Achandara (Gudauta district)

In the north, the Achandara border is the Bzyb Range, in the east of Achandar it borders the village of Aatsy on the Aapsa River, in the south - with the village of Abgarhuk , in the west - along the river Dahuara with the village of Duripsh .

According to legend, once the enemies attacked Achandara, they captured all the people and took all the wealth and cattle headed back to their homes. They did not notice only one old woman who was barely moving. On that ill-fated day, there was not one hunter named Chandar in the village. He, having learned from that old woman the fate of his fellow villagers, in spite of her persuasion set off in pursuit, and setting an ambush between two craggy cliffs heroically liberated the village. But he was seriously wounded, the villagers weaved a stretcher from the branches of the first tree that came across, and lowered him to the village where he was dying ... Bloodied branches of that tree were stuck in the ground where they sprouted very quickly. Subsequently, the villagers in memory of the hero named those trees Achandarҵla (ҷandartslaқәa in the plural), which is translated from Abkhazian as the Chandar tree, and in the end the village was called Achandara, which in Abkhazian means “the place of growth of Chandar trees” .

According to the 1959 census, 446 people lived in the village of Achandara, mainly Abkhazians (in the Achandar village council as a whole - 1759 people, also mostly Abkhazians) ^[3] . According to the 1989 census, the population of the Achandar village council amounted to 1,522 people, including 178 people in the village of Achandara ^{[4] [5]} , mainly Abkhazians ^[6] . According to the 2011 census, the population of the rural settlement (rural administration) of Achandar amounted to 1226 inhabitants, of which 99.3% were Abkhazians (1217 people), 0.6% were Russians (7 people), 0.1% were Armenians (1 people), 0.1% - others (1 person) ^[1] .

According to the census of 1886, Orthodox Christians lived in the village of Achandara - 737 people, Muslims - Sunnis - 360 people. According to the class division in Achandar there were 46 princes , 26 nobles , 1015 peasants . Representatives of the Orthodox clergy and “urban” estates did not live in Achandar.

The village of Achandara is historically divided into 8 villages ( Abkh. Aҳabla ):

• Aualitsa (Barashu)
• Auasyrhua
• Achandara Ahabla (actually Achandara)
• Blathua (Kuabyryuta)
• Dzybzyr
• Habyu
• Tsvyndyrta
• Jgydyrhua

"Achandara" - sparkling red wine. Wine materials for Achandar are prepared from Isabella grapes grown on the farms of Abkhazia. Available since 1981. The color of the wine is red. A bunch of varietal. Wine conditions: alcohol 11–13% vol., Sugar 3–6 g / 100 cm3, titratable acidity 6–8 g / dm3. To produce Achandar, grapes are harvested with a sugar content of at least 17%. Wine materials are prepared by fermenting the wort on the pulp. The composition of the blend includes fortified wine materials (at least 60%), processed minuses, dry wine materials of Isabella, Tsolikouri varieties, as well as up to 20% of other varieties allowed in the production of sparkling wines. The fermentation mixture is prepared from blending and yeast wiring, then it enters into acratophores for saturation with carbon dioxide due to natural fermentation at a temperature of no higher than 10 ° C. The term of control exposure of Achandar is at least 5 days. To improve quality and increase stability, it is recommended that the wine be heat treated at 45 ° –50 ° C for no more than 10 hours. In this case, the duration of the control exposure can be reduced to one day.

Above the village of Achandar is one of the seven sanctuaries of Abkhazia - Mount Dydrysh . The height of the mountain is 919 m above sea level. An ancient cattle-driving path passes through it, leading to high mountain pastures and passes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range. Outwardly, it is not much different from the neighboring mountains, but is revered by the local population from ancient times. Thanks to the notes left by traveling scholars, priests and travelers, one can judge what constituted a sanctuary in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. and how it functioned then.

On the top of Mount Dydrysh were the ruins of an ancient Christian temple. There, after performing a sacrifice at the foot of the mountain, people accused of a crime and wanting to prove their own innocence rose with the priest to take the oath. Priests of the sanctuary were representatives of the local peasant family Chichba. The Abkhaz Orthodox priest N. Ladaria, who visited Achandar in 1913, reports the following information about the ritual practice that was then in place at the sanctuary: “Someone from the surname Chichba, who is called by the name of“ Anikhaya payayu ”(priest): he receives 60 kopecks for this from each sworn person. Two days a week are appointed for the oath Wednesday and Friday; on these days the Chichbovs must take turns on duty at the sacred place. The money received for taking the oath is divided equally by the number of Chichbov yards, the income received from the oath reaches 600-700 rubles a year. Therefore, it is clear how important it is for the Chichbovs to clothe this place with as much mystery as possible so that its value in the eyes of the Abkhazians does not decrease ”(155).

The descriptions of the sanctuary were very similar: at the foot of the mountain there is a small meadow with several sacred hornbeam trees, around one of them there is a stone fence, inside of which (at the roots of the tree) there was a plate with considered inviolable objects on it. Ethnographer G.F. Chursin, who visited here in 1925, described the objects in the sanctuary as follows: “a copper pot, a church copper cup similar to a rinse aid, a copper lid of a vessel, and another lid with small holes. Near the tree lay a fragment of a bifurcated type of arrow; on the ground under the fallen leaves lay a flattened iron helmet with traces of drafts; right there lay a rusted hand iron saw (hacksaw) with a wooden handle ”(226, p.40).

From the description of G.F. Chursin, we can conclude that, in contrast to the ritual practice recorded in the 19th century, in the 1920s. people had already stopped climbing to the ruins located on the top of the mountain, the sacrifice and taking the oath began to be held in one place - in the sanctuary at its foot.

In the village of Achandara there is the Habyu cave ( Abkh. Ҳabҩy ).

• V.E. Kvarchia. Historical and modern toponymy of Abkhazia (Historical and etymological study). - Sukhum, 2006 .-- 328 p. - 1000 copies.
• Кәарҷия В. Е. Аҧсны atoponymy. - Аҟәа: 2002 .-- 686 d. (Abkh.)