Baba Yaga - Folklore

Folklore

In Russian tales, Baba Yaga is portrayed as a hag who flies through the air in a mortar, using the pestle as a rudder and sweeping away the tracks behind her with a broom made of silver birch. She lives in a log cabin that either moves around on a pair of dancing chicken legs, is surrounded by a palisade with a skull on each pole, or both. The keyhole to her front door is a mouth filled with sharp teeth; the fence outside is made with human bones with skulls on top, often with one pole lacking its skull, leaving space for the hero or heroes. In another legend, the hut does not reveal its door until it is told a magical phrase: "Turn your back to the forest, and your front to me."

In some tales, the hut is connected with three riders: one in white, riding a white horse with a white harness, who is Day; a red rider, who is the Sun; and one in black, who is Night. Baba Yaga is served by invisible servants inside the hut. She explains the riders if asked, but may kill a visitor who inquires about the servants.

Baba Jaga is the Wise Woman of Fire. Some Romani/Gypsy families portray her as a phuri dai, the words for grandmother or Wise Woman. She represents the element of Fire and harmonizes with the other three: the mortar symbolizing herbs (Earth), bird legs on the cabin represent Air, and the element of Water flows as a creek between the legs.

Baba Yaga is sometimes shown as an antagonist, and sometimes as a source of guidance; there are stories in which she helps people with their quests, and stories in which she kidnaps children and threatens to eat them. Seeking out her aid is usually portrayed as a dangerous act. An emphasis is placed on the need for proper preparation and purity of spirit, as well as basic politeness. It is said she ages one year every time she is asked a question, which may explain her reluctance to help. This effect, however, can be reversed with a special blend of tea made with blue roses.

In the folk tale "Vasilissa the Beautiful", recorded by Alexander Afanasyev (Narodnye russkie skazki, vol 4, 1862), the titular young girl is given three impossible tasks that she solves using a magic doll given to her by her mother. In the Christianised version of the story, Vasilissa is sent to visit Baba Yaga on an errand and is enslaved by her, but the hag's servants — a cat, a dog, a gate, and a tree — help Vasilissa to escape because she is kind to them. In the end, Baba Yaga is turned into a crow. Similarly, Prince Ivan in "The Death of Koschei the Deathless" is aided against her by animals whom he has spared.

Polish Baba Jaga differs in details. For example, the Polish Baba Jaga's hut has only one chicken leg. Monstrous witches living in gingerbread huts are also commonly named Baba Jaga. Baba Jaga, flying on a broom and wearing black and red striped folk costume of Świętokrzyskie Mountains, is an unofficial symbol of Kielce region (it is connected with legendary witches' sabbaths on Łysa Góra mountain). In some legends Baba Yaga is also awarded the title Костяная Нога ("The Bone Leg") and considered a guardian between the real world and the land of the dead. This title later became an idiom, often used as taunt.

In some fairy tales, such as "The Feather of Finist the Falcon", the hero meets with three Baba Yagas. Such figures are usually benevolent, giving the hero advice, magical presents, or both.

Other recorded Russian fairy tales that feature Baba Yaga are "Teryoshechka", "The Enchanted Princess", and "The Silver Saucer and the Red Apple".