Passionarity in the context of ethnogenesis - new hypothesis of the origin and evolution of Ukrainian Cossacks

The article elucidates the essence of passionarity, and the role of its energy in ethnogenesis, that is in creation of ethnos (sub-ethnos). The main ideas of L. Gumiliov's theory of ethnogenesis are briefly studied, as well as the formation of Cossacks sub-ethnos – component of Ukrainian ethnos and its dominant. Passionarity (from Latin word passio – passion) – is the dominant, insuperable internal aspiration (conscious or, more often, unconscious) for activity, which leads to some aim (often illusional). We should note that this aim is seen by passionate individual as more valuable than his own life, and even the lives and happiness of his contemporaries and fellow-citizens. This phenomenon was first discovered by Lev Gumiliov. The scientist also showed the determining value of passionarity in history. The essence of the passionate theory of ethnogenesis can be described by next ideas: in the first, people with surplus of energy and will for activity Gumiliov called «passionarians»; in the second, he called this energy the ethnical field of individual, which pulsates with certain frequency; in the third, the ethnos originates when vibrations of ethnical field of each passionarian tune in to identical frequency. As for Gumiliov, ethnoss differ one from another by frequencies of vibrations of ethnical field; in forth, Gumiliov called the process of ethnos formation "ethnogenesis" and defined conditions of its origin, phases and stages of evolution, and imperatives of behavior of ethnical community; in fifth, he considers ethnogenesis as ethnical system, which can arise up and exist only thanks to energy impulse, which it gets from passionate community of people. Under the influence of such energy formation of ethnos starts from mutation, which almost never touches the whole population of certain natural habitat. Only separate, considerably small group of people takes part in mutation, but that can be enough for the process of ethnos (subethnos) creation to start.