Where did Baba Yaga come from? The secret power of Baba Yaga
Ziterov Yu.A. 1 Nagikh P.O. 2
2 Municipal educational institution secondary school No. 3
Ziterova N.P. 1 Mukhina T.I. 1
1 Municipal educational institution secondary school No. 3
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Introduction
Relevance
Fairy tales are a wonderful creation of art. Our memory is inseparable from them. In almost all fairy tales, one of the heroes is Baba Yaga. What is it about this dashing creature that frightens, but at the same time attracts, attracts to fairy tales? We have always been interested in the question: who is Baba, where did she come from in Russian folk tales and what does her name mean?
Baba Yaga is one of the most famous and mysterious creatures on earth. Most people consider her to be an ordinary evil witch.
Having visited the village of Kukoboi, Pervomaisky district, we learned that some people call Baba Yaga the ancient Slavic shore, goddess, mistress of the forest and animals. Did Baba Yaga really live?
Project basis: Educational standards.
Target: Find out who Baba Yaga is - a fictitious image, or the name of an evil old woman who existed in reality.
Tasks: Study the origin of the name and attributes. Find out whether Baba Yaga is always a negative hero. To study the mark that Baba Yaga left in literature and in the life of modern man. To figure out
Are the surnames and names of settlements in the Tutaevsky district of the Yaroslavl region found with names from the word “Yaga”.
Object of study: Russian folk tales.
Subject of study: the image of Baba Yaga, her magical attributes (hut on chicken legs, stupa).
Defined research methods:
search for information;
questionnaire; analysis; observation; classification; generalization.
Practical significance of the study: This material can be used in literary reading lessons, during class hours and quizzes.
A survey of 628 students was conducted.
Questionnaire questions 1-9 grades:
Who is Baba Yaga?
What does Baba Yaga look like?
Good or evil?
What does she do with those who come to her?
How old is she?
Survey results
1.Who is Baba Yaga?
98% of students consider Baba Yaga a witch, a character from Russian folk tales. 2% of respondents found it difficult to answer
2.What does Baba Yaga look like?
Describing the appearance of Baba Yaga, schoolchildren point out that she is an ugly old woman with long shaggy unkempt hair and a hooked nose. These features were indicated by 98% of respondents, 2% found it difficult to answer.
3.Good or evil?
Of the respondents, 80% of students consider Baba Yaga to be evil, 14% - both evil and good, 6% - good.
4.What does she do with those who come to her?
94% of students answer that Baba Yaga feeds, gives water, asks where he is going, soars in the bathhouse, wants to eat, roasts in the oven; 6% believe that it helps those who come to it.
5.How old is she?
The ages indicated vary: from 36 to 1000 years. Age from 36 to 55 years was given by 3% of respondents; from 55 to 100 years old 9% of respondents, from 100 to 300 -28% of respondents, more than 300 -60% of respondents.
conclusions : Most students (98%) are familiar with the image of Baba Yaga from Russian folk tales, have an idea of what she looks like and what she does to those who come to her. Not everyone considers her evil (6% consider her good, 14% both evil and good). The majority of students surveyed (60%) believe that Baba Yaga is more than 300 years old.
Baba Yaga's age is presumably from 30 to 40 years old, because... in the 16th century, the average life expectancy was 30 years, and at 40 years old a person looked like a decrepit old man. Today Baba Yaga would be about 460 years old.
First mention Baba Yaga dates back to 1588, that is, if you count until 2018, then they have known about her for 430 years.
Results of the study of names of settlements
Results of a study of the surnames of residents of the city of Tutaev (7832)
In preschool institutions of the city and region, the name Yagilev was found from the word “Yaga”. (3339 names verified)
In the schools of the city and region, the surname Yagilev was discovered from the word “Yaga”.
(3485 names verified)
Results of a study of surnames in telephone directories.
In the city and region, the surname Yagilev was found from the word “Yaga”. (1008 names checked)
Research was carried out on the names of settlements and the names of residents of the city of Tutaev
In the Yaroslavl region there are no settlements with names from the word “Yaga”.
In the city and region, the surname Yagilev was found from the word “Yaga”. (7832 names checked)
conclusions : Words similar in sound to the word “Yaga” are found in our time, for example, in the surname Yagilev (moss is reindeer moss, it was once called “yag”. There is a version that Baba Yaga received such a name, since she lived in an area where reindeer moss grows.)
