| Резюме: | Confronted with an existential threat in the form of Vladimir Putin, Ukraine is embracing patriotism and, in some cases, nationalist symbolism. In Ukrainian consciousness, the notion of the "Cossack" looms large, and during recent protests against the unpopular government of Viktor Yanukovych and subsequent drive to war with Russian separatists, many have fallen back on somewhat questionable historical associations. Indeed, traditional symbolism was very much apparent at Kiev's Maidan Square during the revolt against Yanukovych, with some nationalist protesters even sporting Cossack-style costumes and hairstyles. In the wake of the Maidan, the National Art Museum has been instilled with a sense of pride and stocks display cases full of ethnic artifacts such as Cossack musical instruments.
So just who were the Cossacks and why are they assuming so much political importance in present day Ukraine? While their origins are somewhat obscure, many historians believe Ukrainian Cossacks first formed military societies in the 14th and 15th centuries. Over the subsequent two centuries or so, Cossack peasants refused to submit to Polish or Russian rule. Rather than live under tyranny, they migrated to the undeveloped Ukrainian south where they established paramilitary settlements. Out on the steppe, Cossacks hunted, fished and gathered honey. Their numbers were constantly buoyed by other peasants, adventurers and even nobility. Cossacks, then, were originally fugitives from serfdom and feudalism and indeed, the word "Kazak" is derived from the Turkic term "Kazaky," or free person.
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