Baba
Yaga. Remember some
creatures, strange creatures being introduced into your childhood
worldview? Certainly you remember. If you are of Slavic origin -
Baba Yaga is a sure bet. Now, half a century later, what do you
actually remember? An ugly, unpleasant creature? Probably.
Horrifying? Not likely. Well. now, in the information age, you hurry
on the web - and here is what Wikipedia reads:
In
Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is a supernatural being (or one of a trio
of sisters of the same name) who appears as a deformed and/or
ferocious-looking woman. Baba Yaga flies around in a mortar, wields
a pestle and dwells deep in the forest in a hut usually described as
standing on chicken legs. Baba Yaga may help or hinder those that
encounter her or seek her out and may play a maternal role and has
associations with forest wildlife. According to Vladimir Propp's
folktale morphology, Baba Yaga commonly appears as either a donor,
villain, or may be altogether ambiguous.
Andreas
Johns [in Baba Yaga: The Ambiguous Mother and Witch of the
Russian Folktale (2004)] identifies Baba Yaga as "one of
the most memorable and distinctive figures in eastern European
folklore", and observes that she is "enigmatic" and
often exhibits "striking ambiguity". Johns summarizes Baba
Yaga as a "a many-faceted figure, capable of inspiring researc-
hers to see her as a Cloud, Moon, Death, Winter, Snake, Bird,
Pelican or Earth Goddess, totemic matriarchal ancestress, female
initiator, phallic mother, or archetypical image".
Perplexed?
Don’t bother, don’t be annoyed by the heavy academic vocabulary,
don’t read Wikipedia or any other (x)pedia. Stick with your
childish picture of Baba Yaga. Whatever it is. |

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