As we become more aware of the need to respect nature, and of our own fragility when we don’t, Baba Yaga’s powers are returning. ![]() On Instagram, #babayaga has over 100,000 posts, and Yaga’s no-nonsense personality appeals to the younger generation of women who see her as a feminist idol who does as she pleases. Recently, Baba Yaga has been experiencing a revival, both within and outside Russia. ![]() Once Christianity came to Rus - the medieval Slavic culture that preceded modern Russia - forced onto the pagan population by Prince Vladimir in a political bid to unite the lands, Yaga’s transformation from a complex deity into a cannibal witch was complete. You couldn’t control nature, and that was part of Yaga’s beauty.Īs our relationship with nature shifted, becoming more consumerist, demanding more guarantees, so did our relationship with Baba Yaga. In the matriarchal society in which she originated, Yaga was accepted as part ofthe natural way ofthings. Controlling weather has been a dream of humankind for thousands of years, but Baba Yaga was unpredictable and uncontrollable. And that, it seems, was the origin of her downfall. Although historians do not agree on a specific version of Yaga’s origins, it is clear that she could bring on wind, rain, hurricanes, and thunderstorms. Yaga’s desire to fry children can also be explained as an old tradition of wrapping sick or premature babies in thick dough in a warm oven as if in an incubator. Here, Yaga resembles the Greek legends of Charon who carries the souls of the newly dead over the Styx, or Persephone,the How the evolution of a Russian myth reflects the country’s relationship with nature. Others believe Yaga to be the ancient Slavic deity Uson’sha Vievna, the goddess of death, wife of the god Veles. This could explain the hut, a style of building that is not suitable for Russian winters but perfect for warmer lands that get regular flooding. There are several theories about the exact origins of Baba Yaga: some historians believe that Yaga is a derivative of the Sanskrit word yagya, meaning sacrifice, and that Baba is from a Sanskrit word meaning sage, father, or ascetic. She is among the most famous figures from Slavic folklore as guardian of the fountains of the waters of life and is sometimes seen as embodying female empowerment and independence. Instead, she often appears as one of three female archetypes in Slavic mythology: a powerful warrior an old crone and a young woman who helps others through magic and advice. Baba Yaga (Baba Jaga) is a witch or ogress from Slavic folklore who lives in a magical hut in the forest and either helps, imprisons, or eats people (usually children). Even in some of the folk tales, which are relatively modern by comparison, Yaga doesn’t always act according to her terrifying image. In the ancient Slavic myth of Yaga she was portrayed very differently, representing mother nature, the divine female, and the weather. Described in this way, she seems the archetype of a complex serial killer. She cooks children in her oven, her hut is a portal to the world of the dead, her fence is made of human bones and, above all, she is totally unpredictable. Whatever evil character traits you can think of, the modern depiction of Baba Yaga has them. ![]() Princeton University Press, 2012.Baba Yaga is a feature of many Russian folk tales and is usually portrayed as an old witch who lives in a hut on chicken legs. ![]() No Go the Bogeyman: Scaring, Lulling and Making Mock. Off with Their Heads!: Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood. Baba Yaga: The Ambiguous Mother and Witch of the Russian Folklore. Pantheon Books, 1973.īaba Yaga: The Wild Witch of the East in Russian Fairy Tales. With roots in the early Slavic pantheon of gods and goddesses, Baba Yaga has changed through the centuries, playing different roles for different listeners, and slowly crystallising into the ultimate fairy tale witch.Īrm yourself with your magic charms and keep your tongue sharp as we cross the threshold into the domain of talking creatures and mystical powers to stoke the fires and spin a tale or two of Baba Yaga.Īfanasev, Aleksandr. With her hooked nose, her bedraggled hair and her wrinkled skin, this hag of hags appears in her strange mode of transport, ready to aid or to hinder, depending on how much you keep your wits about you. In the deep, dark forests of Russia, where danger lurks in the liminal spaces, you might just find the unusual abode of one of folklore’s most fascinating characters: the incomparable Baba Yaga.
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