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!).