Main part
Who is Baba Yaga? The meaning of the name Baba Yaga
According to one version, Baba Yaga - is a guide to the other world - the world of ancestors. She lives on the border of the worlds of the living and the dead, somewhere in the “far away kingdom.”
Name "Baba Yaga" from V. Dahl’s dictionary: the first word “baba” comes from the word “babaika”, which is used to scare children; the second word “yaga” means a forest woman with an insolent, grumpy character; in some Slavic languages, the word “yagaya” means a person with a sore leg: Yaga is a bone leg.
According to Max Vasmer, Yaga has correspondences in many Indo-European languages with the meanings “illness, annoyance, waste away, anger, irritate, mourn,” etc., from which the original meaning of the name Baba Yaga is quite clear.
According to another version, prototype of Baba Yaga - witches, healers who treated people. Often these were unsociable women who lived far from settlements, in the forest.
According to some information, She got her name from the ancient word “yagat”. V. I. Dal in his “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” interprets this word in this way: “to shout, make noise, rage, scold, quarrel, swear.” There you can also find: “Yaga is a kind of witch, an evil spirit, under the guise of an ugly old woman. Russian ethnographer In the middle of the 19th century, N. Abramov published “Essays on the Berezovaya Region,” where he suggested that the word “yaga” comes from the name of outer clothing (“yaga” or “yagushka”), which was always worn with the wool facing out. In the mythology of the ancient Slavs, such clothing was a mandatory attribute of “evil spirits.”
According to another hypothesis , in the language of the Komi peoples, “yag” is a pine forest, and the Khanty word “yachem” is consonant with it - pine forest. And Baba Yaga in this interpretation is a forest woman. It can be assumed that Yaga lived in a pine forest. Fairy tales also testify to this. She lives in a dense forest or swamp.
There is also assumption, that she received such a name because she lived in an area where moss grows - reindeer moss, which was once called “yag”.
There are other versions, according to in which Baba Yaga came into Russian fairy tales from India (“Baba Yaga” - “yoga mentor”), this is confirmed by the famous researcher of Russian folklore A. Podyapolsky.
There are versions according to by which Baba Yaga came into Russian fairy tales from Central Africa (stories of Russian sailors about the African tribe of cannibals - Yagga, led by a female queen). The sailors were horrified by the order that had been established there for centuries.
There is a version, that Baba Yaga (Yoga) is a Goddess who transfers (accompanies) the dead from this World to the next World.
Supporters they see another version in Baba Yaga, the Great Mother is a great powerful goddess, the foremother of all living things ("Baba" is a mother, the main woman in ancient Slavic culture). Yogini “Baba Yoga the golden leg”, that is, in golden boots, delivered orphaned children to her foothill Skete, which was located in the thicket of the forest, at the foot of the Irian Mountains (Altai) and the children were then dedicated to the Gods. She did all this in order to save these last representatives of the most ancient Slavic and Aryan Clans from imminent death. The children were dressed in clean white clothes, decorated with flowers, given sleep herbs to drink, and placed in a niche in the cave. There were two niches there. The children were placed in the back alcove. Then the first niche was covered with fallen brushwood and the back niche was pushed inside the cave. But no one saw that when she moved, a stone wall was lowered, which fenced off the brushwood from the children. Next, the priest or Yogini Mother herself set fire to the brushwood, and for all the laypeople and those present, the brushwood burned. It was believed that the children were burned, roasted in the oven, and then some people speculated and said that the children were eaten. In fact, these children were taken to rooms or cells in the rock and raised from them to be priests and priestesses. When the time came, these orphans, boys and girls, were united into a family union so that they could continue their Family. But after 10 or 20 years, no one could recognize that little ragged orphan child in the young priest or priestess. And the expression “dedicate to the Gods” meant serving the Gods of one’s Family, one’s people.
Well, the final one version, Baba Yaga arrived on our Earth from space and is an alien. Her stupa is a kind of spaceship, a device that constitutes one of the stages of a huge spaceship necessary for mobile movement in space over short distances.
