Ukraine is not yet dead

That is the title of Ukraine's National Anthem. (Directly translated it is - Still has not died Ukraine)
I'm not kidding.

In 1863 it was composed by Mikhail Verbytsky, a western Ukrainian composer and Catholic priest. Verbytsky originally wrote the score as to accompany a patriotic poem written in 1862 by Pavlo Chubynsky, a prominent ethnographic in the Kiev region.
(There will be a pronunciation test on the names following this post.)
In 1917 it became the anthem of the short-lived Ukrainian National Republic, but during the Soviet era it was replaced with the not so popular tune "Ukraine is still crushed beneath Russia's giant hairy thumb".

Following independence in 1991, many Ukrainians were dissatisfied with the pessimistic tone, so the Ukrainian government made the Verbytsky score official but hesitated to approve the Chubynsky's lyrics. A comission sponsored contests for replacement lyrics, but none were decided on.
So here it is! A direct translation of our glorious anthem:(grammatically modified by yours truely)

Ukraine is not yet dead
Neither her glory or her freedom
Our young brothers laugh at fate

Our enemies will dissapear
like dew in the sun,
we brothers will rule in our own land

our souls and bodies
we will lay down for our freedom

And we'll show them
that we are brothers,
brothers of the Kozak nation

Yee-haw! Who says Ukrainians are pessemists?

And you thought Robin Hood was cool...

In both Ukrainian Saturday school and Ukrainian Bilingual Catholic school I learned about the brave Ukrainian freedom fighters called the Cossacks. These were men who escaped serfdom to go out and fight for freedom for Ukraine and for the rights of the common man. Kind of like a Ukrainian version of Robin Hood. And so from then on, they fought against Ukraine’s tough enemies like the Turks, the tartars, the Poles, the Russians.. and.. ummm..the lithuanians.
Now, I am sure many of you are thinking "Robin Hood was much cooler then these Cossacks. He had Sherwood forest to live in.. where did your Cossacks live.. in a giant magical cabbage roll?"

No, no my friends. The Cossaky had a super cool ISLAND called Zaporozhye Sech! And they even had their own flag! A FREEDOM Flag.

Zaporozhskaya Sech was created as a protest against any oppression. (and I am surprised you never heard of it. Even KARL MARX (the guy with the beard from your Grade. 9 Social studies textbook) knew about Sech! He called it the Cossack Christian Republic. Sech became wellknown for its traditional right, social structure, morals and manners as well as military traditions.

Whoever came to Sech no matter what his origin or property status, (Note the word "his") he was considered to be a free man and had the right to participate in the Voiskovaya Rada (council) and to use lands. The Voiskovaya Rada was the highest power body. The Leader of the Cossacks was called the Hetman.

I’m sure your asking yourselves "But how would I be able to tell a Cossack apart from your run of the mill average ukrainian serf?

Xa xa xa xa xa (That’s Ukrainian laughter). Well, the Cossacks all wore regular peasant type clothing - a shirt, sharovary (big wide pants), a zhupan (long vest type thing), boots, a silk bright sash and a red-silk topped cap.
But, there is one thing that really set them apart from the crowd. A REAL Cossack would have a special haircut - an Oseledets — a shaved head with a single lock of hair that hangs over the left ear — this is known as a worrier's pride (seriously!).

"Shall I eliminate him dance Captain?"

http://www.angryflower.com/ukefev.gif

Screw the Cowboys.. i wanna get me a Cossack!

I was reading "Ukrainian News" on my lunch break at work – yes, entertainment is sparse in the Ukrainian canadian Congress office – and I was flipping through the pages
(I was actually looking for my name to pop up – which I think is really the only reason I think people read past the cover of it)
and I found a HILLARIOUS article called:
"Cossacks Swear Fealty to President Yuschenko"
So the Cossacky have a huge ceremony and they all kneel in front of the president and cross their hand over their hearts and swear to follow his leadership.
They named him their new hetman and gave him a very fancy horse.
The article mentioned that Yuschenko USED to be a member of the cossacks but he failed to pay his membership dues and thus was booted out.

personally, i didn't even realize they still existed. - well what do i know -I'm just an opressed Slav