Modern Day Russian Cossack Identity
Unlike in Ukraine, where the issue of Cossack status and identity seems to have been resolved, in modern Russia, the question of "Who is a Cossack?" can and does create major controversies. There are ethnic or "born" (prirodnye) Cossacks, those trace or, at least, claim to trace their direct ancestry to Cossacks of the old, Tsarist era. These are mainly Orthodox Christian people, who consider themselves to be Slavic.
Others, however, who are not "born" Cossacks, can become Cossacks through initiation. They are not necessarily Slavic or Christian. For example, since 2004, in the city of Perm functioned modern Russia's first Muslim Cossack unit.
Not everyone agrees that "initiated" Cossacks should be considered Cossacks at all. Nor is there consensus on what is considered a proper form of initiation.
There are people who simply put on a Cossack uniform and, essentially, pretend to be Cossacks, perhaps because there is a large ethnic Cossack population in their area and it is more convenient to try to fit in; or because that is simply a popular fad at the moment. Such individuals tend to be scoffed at by "real" Cossacks and referred to as 'ryazhenye' (ряженые, 'dressed up phonies').
Because of the controversies surrounding the identity issue, true population numbers of Cossacks in Russia still cannot be worked out. There are said to be 7 million people in Russia who consider themselves ethnic Cossacks. Most Cossack leaders estimate the number of ethnic Cossacks as between 2.5 and 4 million.
Read more about this topic: Cossacks
Famous quotes containing the words modern, day, russian, cossack and/or identity:
“I do not approve the extermination of the enemy; the policy of exterminating or, as it is barbarously said, liquidating enemies, is one of the most alarming developments of modern war and peace, from the point of view of those who desire the survival of culture. One needs the enemy.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“A day in thy courts is better than a thousand.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalms, 84:10.
“The French courage proceeds from vanitythe German from phlegmthe Turkish from fanaticism & opiumthe Spanish from pridethe English from coolnessthe Dutch from obstinacythe Russian from insensibilitybut the Italian from anger.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (17881824)
“Silence is to all creatures thus attacked the only means of salvation; it fatigues the Cossack charges of the envious, the enemys savage ruses; it results in a cruising and complete victory.”
—Honoré De Balzac (17991850)
“Personal change, growth, development, identity formationthese tasks that once were thought to belong to childhood and adolescence alone now are recognized as part of adult life as well. Gone is the belief that adulthood is, or ought to be, a time of internal peace and comfort, that growing pains belong only to the young; gone the belief that these are marker eventsa job, a mate, a childthrough which we will pass into a life of relative ease.”
—Lillian Breslow Rubin (20th century)