2.2 Hut “on chicken legs”“
And the famous hut on chicken legs is like a passage into this world; that’s why you can’t enter it until it turns its back to the forest . A “chicken leg” was once called a crossroads or a fork in the road, and such a place was considered “unclean” and dangerous by the Slavs. But, most likely, “chickens” are “smoking” modified over time, that is, smoked. The ancient Slavs had the following custom of burying the dead: on smoke-fuelled pillars they placed a “death hut”, a small log house with the ashes of the deceased inside, a domovina (a funeral structure in the form of a human dwelling). There is an assumption that the hut on chicken legs indicates another custom of the ancients - burying the dead in domovinas - special houses placed on high stumps. Such stumps have roots that extend outward and really look somewhat like chicken legs. The dead were buried with their feet towards the exit, and if you looked into the house, you could only see their feet - this is probably where the expression “Baba Yaga bone leg” came from. .
2.3 Rituals
Thanks to the texts of fairy tales, it is possible to reconstruct the ritual, sacred meaning of the actions of the hero who ends up with Baba Yaga. In particular, V. Ya. Propp, who studied the image of Baba Yaga on the basis of a mass of ethnographic and mythological material, draws attention to a very important detail, in his opinion: after recognizing the hero by smell (Yaga is blind) and clarifying his needs, Yaga must he heats the bathhouse and steams the hero, thus performing a ritual ablution. Then he feeds the newcomer, which is also a ritual, “mortuary” treat, inadmissible to the living, so that they do not accidentally enter the world of the dead.
2.4 Attributes of Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga rides or flies through the air in iron, stone, fire, etc. mortar, drives with a pestle or stick, covers the trail with a broom (that’s why the broom in the pictures is always turned with the handle forward, with the broom back). Since the 12th century, they began to bury the dead in dugout oak logs - stupas (from here the expression “to give an oak” or “to give an oak ahead of time”, that is, to die, has come down to this day). In 1703, Peter I issued a decree prohibiting, under penalty of death, cutting down oak forests. .
2.5 Magical helpers
Baba Yaga’s magical assistants are geese-swans in the fairy tale of the same name “three pairs of hands” and three horsemen - white, red and black (day, dawn and night, respectively).
2.6 Characteristic phrases
Fu-fu, it smells like the Russian spirit.
2.7 “Motherland” and Baba Yaga’s birthday
In 2004, the village of Kukoboi, Pervomaisky district, Yaroslavl region, was declared the “homeland” of Baba Yaga, and the Baba Yaga Museum was created there.
2.8 What Baba Yaga looks like.
Baba Yaga is shaggy (and in those days the braids were only unbraided by dead women), weak-sighted, with a bone leg, a hooked nose (“the nose has grown into the ceiling”) - a real evil spirit, a living dead.
2.9 Overbaking a Child
There is an assumption that the prototype of Baba Yaga is a witch, a healer who treated people. Baba Yaga’s passion for frying children in the oven on a shovel is very reminiscent of the so-called ritual of “over-baking”, or “baking”, of infants suffering from rickets or atrophy, sometimes with a hernia: the child was wrapped in a “diaper” made of dough, placed on a wooden bread shovel and three times stuck into a hot oven. Then the child was unwrapped, and the dough was given to the dogs to eat. .
In the Vladimir province, all children were “baked” immediately after birth. In Russia, the ritual was known mainly in the Volga region, central and southern Russian provinces, as well as in Siberia. Older children were treated in a similar way if they fell ill: they were sat on a shovel and carefully brought to the burning stove. In this case, it was believed that diseases were burned and came out through the chimney along with the smoke, and the “rebaked” child became healthier. And it really often helped! This ritual was performed by the village healer. Only in fairy tales this ritual changed its sign from “plus” (treating the child) to “minus” (the child is fried to be eaten). It is believed that this happened already in those times when Christianity began to establish itself in Rus', and when everything pagan was actively eradicated. But Christianity was still unable to completely defeat Baba Yaga, the heiress of folk healers: not a single fairy tale has any evidence that she ever managed to fry anyone.
2.10 Types of Baba Yaga
According to the greatest specialist in the field of theory and history of folklore V. Ya. Propp, there are three types of Baba Yaga: “Yaga the Giver”, who accepts the hero, tests him and gives him a wonderful fire-breathing horse, rich gifts, wonderful objects, etc. .; the most common is the “Yaga the Kidnapper,” who carries away people and especially children, whom she then tries to roast and eat; The third type is the “Warrior Yaga”, who fights with heroes and defeats many of them.
There are also different forms (formats) of Baba Yaga:
"Yaga the Adviser." She herself does nothing for the hero, but indicates who to turn to for help.
