The Shepherds Way
The Tusheti people have lived in rural eastern Georgia since before historical documentation of their culture. Their ancestral homelands are in the highlands of the Caucus mountains, but in recent decades they have begun migrating down to the southern valleys in the Kaheti region. They speak Tusheti, a dialect of Georgian. Today there are about 3,000 Tusheti families in Georgia, but the majority do not live in their traditional homelands. The Tusheti have been shepherds and cheesemakers since the Middle Ages, and in recent decades their traditional livelihoods have undergone significant changes due to outside influences from the Soviet Union and the Western world. Shepherding and cheesemaking are labor-intensive, physically demanding jobs, and the villagers must care for the sheep, milk them, and work with their products under harsh weather conditions. They also must lead the sheep on biannual migrations through the steep mountain pass.
