Harakternik
Harakternik is the name of the healer and spiritual mentor in the Zaporozhian Sitsch , who was not only occupied with guidance or divination, but also with the treatment of wounded Cossacks, their psychological and physical training. Various eyewitness accounts exist about him, in Ukrainian folk legends and paraphrases. According to Ukrainian mythology, the Harakternik have magical abilities that they used for the needs of the Zaporozhian Cossacks . Harakternik in Ukrainian mythology have a positive image, which is expressed in the embodied legendary personality of the Cossack Mamaj .
history
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The first mention of the existence of Harakternik among the Zaporozhian Cossacks comes from the 15th century. Russian and Byzantine sources wrote about the harakternik. The Polish publicist Bartosz Paprocki mentioned the harakternik who caught enemy bullets with their own hands and threw them back at their enemies.
The most famous harakternik in Ukrainian mythology is the idealized image of Cossack Mamaj who was a collective likeness of a wise Cossack, a wandering storyteller. In the Ukrainian paraphrases and legends were hetman and Ataman typical Harakternik. According to the Ukrainian mythology, the most famous Harakternik among the Zaporozhomes was the military leader Iwan Sirko , who was involved in 244 battles during his Ataman's times from 1659 to 1680 and was never defeated. The Cossacks believed that Ivan Sirko knew in advance who and where to fight. During the battle he turned into a wolf or a hawk and summoned an enemy army. The Ukrainian writer Adrian Kashchenko wrote about him:
“Could a simple man with his little heap of comrades, alone and without the help of others, cut out the much larger and armed Turkish or Tatar troops and more than 30,000 Janissaries, like sheep, between the Sitsch - Kurin ? Who, if not Harakternik, could plunge into the Crimea with a heap of comrades, into the nest of a great horde, destroy its cities, save the slaves who had been driven there from all countries and take with them great booty "
There is a legend that the Zaporozhian Cossacks did not bury Ivan Sirko for five years after his death, but took his body with them so that when he was dead he would terrify the enemy and help the Cossacks to victory. Before the funeral, they allegedly amputated the corpse's right hand and always took it with them afterwards to serve as a talisman.
properties
It was believed that the Harakternik were powerful wizards who could stop profuse bleeding, summon bullets, catch bullets with bare hands, walk on water and fire, stay under water for hours, become invisible, hypnotize, appear in multiple places at the same time and terrible horror cause among enemies. Harakternik could see the future, raise the dead, and control the weather.
Web links
- Казаки-характерники или Чародеи войска Запорожского ( Russian ). Retrieved December 14, 2018.
- Who Were Harakterniks? ( English ) Retrieved December 16, 2018.
Individual proof
- ↑ Harakternik in the Google book search
- ↑ Who Were Harakterniks? ( English ) Retrieved December 16, 2018.
- ↑ aratta-ukraine.com Луців Є. Хто такі козаки-характерники