Folklore, Urban Legends, Myths, etc.

Baba Yaga

 Baba Yaga is a witch from Slavic folklore who lives in a magical hut in the forest and either helps, imprisons, or eats those she encounters. She is among the most famous figures from Slavic folktales and has found a following in the present day among those who see her as embodying female empowerment and independence.

Her name is often understood to mean "Grandmother Witch", though this is challenged and there is no universal agreement on the meaning of Yaga. She is first mentioned in a book on Russian grammar in 1755 but is thought to have existed in the oral tradition of Slavic folktales much earlier. Although she is usually the villain of any piece she appears in, she can also offer assistance and is understood as more of a trickster character who encourages transformation than the stock figure of an evil witch.

Baba Yaga is probably best known from the story Vasilissa the Beautiful in which she inadvertently frees the heroine from the tyranny of her stepmother and stepsisters but also figures in other famous tales such as The and Baba Yaga and the Kind-Hearted Girl in which she is cast in a similar role. A number of her tales follow the paradigm of the Cinderella story where she plays the part of the Fairy Godmother but with a decidedly sinister twist.

As she lives outside the norms of society and always by her own rules, she has come to embody the concept of feminine power and emancipation in the modern age. Books, films, and television shows reference her today in this role, and although she retains her menacing character, she is increasingly seen as a source of wisdom and power rather than a personification of evil.

Baba Yaga is depicted as an enormous, ugly old woman who lives in a hut built on four tall chicken legs that can turn about or relocate on command. She is often seen draped over her stove or reclining in the hut across the entire expanse, with her large nose touching the ceiling. When she leaves her house, she rides in a mortar propelled by a pestle with one hand while, in the other, she holds a broom she uses to wipe away any trace of her tracks.

She usually leaves her hut in the morning, returning in the evening, and commands a flock of black geese that circle the skies looking for children. In the story Baba Yaga's Black Geese, two disobedient children, Olga and Sergei, sneak out of their house while their mother is at the market – after she has warned them not to go out while the geese are flying – and Sergei is snatched up and brought back to Baba Yaga's hut for her dinner. Olga is able to save her brother through the use of magical items, and the two learn their lesson about not listening to their mother.

In this story, as in many others, Baba Yaga is a powerful witch who feeds on children, but, according to scholar Andreas Johns in his comprehensive book on the subject, she may have originally been a Slavic goddess and Earth Mother. Johns cites the scholar Mikhail Chulkov who notes significant similarities between Baba Yaga and an early goddess of known as Iagaia baba:

"The venerated the underworld goddess by this name, representing her as a frightening figure seated in an iron mortar, with an iron pestle in her hands; they made blood sacrifice to her, thinking that she fed it to the two granddaughters attributed to her, and that she delighted in the shedding blood herself." 

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.

Other scholars believe she was initially the personification of nature, which can be cruel or kind in turns, or as a storm cloud or storm, while others have claimed she personifies a plow which breaks (injures) the earth to enable the planting, fertilization, and growth of crops. Johns cites the scholar Matthew Guthrie who seems to reject the plow interpretation in favor of the Goddess of Death theory, claiming Baba Yaga is the Slavic version of the Greek goddess Persephone.

In legend, she originates with the devil according to scholar Vasilii Levshin as cited by Johns:

"Wishing to concoct the most perfect essence of evil, the devil cooked twelve nasty women  together in a cauldron. To capture the essence, he gathered the steam in his mouth and then spat into the cauldron without thinking. Out of this mixture came Baba Yaga, the most perfect evil."

She is usually represented along these lines, no matter what good may come of her actions, and so it could be argued that whatever may have inspired the figure is irrelevant as she became known as the personification of evil. No single interpretation of her origin is universally agreed upon, and the same is true of her name. Johns writes:

"In Old Russian, the word baba could refer to a midwife, sorceress, or fortune teller, and the standard modern Russian word for "grandmother" (babushka) is derived from it. Baba in modern Russian is also a pejorative term for woman...The origin and meaning of Iaga is far more obscure and has inspired several different interpretations among linguists."

Among the many possibilities suggested are disease, illness, horror, chill, wicked wood nymph, witch, evil woman, rage, fury, anger, torture, pain and worry, serpent, snake, uncle's wife, stepmother, aunt, and mother. Johns cites scholar Brian Cooper who claims that "the name suggests a personification of suffocating oppression" and concludes that "in spite of its obscure origins, Baba Yaga's name is well known throughout Russia. Like the word "witch", iaga was used by villagers as an unflattering designation for "old, quarrelsome, and ugly women" (11). The name can generally be understood, then, to mean "Grandmother Witch", even if that is not a direct translation.

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.