Baba Yaga

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Baba Yaga by Ivan Bilibin

Baba Yaga in Slavic mythology is the wild woman, the dark lady and mistress of magic. She
is also seen as a forest spirit, leading hosts of spirits. The word baba in most Slavic languages
means an older or married woman of lower social class or simply grandmother.

Contents
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1 Folklore
2 Baba Yaga in the arts
o 2.1 Art
o 2.2 Music
o 2.3 Literature
o 2.4 Film
o 2.5 Television
o 2.6 Comics
o 2.7 Games
3 Other languages

4 External links
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Folklore
In Russian tales, Baba Yaga is portrayed as a witch who flies through the air in a mortar using
the pestle as a rudder sweeping away the tracks behind her with a broom made out of silver
birch. She lives in a log cabin that revolves around by means of a pair of chicken legs that

dance. Her fence outside is made with human bones with skulls on top. The keyhole to her
front door is a mouth filled with sharp teeth. In another legend the house does not reveal the
door until it is told a magical phrase: turn your back to the forest, your front to me.
Her house is connected with three riders: one in white, riding a white horse with white
harness, who is Day; a red one, who is the Sun; and a black one, who is Night.
She is sometimes shown as an antagonist, and sometimes as a source of guidance; there are
stories where she helps people with their quests, and stories in which she kidnaps children and
threatens to eat them. When people do seek out her aid, it is usually described as a dangerous
act. An emphasis is placed on the need for proper preparation and purity of spirit, as well as
basic politeness.
According to some versions of the myths, Baba Yaga ages a year every time someone asks her
a question. This is why she is often portrayed as a cranky old hag she is frustrated and
angry about having been asked so many questions. The only way for her to de-age herself is
by drinking a special tea she brews from blue roses. Heroes who bring her a gift of blue roses
are often granted wishes as reward for their aid.
In one folk tale a young girl, Vasilisa, 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 Vasilisa to escape
because she has been kind to them. Finally, Baba Yaga is turned into a crow. Similiarly, Prince
Ivan in The Death of Koschei the Deathless is aided against her by animals whom he spared.
In another version of the same story recorded by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie
skazki (vol 4, 1862) Vasilisa is given three impossible tasks that she solves using a magic doll
her mother gave to her.
Baba Jaga in Polish folklore differs in details. For example, she has a house on one chicken
leg. Bad witches living in gingerbread houses are also commonly named Baba Jaga.
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Baba Yaga in the arts

Baba Yaga, or characters inspired by her, appears in a number of works of art, including many
musical pieces, novels, films, comic books, and computer games. She is in particular a
favorite subject of Russian films and cartoons.
Creative works inspired by Baba Yaga include:
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Art

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Music

The House on Chicken Legs, built in Abramtsevo to a design by Viktor Vasnetsov.

Baba Yaga (a drawing of Baba Yaga's hut by Viktor Hartmann that features in
Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition)

The ninth piece in Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, a suite originally

composed for piano (and more famously orchestrated). The music conjures the image
of Baba Yaga trudging through the forest with her pestle, and of the spirits surrounding
her.
The symphonic poem Baba Yaga Op. 56 by Anatoly Lyadov. The music depicts Baba
Yaga summoning her mortar, pestle and broomstick, then flying off through the forest.
The Album for the Young Op. 39 have a piece called La sorciere (The witch) (Baba
Yaga), No. 20 by Piotr Ilyich Tschaikowsky.
Baba Yaga (musical release, 1999, by Norwegian folk musician Annbjrg Lien
A Hungarian world music band, mixing Russian folk and pop-rock, is called Baba
Yaga.

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Literature

Enchantment (a novel by Orson Scott Card)

Baba Yaga appears as a character in the science fiction novel Belarus (link to
Amazon.com) by Lee Hogan.
Koshka's Tales (Stories From Russia) by James Mayhew features Baba Yaga as the
main plot's antagonist. (ISBN 1-85697-121-X)
The children's book Weirdos of the Universe Unite, by Pamela F. Service, features a
collection of deities from various mythologies fending off an alien invasion. One of
the main characters in the book is Baba Yaga.
The children's book Bony-Legs, by Joanna Cole and Dirk Zimmer, features a childeating antagonist witch who lives "deep in the woods in a hut that stood on chicken
feet".

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Film

Numerous Russian films and cartoons

Baba Yaga (Italian film, 1973, by Corrado Farina)
In the 1998 film Lawn Dogs, Baba Yaga is mentioned as a fabled witch in the woods,
though referred to as "he".
Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away has some similarities to the Vasilisa story and could be
viewed as inspired by it, although the director, Hayao Miyazaki, otherwise candid
about his inspirations, never mentioned this in interviews.
The animated film Bartok the Magnificent features Baba Yaga as the main antagonist.
"Emily and the Baba Yaga" is an animated short featuring The Baba Yaga and the hut
on chicken legs.

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Television

Jack Frost, an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, in which Baba Yaga and her
chicken-legged house appear.

In the surreal TV comedy series The Mighty Boosh, a malevolent character is referred
to in one episode as "Babu Yagu, the Green Man-Witch".

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Comics

The Sandman, Stardust, and The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman featured Baba Yaga
in a number of stories based on folk tales.
Baba Yaga appears in Mike Mignola's comic book Hellboy in the issue "Baba Yaga".
She is depicted or referenced in other issues, including the Conqueror Worm and Wake
the Devil collections.
In Fables by Bill Willingham, Baba Yaga poses as Red Riding Hood in order to
infiltrate Fabletown and is defeated in magical combat by the Black Forest Witch.

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Games

In the computer role-playing game series Quest for Glory, Baba Yaga is the main
villain of the first episode. She is a powerful sorceress who torments the lands she
visits; the character must win entrance to her chicken-legged hut and remove the
curses she has placed. She briefly reappears in the 4th part; the player seeks her aid
and advice when facing an even greater evil.
Baba Yaga flies around a construction site in her cauldron in the Konami NES game,
Monster in My Pocket, being one of the action figures in that series.
In the roleplaying game Little Fears, Baba Yaga is depicted as the King of Gluttony.
In the Vampire: The Masquerade role-playing game, Baba Yaga was a powerful
vampire of the Nosferatu clan which reappeared after the fall of Gorbachev, killing all
of the Brujah clan vampires that controlled the Soviet Union.
In the roleplaying game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Baba Yaga's Hut is an
"Artifact or Relic" that is available as treasure to player characters. It has several
magical powers listed in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's
Guide.

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Other languages
In different Slavic languages, Baba Yaga is known as Baba Jaga (Czech, Polish and Slovak),
Jaga Baba (Slovene), (Macedonian and Serbian), - (Russian),
(Bulgarian), (Ukrainian), and Baba Roga (Croatian)
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External links

http://www.oldrussia.net/baba.html
SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: The Annotated Baba Yaga