In our time, there is a huge amount of speculation and speculation on the topic of the Cossacks. For example, that the Cossacks are actually an independent ethnic group or even a nationality. These fantasies have nothing to do with reality. However, this does not mean at all that the Cossacks are not an interesting subject for study. The life of this class over the centuries is rich in a variety of bright events and piquant details.
Who are the Cossacks and where did they come from?
As a phenomenon, the Cossacks appeared long before the well-known name stuck to this class. The predecessors of the Cossacks were the so-called "roaming" (from the word "wander" in the meaning of wandering). It was a very diverse company, consisting mainly of a fugitive poor aristocracy, which huddled in mobs and went to engage in robbery. The Brodniks were not a very reliable, poorly organized, but at the same time an extremely mobile fighting force. That is why they were regularly hired by the princes of Russia and the Tatar khans to conduct a "raid war" - to carry out raids on farms, villages and villages of their political competitors.
As such, the Cossacks appear somewhere in the XV-XVI centuries. Military communities are formed in the "wild field" in the lower reaches of the Vistula, Don, Neretva, Danube and, of course, the Dnieper. Unlike the wanderers, not only the impoverished or guilty representatives of the nobility fled to the Cossacks, but also the peasants who were looking for freemen and dissatisfied with their landowner or community, poor townspeople and criminals. The reasons for the departure of people to the Cossacks were very different. There were adventurers among them, but the overwhelming majority fled to the "wild field" not from a good life.
They went to the Cossacks from absolutely all kingdoms and principalities: Polish, Lithuanian, Moscow. Like the brodniks, the Cossacks were actively hired by everyone who had the money to do so. Mainly their services were used by Poland and Russia. Ultimately, by the time of Catherine II, all territories with Cossack "freemen" were part of the Russian Empire, and the authorities had to make a lot of efforts to bring a freedom-loving social group to the meridian. However, one should not think that the Cossacks on principle refused to go into service. Indeed, they mostly wanted this, although they also wanted a special attitude towards themselves, which periodically led to conflicts with the authorities, which resulted in riots.
Why does a Cossack need an earring in his ear?
The tradition of wearing earrings by the Cossacks in one ear goes back to the centuries, when not only the Cossacks, but even the aforementioned wanderers did not exist yet. The first mentions of such jewelry among representatives of the Russian military aristocracy date back to the 10th century, to the reports of the Byzantine historian Lev the Deacon, who mentioned an earring in the ear of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich.
It is interesting that this tradition also came to the Russian princes from the outside, namely from the great steppe. There are numerous mentions that the same jewelry - an earring in one ear, was worn by representatives of numerous nomadic peoples, with whom our ancestors constantly contacted.
Ultimately, the tradition reached the Cossacks. Apparently, the meaning of wearing earrings has changed a lot over the centuries. It's hard to say how the early Cossacks treated the earring. However, it is reliably known how the earring in one ear was interpreted in the 19th century. Not every Cossack could wear such an ornament. So, the earring in the left ear meant that the Cossack was the only male child of his parents. If the Cossack had an earring in his right ear, this meant that he was the last of the remaining men in his family, and if he died, the dynasty would be interrupted. Thus, all colleagues could immediately find out about the marital status of the Cossack.
However, this tradition was not a property for all Cossacks. For example, on the Don, men did not wear jewelry at all.
Why does a Cossack need a forelock?
On this score, there is just some incredible number of the most diverse versions of varying degrees of persuasiveness from frankly strange to very funny and romantic. Some argue that only a Cossack who had been in a real battle had the right to wear a forelock. Others point out that the forelocks were worn allegedly for religious reasons, so that the Lord God had something to pull the Cossack out of the hellish cauldron.
However, the most plausible and at least somehow confirmed version boils down to the fact that the forelocks came to the Cossacks from the territory of Poland, just at the dawn of the formation of this very Cossacks in the 15th century. It was then that a legend about the Sarmatian origin of the Polish aristocracy appeared among the nobility in the Kingdom of Poland. A bald head with a forelock was considered a "Sarmatian hairstyle", and therefore was worn by many representatives of the Polish military aristocracy.
And since the Cossacks quite often hired themselves, including the Poles, most likely they simply adopted the then popular fashion. Moreover, the Cossacks fled not only from Russia, but also from the territory of Hungary, Poland and Lithuania.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about why the Turkish janissaries relied on a scimitarif it was not the main weapon.