For instance, Anatoly became a blacksmith and for more than 40 years has been transforming pieces of metal into delicately shaped roses, sturdy horseshoes and Cossack sabers. Naturally, nowadays all hereditary Cossacks have regular professions to earn a living. The community includes men with a military background, many of whom are now trying to revive the traditional skills of the Kuban Cossacks.
"My grandfathers and great-grandfathers were also Cossacks." Khorunzhy is a Cossack junior officer rank-roughly equivalent to second lieutenant-that is awarded by the ataman (leader) of a Cossack community. "I am a Cossack, a khorunzhy, an officer and a warrior," he says. In modern Russia, Cossacks no longer perform the same role as in pre-revolutionary Russia, but for their descendants this still remains a major part of their identity. The spectacle attracts a whole crowd of onlookers.Īnatoly Kramarenko is a hereditary Cossack. He then makes a light movement of his hand, we hear a swishing sound, and the sharp blade cuts through the neck of the plastic bottle while leaving the bottle itself still standing in the exact same position. "Now I'll show you a trick," he says, placing a bottle of water on the table. "We take our shashka in our right hand and hold it firmly," says a sturdy, gray-haired man wearing a linen shirt adorned with an ethnic design.
They were distinguished for their great military prowess and tasked with defending the country's frontiers. In the Russian Empire, the Cossacks formed a special social class.