March 1956 when many participants lost their lives. However, Russification and losing national identity seemed scarier to the Georgians than the bullets that each of them secretly dreaded.
At the end of the day, it became obvious that neither Kremlin nor the people of Georgia would step back. There were rumours that Suslov ordered Shevardnadze to open the fire and terminate the demonstration. In a desperate attempt to save protesters' lives, and save the face of the Soviet government, too, Shevardnadze announced that the state status of the Georgian language would remain in the Constitution. This bold step surprisingly worked as Brezhnev approved the decision.
The loudspeakers were on as Shevardnadze spoke in the House of Government, so people outside could hear every word. When the students heard the news they could not believe it until the moment when Eduard Shevardnadze walked outside and talked to the people himself, as Akaki Bakradze recalled the victorious end of the day.
The joint effort of the local government and the nationwide movement of the citizens of the Georgian Republic prevented the most brutal tries of the totalitarian regime. Surprisingly, for the first time in its history, the Soviet regime withdrew its attempt and stepped back; thus the official status of the Georgian language was restored in the Constitution of Georgia.
The State Commission for the Georgian Language made Georgia the only exception among other Soviet republics. The Commission consisted of writers and linguists and the Head of the Government, Eduard Shevardnadze chaired it. Consequently, the same decision spread about languages in other Soviet republics as well.
Time passed and another fight succeeded when Georgia broke free from the Soviet jail, throwing away a show of prosperity and political stability. There was not a day without a real war in the lives of free and independent Georgians ever since but no one looked back to the lost illusory safety of inmate life and occupational condition. The world gets to know Georgia step by step.
It is symbolic that the story about the fight to defend Mother Language – one of three main Georgian values – mostly passes by from mother to child up to this day. Every new generation finds it hard to believe whether a language could be simply banned like that, or whether peaceful demonstration could be shoot at. The fact is, Article 75 of the Georgian Constitution remained and thus, it saved state status for all other languages in the rest of the Soviet Republics. Prior to the unbelievable victory of the people over the Soviet regime, other republics – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Armenia disliked the idea of losing state status for their mother languages but only the Georgians were bold and stupid enough to dare to go against the Kremlin even though the most of protesters have been put under Soviet pressure days before 14th April, to scare them off and change their mind about arranging a demonstration.
In 1990 14th April was officially established as Mother Language Day in the Republic of Georgia, and it is celebrated annually ever since – the first example of the possibility to defeat the Kremlin.
In 2015 the Georgian alphabet – one of the 14 unique alphabets in the world – has been granted the national status of cultural heritage.
To commemorate the events of 1978, the Monument of Dedaena (also called the Bell of Knowledge) was put up in Dedaena Park on the right bank of the Kura (Mtkvari) River, near the Dry Bridge.
In 1983 the sculptor Elguja Amashukeli (1928-2002) and architect Nodar Mgaloblishvili created a statue of a young boy who is eager to reach the heights of knowledge and thus, tries to ring the bell (equally representing a school bell and church bell) by jumping up and stretching his hands towards the sky.
There is a common mistake in spelling the word both in Georgian and English. ‘Deda ena’ means ‘mother language’, which can refer to any person’s first language. ‘Dedaena’ is the name of the well-known textbook written by Jacob Gogebashvili. On 14th April 1978, a large number of protesters gathered in the park, which was named after the book later. Dedaena is used by Georgian preschoolers to learn reading and writing since its first edition appeared in 1876.
The first park was created soon after WWII while paving Stalin Avenue (now known as Zviad Gamsakhurdia Embankment) nearby. In 1935 the riverbed of the Kura was moved, thus the Small Bridge of Michael (build in 1848-1851 by architect Giovanni Scudieri) under which the Kura branch once flew, became waterless or ‘dry’, hence its modern name Dry Bridge. Today the area homes the Artists Line and the Dry Bridge Flea Market.
The famous Island of Madatov has disappeared when flooded by waters from the Kura River. There was Kochlashvili’s pub the White Pelican on Madatov, which used to be very popular among Georgian writers and visitors of Tbilisi. The walls were decorated by local prodigy artist Niko Pirosmani.
The Zdanevich Catalogue keeps the memories by Pirosmani’s contemporaries who give a detailed account of the murals decorating the White Pelican interior. As described, there were peacocks, a ship, and a big fish. When the pub was destroyed the masterpieces were ruined. The memory of Pirosmani’s white peacocks remains in the well-known poem ‘White Pelican’ by Galaktion Tabidze.
