Chupryna or Oseledets is the traditional Ukrainian Cossack haircut. It describes a style of man's haircut that features a lock of hair sprouting from the top or the front of an otherwise closely shaven head. This military haicut was of Circassian or Turkish origin. The term oseledets is a recent coinage, chupryna being the traditional term. There are several Ukrainian surnames deriving from both of these words.

Origin

Exact date when chuprynas had originated remains unknown, but it is known for sure that east Slavonic warlord Prince Sviatoslav

Sviatoslav I of Kiev

Sviatoslav I Igorevich ; , also spelled Svyatoslav, was a prince of Rus...

 wore chupryna and a long moustache

Moustache

A moustache is facial hair grown on the outer surface of the upper lip. It may or may not be accompanied by a type of beard, a facial hair style grown and cropped to cover most of the lower half of the face.-Etymology:...

 in the mid 900s. These distinctive marks are depicted in all images and monuments of him (for example, Sviatoslav sculpture at State Russian Museum). Such a haircut was common for his druzhina

Druzhina

Druzhina, Drużyna or Družyna in the medieval history of Slavic Europe was a retinue in service of a chieftain, also called knyaz. The name is derived from the Slavic word drug with the meaning of "companion, friend". -Early Rus:...

 as well, except varyags who preferred to plait their hair and beards into long braid

Braid

A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by intertwining three or more strands of flexible material such as textile fibres, wire, or human hair...

s. All heirs of the ruling Rurik Dynasty

Rurik Dynasty

The Rurik dynasty or Rurikids was a dynasty founded by the Varangian prince Rurik, who established himself in Novgorod around the year 862 AD...

 wore chuprynas before Rus' was baptized. According to Leo the Deacon

Leo the Deacon

Leo the Deacon was a Byzantine Roman historian and chronicler.He was born around 950 at Kaloe in Asia Minor, and was educated in Constantinople, where he became a deacon in the imperial palace. While in Constantinople he wrote a history covering the reigns of Romanus II, Nicepheros II, John...

, at the times of Sviatoslav reign, oseledets was a distictive sign of noble origin.

Cossack era

Oseledets, a long lock of hair waved around the ear, was not a simple topknot (chub) and was worn by military men only, though every male in Ukraine cut his hair into the topknot. By the end of 19th century, oseledets almost disappeared as a haircut, and lastly was typical for Ukrainian merchants, known as chumak

Chumak

Chumak are a class of merchants and traders from the area comprising modern Ukraine.The term's origin is from the word chum , a special storage container for salt or fish. Some claim it to be a derivative from the Ukrainian word chymchykuvaty, meaning to walk about, touring...

y.

The oseledets was a point of honor for a Zaporozhian Cossack. Oseledets could be worn only by mature warriors, with younger ones (so called dzhura's) forbidden to wear the haircut. And it was a most shameful punishment to have one's oseledets' cut off. This punishment was portrayed in Propala Hramota

Propala Hramota

Propala hramota is a 1972 Soviet musical-comedy film by Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kiev. It is one of many films which were eventually banned by the Soviet censorship. It was broadcasted only in the early 1990th, after the fall of the Union. The movie is considered a pearl of the national Ukrainian...

, a film by Boris Ivchenko.

Sources

• Stamerov K. History of Ukrainian costume: from the Scythian period to the late 17th century‎. Melbourne
  Melbourne
  Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
  
  : Bayda Books, 1986 - 62 p. ISBN 0908480164, 9780908480166 (Page 47)