“Yaga-mistress” of the forces of nature and the animal world (commands the wind, morning, evening, night; wolves, bears and other forest animals).
“Guardian Yaga” (patron), who, with the help of her magical assistants (owl, saucer, etc.), follows the hero’s adventures.
“Yaga the ancestor” (mother, grandmother for several of her daughters - granddaughters - yagishn). There is another “type” of Yaga “Yaga the seductress”.
2.11 Baba Yaga: positive or negative character?
10 fairy tales were analyzed. We came to the conclusion that Baba Yaga can be both a negative and a positive hero.
"Swan geese" -
Negative because he kidnaps children to eat.
"Princess Frog"-
Positive, as it gives advice on how to defeat the enemy (Koshchei)
"Baba Yaga"
Negative because she wanted to eat the girl.
"Baba Yaga and Zamoryshek" -
Negative, because she wanted to destroy all the brothers.
"Vasilisa the Beautiful" -
Positive, because she helped Vasilisa by giving her fire (a skull with glowing eyes).
"Marya Morevna" -
Negative, because she wanted to kill Ivan Tsarevich.
"Ivan Tsarevich and Bely Polyanin" -
Negative, because I fought with heroes.
"The Enchanted Princess" -
Positive, because she helped find the princess.
“Finist - clear falcon” -
Positive, since all three helped find Maryushka.
"The Tale of Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water"
Positive, because she gave advice on how to find water and apples.
The image of Baba Yaga is used in literature, music, painting, cinema, cartoons. There are games, poems, riddles about Baba Yaga (see the author’s book “Who is Baba Yaga?”, appendix).
Conclusions: The image of Baba Yaga is a collective image, and not the name of a specific person.
A fairy tale is a product of its era, it changes over time, popular thought makes its own amendments. Fairy tales describe several images of Baba Yaga, both negative and positive.
Conclusion
During the study, we found answers to many questions, read Russian folk tales, learned the meaning of incomprehensible words, and conducted a survey among students on the research topic. You should always be attentive to reading any work of fiction, since only thoughtful reading will allow you to make some new discoveries. Baba Yaga is always different. She has many roles, many types. She can be not only evil, but also kind, economical, and hospitable. Fairy tales tell us that kindness, intelligence, politeness and courage help not only reach the goal, but also stay alive, remain human. Having gone through all stages of the research, we came to the conclusion that the origin of Baba Yaga is connected with the image of the mistress of animals and the world of the dead, the keeper of customs and traditions. Baba Yaga can act both as a pest and as a giver, a magical helper. Attributes such as a hut on chicken legs, a mortar, and a shovel with which she throws children into the oven are consistent with pagan pre-Christian beliefs, ideas and rituals. Baba Yaga is one of the most significant beregins of the family. Over time, Baba Yaga turned from a protector of the family into a malicious old woman. Baba Yaga is not just a fairy-tale character, she is an image that embodies the history, beliefs and rituals of the East Slavic tribes. Baba Yaga testifies to the enormous importance of women during the period of matriarchy and in subsequent periods of development of society. Baba Yaga remains an eternal mystery for humans.
This work has a great educational and practical orientation: a collection of materials has been prepared with information about Baba Yaga, a selection of poems, and drawings. Research will be of interest to both students and teachers and will be useful during lessons and extracurricular activities.
List of sources and literature used
Russian folk tales by A.N. Afanasyeva - M.: Children's literature. - 1992. - 245 p.
Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language. V. Dal - M.: World of Books, 2002.
Favorite fairy tales. Collection of Russian folk tales / Compiled by I.I. Komarova. - M.: RIPOL CLASSIC, 2002. - 512 p.
Grandmother's fairy tales. Collection of Russian folk tales / Compiled by I.I. Komarova. - M.: RIPOL CLASSIC, 2002. - 608 p.
