6. Cossack humor
In folk songs and legends, the relatives of the Cossacks were poetically defined in this way: Velykyi Luh - father, Sich - mother, saber - wife, horse - faithful companion. That is, his whole life from birth was associated with the attributes of the Cossack freemasonry.
In the company of the Cossacks, courage, cleverness, a good heart and, of course, a sense of humor, which permeated the entire life of the Sich, were valued above all else. The well-known researcher of the Cossacks Dmytro Yavornytsky wrote: "Of the natural qualities inherent in a real Cossack, the ability to tell stories, notice funny features in others and convey them in a humorous tone was noted."
This feature of the Zaporozhian Cossacks partly explains the strange nicknames they gave to newcomers who came in January: Nepiypivo, Lupinis, Zagubykoleso, Zaderikhvist, and so on. They jokingly called a man of small stature Machia, a man of great stature Malyuta, and a gallows man Svyatosha. Whoever burned the hut in them was Paliy, and whoever looked like a baker was Korzh.
The Cossack was able to laugh at the enemy, at death, at himself, always willingly mocked his comrade. And this was the laughter of a free man, because, as we know, slaves and the oppressed are not very willing to laugh.
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