WAR CHALLENGES AS A FACTOR FOR CORRECTION OF TRADITIONAL BEHAVIOUR AND BELIEFS IN CULTURE OF DON COSSACKS

Abstract

The paper considers the gender aspects of the transformational processes in the Don Cossack Host, which correlated with the process of including the Don River and Azov Sea regions in the Russian Empire in the 18th century and with converting the Cossacks to the military estate. I accentuate the importance of these transformations for the family’s everyday life, which complied with the reality of the military daily routine to a large extent. I analyze the figures of a soldier’s wife and a Cossack woman along with economic, social and cultural grounds for acquiring a special status by a Cossack woman. I argue that during the time of the Cossack Hosts’ existence, the self-sufficient military reality was created with the extensive participation of Cossack women. I consider two main problems stemmed from the governmental functions of a military estate: family status of the Cossack wives and their psychological condition. Several patronage scenarios typical for the village communities are characterized as self-developing system of the social adaptation. I formulate the approach for the further deep investigation of the Cossack tradition with the main aspect of close attention to the rethinking of the death on the battlefield. Author’s arguments are proved by the means of analyzing different historical, law, folklore and ethnographic sources with statistic surveys, ethnographic descriptions, family songs and mythological narratives about fire serpent included. All above mentioned allows the author to evaluate the consequences of the authorities’ intervention in the internal rhythm of the Cossack family and everyday life.