Propp V.Ya. Historical roots of fairy tales. - M., 1985. - 248 p.
http://pedsovet.su/load/387-1-0-45817
http://ww.paganism.ru/babayagahtm
http://infourok.ru/issledovatelskaya_rabota_obraz_baby-yagi-142126.htm
Annex 1Applications 2
Vasin Stas, 8 years old
Shvets Artyom, 13 years old
Palazhov Egor, 8 years old
Ryabkov Alexander, 13 years old
Starostina Natalya, 13 years old
Evgenieva Ekaterina, 13 years old
Suvorova Lera, 9 years old
Ameryan M., 13 years old
Ishutin Andrey, 13 years old
Nazarov Vasily, 10 years old
Kalinicheva Daria, 13 years old
Pirogova Alina, 13 years old
Anufriev Anton, 8 years old
Rothaermel Julia, 13 years old
Larionova Anna, 13 years old
Smirnova Polina, 11 years old
Serafimenko Alina, 8 years old
Kopatova Alina, 13 years old
Suloeva Ekaterina, 9 years old
Sorokina Anna, 13 years old
Lapshin Sergey, 9 years old
Baba Yaga
Once upon a time there lived Baba Yaga
On the edge of the forest.
She lived all alone
In your simple hut.
And everyone thinks she's evil
They scare children at night...
How does she live alone?
Nobody really knows...
And I decided to find out
Is she really evil?
I'll tell everyone, I won't lie!
I’ll find out everything about her!
I got ready to hit the road
Its forests are dense.
Crossed wide fields
Wheat, gold.
Wandered into a dense dark forest.
I felt very scared. The pine trees were big - up to the skies...
And it's getting closer to night!
And strange sounds around -
Now there is a crash, then a howl, then knocking.
There is only fear in my eyes,
But I pulled myself together!
And he ran as fast as he could,
Where the eyes were looking.
I even forgot about Baba Yaga.
And suddenly, I look at the spruce tree
One hut is worth it
Appendix 3
A light flickers in it,
And there's an old lady sitting in it
And he hums a song.
Grandma has no strength at all,
All hunched over, gray-haired.
I approached her and asked
Who is she?
And she told me -
Her name is Yagoya!
Lives in the forest all alone -
Alone with my misfortune.
Grandma's leg hurts
She became completely lame.
No one will visit her -
They called it Bone Leg!
The grandchildren forgot about her
And they made up fairy tales
That evil, harmful lives,
Which is dangerous for children!
I felt sorry for my grandmother.
We drank tea with her!
And delicious pancakes
They were there for treats!
No scary Baba Yaga!
These are all just fairy tales!
Those who are forgotten are grandchildren,
Without their love and affection!
Don't offend grandmas!
Visit them more often!
Love your grandmothers!
Don't forget about them!
Appendix 4
Sayings of children about Baba Yaga
3-4 grades
An evil, ugly hag, a witch, a black magician, an anti-hero, a woman who looks indecent, is responsible for kidnapping children from the village, loves no one, not even animals, Koshchei's grandmother, lives in a hut with legs; the hut has paws.
Evil, because there was nothing to eat, she forced people to climb into the oven, and then ate them; angry because she was not loved as a child. Kind - she put it in the oven to cure it. He keeps everyone warm by the stove, but sometimes he wants to eat someone.
A cunning and nimble woman in old age; old, crooked face, one tooth sticking out of her mouth, clumsy elongated nose, red eyes. A bony body, dark, wrinkled skin, a creaky back, arms like a squirrel, long yellow nails, legs crunching like branches. In a torn state.
5-6 grades.
An elderly woman with a house on chicken legs; a grandmother who casts spells; an insidious witch who harms everyone; loves himself alone, ruins everyone's life; Whoever catches your eye will be put in a cage. She took children and adults into slavery, forced them to work for her for food; lures people into his hut and does something to them, and then eats them. Flies on a bucket or broom.
A little bit kind; kind when they give her something, evil when she wants to. Angry because she doesn't have enough friends. She is evil because everyone is afraid of her, and if they are afraid of her, then she is evil. In fairy tales she is evil, but maybe in our lives it’s the other way around.
An old grandmother of unenviable appearance; evil green eyes, crazy look; large bright red lips; with a lot of warts; she has pimples, her skin is rough; hairstyle like some kind of nest; hair on end; gray hair, somewhat similar to a mop; hair tied in a bun; a face with scars and wrinkles; a scarf on the head, galoshes on the bottom; back as a question mark.
Features in many Russian fairy tales, drives people into captivity. If you offend, you will be evil; if you praise, you will be kind; and she wanted to eat children, but she also had a good character; angry at people who think badly of her. Thin build, loose skin, flies in a basket with a broom, lives in a hut that can walk.
An old woman with a hockey stick, looks like a homeless person, is constantly dissatisfied with something.
