Baba Yaga: The Ancient Origins of the Famous Witch Monstrum

Table Of Content

• Baba Yaga: The Scary Witch of Slavic Folklore
• A Baba Yaga Story of Initiation into the Magical Arts (aka Vasalisa the Wise)
• Baba Yaga’s Challenging Tasks and Vasilia’s Trials
• After scandal, movie producer Randall Emmett is flying under the radar with a new name
• Your ULTIMATE guide to Baba Yaga, the iconic Russian witch
• The Complexities Of A “Grandmother Witch”
• ‘Rebel’ redacted: Rebel Wilson’s book chapter on Sacha Baron Cohen struck from some copies
• Skin-walkers: Nightmare Witches from Navajo Myth

The skulls on top the fence are placed there to warn off anyone who tries to trespass. Bare in mind, this old witch does not only eat children; she is known in the folklore to eat strangers that get lost in the forest and then wander into her lair. Baba Yega might have the usual outward appearance of how witches were portrayed in old folklore, i.e. old and disheveled looking woman with long finger nails; however, she a bit different.

Baba Yaga: The Scary Witch of Slavic Folklore

Furthermore, it was not uncommon for some Slavic communities to place the dead on wooden platforms raise up on poles. This allowed the corpses to dry out so that the bones could be preserved. Those imagery probably had an influence on the depiction of Baba Yaga’s house. If this were the case, then the old witch at some point did indeed have children of her own.

A Baba Yaga Story of Initiation into the Magical Arts (aka Vasalisa the Wise)

The Baba Yaga is known to get around by sitting in a giant flying mortar that she steers with a proportionately large pestle, which serves as a sort of magical rudder. As she flies past, she sweeps away her tracks with a birch broom, leaving no trace behind her, a frustrating habit for whatever the Baba Yaga equivalent of Bigfoot hunters is. Baba Yaga as trickster is most clearly defined in the most famous of her tales, Vasilissa the Beautiful. Vasilissa lives happily with her mother and father until she is eight years old when her mother falls ill and calls her to her deathbed, giving her a magical doll to help her through life. She must always keep the doll with her, a secret from everyone else, and offer it food and drink whenever she faces some challenge in order to receive help. After her mother’s death, her father marries a woman with two daughters who is envious of Vasilissa’s beauty and abuses her, giving her harsh tasks, which her father can do nothing about since he is away on business trips.

Baba Yaga’s Challenging Tasks and Vasilia’s Trials

For centuries, this legendary witch has kept countless children from straying too far — both literally and figuratively — from their families. She marries the tsar’s son and moves into a palace, never to be bothered by Baba Yaga or her stepmother again. Baba Yaga’s influence extends far beyond her mythical origins. She has become an iconic figure in literature, art, and film, with many contemporary works drawing inspiration from her enigmatic persona.

However, there have been some portrayals of her residing in a very magnificent mansion. Irrespective of a hut or a mansion, Baba Yaga’s home is often not ordinary so to speak. In the folklore, her home is usually supported by two massive chicken legs. This allows her to uproot the house and move wherever or whenever needed. In some eastern European languages, baba is the name for “pelican”.

Slavic witch adventure Reka, aka the one with the chicken-legged house, gets new trailer and 2024 release date - Rock Paper Shotgun

Slavic witch adventure Reka, aka the one with the chicken-legged house, gets new trailer and 2024 release date.

Posted: Mon, 11 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Your ULTIMATE guide to Baba Yaga, the iconic Russian witch

In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is a hideous looking ogress with supernatural abilities who lives in a very dense forest. She is either seen as an evil witch who kidnaps and eats her victims, mostly children, or a wise old woman who helps people become better versions of themselves. Upon close inspection of the Slavic folklore about Baba Yaga, one quickly realizes that she is not your typical kind of witch with flying broom/mop and a pointed black hat. Instead Baba Yaga is said to travel on magical mortar and pestle that flies in the air.

The enigmatic figure of Baba Yaga has deep roots in mythology and folklore, with various iterations across different cultures. Explore the mythical background and variations of Baba Yaga in this section, along with a closer look at her physical appearance, traits, and the dual nature that defines her. The tales of Baba Yaga have also transcended cultural boundaries, adapting and transforming across different regions.

‘Rebel’ redacted: Rebel Wilson’s book chapter on Sacha Baron Cohen struck from some copies

In one story, a young princess flees the witch's hut to escape ending up in her oven, and during her flight ends up creating a mountain range, a forest, and a lake with various magical items to slow the Baba Yaga down. In this way, the seemingly monstrous Baba Yaga has led to the creation of a new world. The Baba Yaga is both a mother and a trickster because these are the modes in which many men see all women. The House with Chicken Legs is a 2018 middle-grade fantasy novel by Sophie Anderson, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli.

Skin-walkers: Nightmare Witches from Navajo Myth

Baba Yaga has a frightening ability to remove her hands from her body so she can have them do her bidding. The Russian witch is described as a deformed, scraggly old woman with bony legs, a very long crooked nose, piercing cold eyes, and iron teeth. Every single body part, including her eyes, ears, feet, hands, and mouth are grotesque and deformed. With a demeanor that is powerful and highly tempestuous, she instills fear and guarded respect in everyone that encounters her. This ambiguity is no accident, but rather is tied to her connection to femininity and the natural world, as a sort of earth mother.

Although she kidnaps and eats children and seems to go hunting for them throughout the day for her evening meal, Baba Yaga also serves as a catalyst for change. There are a number of tales in which she acts as an agent of transformation, helping the heroine or hero toward self-actualization and the completion of a quest. In these tales, and even in the others where she is depicted as the villain, Baba Yaga epitomizes the mythological trickster archetype. Chulkov’s mention of the granddaughters of Iagaia baba reflects another similarity between the goddess and the later witch in that Baba Yaga is sometimes depicted as having two daughters or two sisters. Some scholars, in fact, refer to the figure in the plural as Baba Yagas, all essentially the same entity, their only differences the most superficial.

Instead of flying on a broom, she uses mortar or an iron kettle and pestle to fly. Again, another feature shared with Holda and Berchta of Germanic origin. But to further elaborate on her iron nose, it’s said lin a few tales that she can smell the presence of humans.