A ‘naseka’ was a decorated staff or stick with a metal — usually, silver — pommel, which served as a symbol of the Cossack ataman power. Each village or kuren (unit of Zaporozhian Cossack Host) had a staff like this.

The 1897 edition of the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary explains the meaning of the word ‘naseka’ as follows, ‘A special badge of dignity in the Cossack troops, given by the Imperial Court on May 10, 1885, by the regulations of the Committee of Ministers to the of settlement and village atamans.’

There are two variants of where the name of the staff came from. Both of them are connected with the word ‘naseka’ (cutting): according to one version, the names of atamans were carved on the staff; according to the other version, the time of their rule was marked with notches. A ‘naseka’, along with other Cossack regalia, was usually housed in the governing office of a village, district or department.

In the old days, nasekas looked like straight wooden sticks with a kind of pommel at one end. Later they were made in the form of canes with a figured silver pommel. The wooden part was painted to imitate the walnut and decorated with carving; the metal part was coated with chased or engraved patterns.

The first mention of a naseka dates back to 1704. Peter the Great granted this regalia to the ataman of the Don Cossacks. According to the decree of the emperor, it should be made

The stalk of this naseka was covered with a pattern carved in the form of branches, the pommel had the shape of a ball.

By the end of the 18th century, such staffs were already outdated and were replaced by ataman maces. They had the same function — they served as a symbol of power over the Cossack host.

The tradition of giving nasekas to atamans was revived in the late 1880s. The head of the Orenburg Cossack Host received the first symbol of power of this kind. The Minister of War proposed to give the same regalia to all atamans, but the Main Directorate of the Cossack Host did not support him and considered such a badge of distinction ‘excessive’. The Kuban ataman also said that there was ‘no need’ for this.

As a result, on June 2, 1904, all atamans of the Cossack Host, except for the Don, Terek and Ural, were granted nasekas. The Kuban ataman received it only on August 15 and only then learned about the very fact of awarding. Naseka was added to the lists of official regalia only three years later, in 1907.