Aphorisms Appendix 5
(Vic Stepanov)
For some, Baba Yaga is a Muse. *Baba Yaga's stupa serves as the first step to mastery. *Baba Yaga's memoirs are kept in Kashcheev's chest. *Baba Yaga's hut wrote like a chicken - with its paw. *Tongue like a broom - Koschey winced, rubbing his naked, kissed by Baba Yaga, skull. *Two pair of boots - the bone prosthesis of Baba Yaga and Koschey, itself like a prosthesis. *Baba Yaga wrote as her left bone leg suggested. *Baba Yaga was a notorious graphomaniac, tapping step and tap dancing from morning to night bone leg.
Image in art Appendix 6
Russian writers and poets A. S. Pushkin, V. A. Zhukovsky (“The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf”), N. A. Nekrasov (“Baba Yaga, bone leg"), A. N. Tolstoy, V. I. Narbut and others.
Fairy tales
Baba Yaga;
Swan geese;
Princess Frog;
Vasilisa the Beautiful;
Marya Morevna;
Ivan Tsarevich and Bely Polyanin;
A hut on chicken legs;
Finist's feather is a clear falcon;
Go there - I don’t know where, bring that - I don’t know what (arranged by A. N. Afanasyev);
Go there - I don’t know where, bring that - I don’t know what (arranged by A. N. Tolstoy);
Vasily Shukshin: Until the third roosters;
Leonid Filatov: About Fedot the Sagittarius, a daring fellow;
A. S. Roslavlev: The Tale of the Three Tsar's Divas and Ivashka, the priest's son;
The Tale of Masha and Van;
Baba Yaga and Zamoryshek
The Enchanted Princess
The Tale of Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water
Music
In Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1878 collection of musical pieces for piano, "Children's Album," there is a piece called "Baba Yaga." The ninth play “The Hut on Chicken Legs (Baba Yaga)” of the famous suite by Modest Mussorgsky is dedicated to the image of Baba Yaga.
Painting
Picturesque interpretations of her image became widespread among artists of the Silver Age: Ivan Bilibin, Viktor Vasnetsov, Alexander Benois, Elena Polenova, Ivan Malyutin and others.
Movies
Georgy Millyar played the role of Baba Yaga more often than others, including in the films:
"Vasilisa the Beautiful" (1939)
“Morozko” (1964) “Fire, water and... copper pipes” (1967)
"Golden Horns" (1972)
“Fire, water and... copper pipes” (1967) - Vera Altai (daughter of Baba Yaga)
“Merry Magic” (1969) - Valentina Sperantova
“At the thirteenth hour of the night” (1969) - Zinovy Gerdt
“New Year’s Adventures of Masha and Viti” (1975) - Valentina Kosobutskaya
“How Ivan the Fool Followed a Miracle” (1977) - Maria Barabanova
“There, on unknown paths...” (1982) and “After the Rain on Thursday” (1985) - Tatyana Peltzer (good Baba Yaga)
“Purple Ball” (1987) - Svetlana Kharitonova
“Island of the Rusty General” (1988) - Alexander Lenkov (Baba Yaga robot)
"Father Frost" (1996) - Donald O'Connor
“The Tale of Fedot the Archer” (2001) - Olga Volkova
“Miracles in Reshetov” (2004) - Yola Sanko
“The Forest Princess” (2004) - Galina Moracheva
“A New Old Tale” (2006) - Elena Sanaeva
“The Book of Masters” (2009) - Liya Akhedzhakova
“Adventures in the Thirtieth Kingdom” (2010) - Anna Yakunina
“Morozko” (2010) - Kristina Orbakaite
“Real Fairy Tale” (2011) - Lyudmila Polyakova
“The Good Fairy” (Spanish: Hada Madrina) (TV series 2015) - Macarena Rivero
Cartoons
“Ivashko and Baba Yaga” (1938, voiced by Osip Abdulov)
"Geese and Swans" (1949)
“The Frog Princess” (1954, voiced by Georgy Millyar)
“The End of the Black Swamp” (1960, voiced by Irina Masing)
“About the Evil Stepmother” (1966, voiced by Elena Ponsova)
“The Tale is Telling” (1970, voiced by Klara Rumyanova)
“The Frog Princess” (1971) (dir. Yu. Eliseev, voiced by Zinaida Naryshkina)
“Vasilisa the Beautiful” (1977, voiced by Anastasia Georgievskaya)
“Zhiharka” (1977, voiced by Vasily Livanov)
“Flying Ship” (1979, women’s group of the Moscow Chamber Choir)
"Baba Yaga is against it!" (1980, voiced by Olga Aroseva)
“Ivashka from the Palace of Pioneers” (1981, voiced by Efim Katsirov)
“And in this fairy tale it was like this...” (1984)
“Little Brownie Kuzya” (1985-1987, voiced by Tatyana Peltzer)
"Wait for it!" (16th issue) (1986)
“Dear Leshy” (1988, voiced by Viktor Proskurin)
“Two Bogatyrs” (1989, voiced by Maria Vinogradova)
“Dreamers from the village of Ugory” (1994, voiced by Kira Smirnova)
“Grandma Yozhka and others” (2006, voiced by Tatyana Bondarenko)
“The New Adventures of Grandma Yozhka” (2008, voiced by Tatyana Bondarenko)
“Dobrynya Nikitich and the Serpent Gorynych” (2006; Russia) directed by Ilya Maksimov, Baba Yaga was voiced by Natalya Danilova.
