STOP this HORROR in #Georgia !! The annual Lomisoba Festival in Georgia will be held on 11th of June and hundreds of animals, including sheep, calves and chickens, will be cruelly slaughtered as part of an historic custom Once a year, on the seventh week after Easter people from both sides of the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) gather to celebrate Lomisoba, at the Lomisi Monastery near the village of Mleta, about 10 km South of Gudauri. In 2014, the annual Lomisoba Festival in Georgia will be held on 11th of June during which hundreds of animals will be cruelly slaughtered as part of an historic custom. The centre of Lomisoba festival is Lomisoba Saint George’s Church on top of a high mountain next to the Lomisi Monastery, right on the ABL. According to an old legend the door of the church is on the Ksani River side, now on the South Ossetian side of the ABL, and the key to the door on the Aragvi River side, now on Tbilisi Administered Territory. It is said that the Lomisoba festival cannot be started unless there are people from both sides participating. Therefore the tradition of the Lomisoba festival has continued unaffected since the 2008 conflict. Lomisoba dates back to the pre-Christian period, but nowadays it is celebrated as a Christian religious festival. Even nowadays the festival has many pagan rituals, such as animal sacrifice. [1] Lomisa Church (named after the Bull Loma, which, according to the legend, found the way home with the Icon of St. Georgia fixed in his horns and brought Mtiulians (highlanders from the region of White Aragvi Ravine) from captivity of Persians home. The Bull Loma went up the ridge between Georgian Ravines Ksani and Aragvi and died there – on this place they built a church, which is serving for the distant monastery (place for private devotion) for five orthodox monks, due to its inaccessibility – healthy man may get there in 3 hours through steep path (in summer time). On Lomisoba holiday every year on the third Wednesday after Whitsun, thousands of believers come to the ancient monastery from all Georgia and south Caucasus – it is considered that pilgrimage and sacrifice on that day eliminate the disease and confer family well-being. Next to the high hill and at its foot in the village Mleta, public sacrifice takes place – hundreds of sheep, calves and chickens are sacrificed. [2] For pictures (graphic), videos and the list of references used to compile this article, please see our website, at: http://www.occupyforanimals.org/during-the-lomisoba-celebration-in-georgia-hundreds-of-sheep-calves-and-chickens-are-sacrificed.html HOW TO HELP Please tell the Georgian Government that decapitating a bleating lamb or calf should not be the symbol of Georgian civilization and that such blood rituals are abhorrent, barbaric, pointless and cruel and have no place in the 21st century. By adding your signature to the petition, a message will instantly be sent to the President of the Georgia, as well as the Chair of the Parliament of Georgia. Please SIGN at: http://www.change.org/petitions/government-of-georgia-ban-ritual-sacrifice-in-georgia-as-it-s-extremely-cruel-to-animals Thank you very much, in advance! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=647594321975283&set=a.216201598447893.48092.152547194813334&type=1&theater