Qeenoba is an ancient Georgian carnival with games. Since pagan times it was a spring occasion to celebrate fertility and harvest, though the term itself is relatively new. For centuries the carnival in the main retained its form but the content was changing. ln late feudal times this public festivity commemorated the rout of the Persian conqueror. Always held on the first Monday of Lent. The entire town 's population joined in. Its main grotesque character, the so-called "qeen" of the king's title in some oriental countries) wore the clown's dress. By the end of the XVlllc. Qeenoba had already become a set pantomime performance telling about the "sewre" (if the town by the "enemy" led by "qeen and the town population 's final "victory". Then the "qeen" is thrown into the Mtkvari river which symbolises the rout of foreign conquerors. The carnival usually ended with a sumptuous feast. By the mid-century the carnival's character had somewhat changed: local guilds did not participate, instead of one festive march several were organised, etc. At the end of the 1880s the authorities banned the Carnival of Qeenoba altogether as it was rapidly acquiring political character.