Mechanisms of mythologizing Cossack character traits in historical narratives and folk tradition

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify and systematize the main mechanisms of the mythologization of the Cossack character in historical narratives and folk tradition, and to determine the factors that contributed to its formation and dissemination within the cultural and historical context. The methodological basis of the study consists of research methods employing an interdisciplinary approach. The historical-comparative method was applied to analyze historical sources and narratives, and the folkloristic method was used to study legends, tales, and other examples of oral folk art, as well as elements of narrative and cultural analysis, which allow us to trace the processes by which historical concepts are transformed into mythological images. The results of the study indicate that the formation of the image of the Cossack charakternyk took place as a result of a combination of several interrelated factors. These include the heroization of the Cossack military tradition, the influence of archaic beliefs and magical practices, the transformation of historical events in folklore texts, and the subsequent literary and cultural reinterpretation of the Cossack past. It has been established that, in the course of the development of folk tradition, real historical perceptions of the military elite of the Zaporizhzhian Sich were gradually supplemented with elements of symbolic and sacralized meaning, which contributed to the formation of the legendary image of the Cossack charakternyk as a bearer of special knowledge, strength, and spiritual resilience. It is shown that the mythologization of the Cossack charakternyk is a complex cultural process in which historical memory, folkloric models of heroization, and mechanisms of symbolic interpretation of the past interact. The conclusions demonstrate that the image of the Cossack charakternyk was formed through a combination of historical facts, folklore, and cultural interpretations. The obtained results expand scientific understanding of the mechanisms of the formation of mythological images in collective memory.