And another thing

[John Dunn]

On the subject of Cossack identity, Glasgow is twinned with Rostov-on-Don, and until my exile one of my prized possessions was a photograph dating from sometime in the late 1980s and depicting two of Glasgow's civic dignitaries* undergoing some dismally spurious 'rite of initiation' into the Don Cossack community.  What made the picture particularly endearing is that the said dignitaries were wearing both the kilt and Cossack furazhki, with the latter placed at an angle in conformity more with the regulations of the Strathclyde Police than with the traditions of the Don Cossacks.

John Dunn.

*Those with a concern of gender equality might wish to note that because the then Lord Provost of Glasgow was a woman, it was her husband who was faced with the duty of taking part in the ceremony.


John Dunn
Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow, Scotland

Address:
Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
40137 Bologna
Italy
Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

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