“About Fedot the Sagittarius, a daring fellow” (2008; Russia) directed by Lyudmila Steblyanko, Baba Yaga was voiced by Alexander Revva.
“Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf” (2011; Russia) directed by Vladimir Toropchin, Baba Yaga was voiced by Liya Akhedzhakova.
Poetry
Grandma Yaga's birthday
A cracked cup and lingonberry tea. But my heart is heavy - There is no one to meet. I baked pies with jam in the morning. It’s Grandma Yaga’s birthday... No guests will come Say hello, Wish you health, Many long years to come. An old hut, and taiga all around. And the old Grandma Yaga is sad... It just happened, it just happened - Somehow it didn’t work out, Somehow it didn’t work out. I accidentally wiped away my tears with my shirt... A cracked cup and cold tea...
T. GoetheUBA YAGI Izbushka limped - Like Baba Yaga, she is also an old woman. Her knee hurts very much in the morning, Of course, damned arthritis! Granny Izbushka begins to treat: She pours hot water into a tub, And, splashing potions there little by little, Steam, - she offers her , - leg! What kind of potion is this - a huge secret! Grandmother has kept it for a thousand years! It contains a hundred fly agarics and birch buds, Two snake skins, cuckoo tears, More cobwebs from the surrounding bushes... But I’m not ready to tell you the exact recipe.
***Fir-trees and pine trees,
Prickly needles.
Without a broom I'm like without hands,
Without my broom!
I can't fly without a broom,
There is nothing to cover the tracks with.
Woe, woe for Yaga,
If you can, help.
Look at me,
Well, why am I not beautiful?
My maiden beauty
Can't help but like it!
I'll walk in front of you,
I'll dance, I'll sing.
Well, what a cutie I am,
How I love myself!
About Baba Yaga They say very stupidly: The leg is bone, a broom and a mortar. And the arms are crooked, and the teeth are sticking out, and the nose is very long and bent into a hook.
I will quickly destroy the formed image: Please look into my pure soul. And there you will discover such distances as you have never seen anywhere.
In my soul I am kind, Good, fair... Not very much, But still beautiful. And in everyone I only see the Good, I don’t even hurt a booger In my soul.
But if inside I am kind and beautiful, then on top, on the outside, I am cunning and dangerous. I will defeat any of you in life, or even kill you... But in my soul I will regret it...
(Eduard Uspensky)
V. Kosov Baba Yaga There is a hut at the edge of the forest, An old woman has been living there for many, many years, And she has no friends. So the hut spins around as that old woman wishes. She turns her back to the forest and the old woman is very happy. She doesn’t mind flying on a broom every night. That broom is famous for that, What stood at the trough. That trough is many years old and there is no replacement for it. She cooks dinner in it, If she really needs it. She washes clothes in it, She even props up the doors, So that a random draft does not chill her side.
E. Lipatova. Song of Baba Yaga The path is overgrown with weeds, There is quinoa in the garden, There is no way for uninvited guests, Neither here nor there! There are thistles in the yard, There are boogers in the underground, Vasily the cat catches fleas All day long on the bench. It’s bad to live alone in the wilderness - Sing, Vasily, for the soul! It’s sickening to live in the wilderness to the old lady - No girlfriend, no movie... We ate chicken legs from the hut with Vaska a long time ago. It hurts here and there it hurts, They say it’s sciatica, Sleep has disappeared, and the light is not nice... If only Leshy would call!
