Traditions of family mutual aid in the Cossack Starshyna society (18th century)

The article, based on the analysis of various sources, including epistolary heritage, wills, memoirs, traces the existence in the Cossack Starshyna society of traditions of family aid for orphans. In the scientific historical, ethnographic literature, this topic is poorly studied, the existence of traditions of mutual aid were considered mostly on the example of the peasant environment. The rights of orphans were protected in testaments, and care for them was considered an established norm, the rejection of which provoked public condemnation. The responsibility for the lives of orphans, their upbringing, education, marriage, career advancement was assumed by the older generation, their property rights were governed by applicable law. According to custom, the brothers were to provide the orphaned sisters with a dowry and a maternity leave. The article considers the most typical manifestations of family mutual assistance on the example of information from the family life of famous representatives of the Cossack Starshyna. Care for family members was not limited to caring for orphans, it was provided to those family members who found themselves in a difficult financial situation, had family problems, were ill. Much also depended on the features of individual psychology, but in general, family values, part of which was the care of orphans, determined the basis of daily life

Dowry · Extended family · Family life · Genealogy · Memoir · Mutual aid · Peasant · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · Law · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends