On the Folk Martial Arts of the Kuban Cossacks in the Russian Empire in the Mid-19th - Early 20th Centuries

Favorable conditions have been created in Russia for the restoration of the distinctive culture of the Kuban Cossacks, including traditional games, competitions, and martial arts. Scientific research into this issue within the framework of specialized historical, pedagogical, and ethnographic research is becoming a prerequisite for the development of a concept for traditional means and forms of physical culture and sports in Kuban. This study is based on a historical and ethnographic framework and examines the content of traditional martial arts among the Kuban Cossacks in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The study draws on works on the history, culture, and ethnography of the Kuban Cossacks, documentary evidence, pre-revolutionary periodicals, field observations, and folklore. It presents a description of individual means and forms of training in striking and wrestling among children and youth of the Kuban Cossacks at the family and community levels. The methods of conducting combat battles, the strategy and tactics of Cossack martial arts, including elements of game power wrestling with wild animals (bears), are specified. It explores the history, characteristic features of the content, and specific factors in the formation of martial arts traditions among children, youth, and adult Cossacks.