structural:scholar_edition, linguistic:translation
Leisure

Among the cultural and educational interests that characterize the leisure time of a Cossack Starshyna, there is a passion for music. A love of music, singing, and dancing was cultivated in the Cossack Starshyna environment. Things that brought aesthetic pleasure, provided comfort to everyday life, were musical instruments. Keyboard instruments such as the clavichord were widespread. Also violin and horns, husli (Ukrainian: гуслі) and bandura (Ukrainian: бандура). While on a campaign, the Starshyna society danced, on church holidays they sang. Cossacks were extremely fond of church singing.

A common phenomenon of the cultural life of the Hetmanate was the performances of the so-called traveling diaks (Ukrainian: дяки), students of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy or collegiums, who earned money for living and studying during the holidays by performing popular acts – interludes. There was also such a kind of intellectual pursuit of time as a game of chess. Among the popular leisure activities was playing cards, especially in winter. In 1727, such card games as picket, lumberjack, and fantas were mentioned. They played for money, sometimes a present could be, for example, a horse. Often the Starshyna had large apiaries and treated this business not only as a source of income, but also liked to rest there. Also, drinking coffee became a certain means of rest and relaxation in the environment of the Starshyna society.

The free time of the Cossacks was filled with various physical exercises: competitions in swimming, running, rowing, wrestling, fistfights, etc. All these and other exercises had a military orientation and were a good means of physical training of the Cossacks. Among the Zaporozhian Cossacks, various systems of martial arts have become widespread. The most famous formed the basis of the Cossack hopak (Ukrainian: гопак) dance.