K. Strelnik Lonely Grandma Yozhka . Next to her are an owl and cats, And even chicken legs don’t make her happy. Everyone is afraid of meeting her, They don’t want to sit in the oven. Granny thought about how to entice guests? If only she didn’t hang out with the devil, But she should go in for sports, And invite the neighbors for a drink tea with cake. And then the chicken legs would dance along the path, and the owl and the cats would sing along with the guests.
Sorkin In a deep forest there is a hut on chicken legs at the edge. It stands two steps from the forest. Grandma Yaga lives there
***Baba Yaga has been in bed for a whole month. Illness, illnesses have overcome her. - Oh, I’m poor! - Yaga sighs, “My bone leg is aching.
This is jelly made from mold! Haven’t you tried tea before? Drink it and you’ll immediately forget about the merry-go-round of the world! It doesn’t taste so good, But it takes away the tremors, You’ll be healthy by tomorrow, Unless you die! (L. Filatov “About Fedot” - Sagittarius, a daring fellow")
Appendix 7
Games
In the dark forest there is a hut, (we walk) It stands backwards, (turn) In that hut there is an old woman, (leans) Grandma Yaga lives. (turn back) Crooked nose, (show nose) Large eyes, (show eyes) Like coals are burning. Wow, how angry! (we shake our fingers) My hair is standing on end, (hands up)
One of the guys playing is Baba Yaga, he stands in the corner of the room. The guys come up to him and tease him:
Baba Yaga - Bone Leg, Fell from the stove, Broke her leg. Went to the garden, Scared the people. Ran to the bathhouse, Scared the bunny!
Grandma Hedgehog-Bone Leg, fell from the stove, broke her leg. She went outside and crushed the chicken. She went again and crushed forty-five!
Baba Yaga begins to jump on one leg, trying to catch one of the children dodging and running. Whoever Baba Yaga catches switches roles and the game continues.
Puzzles
An old woman lives in the forest. She has a miracle hut. She flies on a broomstick. She steals children at dawn. And she has a bone leg, Her name is...
This old lady doesn't like children. They often scare little ones with her. Grandma has a bone leg, The old woman's name is... .
There is an old woman standing, with a hut behind her. She is holding a broom. She is flying until it is dawn.
There is a hut, in the hut there is an old woman. The muzzle is sinewy, the leg is made of clay, The back is hunchbacked, the head is shaggy. Next to her is Ivanushka, What is this grandmother’s name?
A hut is lost in a dense forest. In the hut lives a difficult old woman - She takes a broom, sits in a mortar, and immediately flies over the forest like a bird!
In a deep forest in her hut, an old woman lives all alone. She doesn’t sweep the floor with a broom, The broom is the old woman’s plane!
Menu Appendix 8
Baba Yaga Pie
Description: This large and delicious apple pie can be baked both in the oven and in a slow cooker.
Chicken egg - 5 pcs.
Sugar (you can put 1 cup) - 3/4 cup.
Butter (or margarine, room temperature) - 250 g
Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp. l.
Cinnamon (optional) - 1 tsp.
Wheat flour - 2 cups.
Soda (not baking powder!) - 1 tsp.
Apple (it is advisable to take firm apples) - 1 kg
Cocktail Baba Yaga
It’s immediately clear that there is a smell of Russian spirit here! A cocktail with the fabulous name “Baba Yaga” will immediately and for a long time immerse you in the very depths of the mythical reality of Russian folk tales.
Baba Yaga salad
300g. boiled chicken fillet; 150g. raw carrots, grated on a Korean grater; 150g. boiled beets - grated on a Korean grater; 1b. corn, 200g. red cabbage - finely chopped; green onions; 1p. chips; mayonnaise
Snack Baba Yaga
The top of the loaf;
1 boiled potato;
2 boiled eggs;
A bunch of parsley;
150 g cheese;
2 small carrots;
Sweet red pepper;
Cocktail straw;
2 peas of green peas;
10 sorrel leaves;
2 large carrots;
10 breadsticks;
Glossary of terms Appendix 9
Baba Yaga is a popular character in Russian folk tales. Usually,
evil old witch.
Yaga - to sting, to cause pain, to torment.
“Chicken legs” - this name most likely comes from the “chicken”, that is, smoke-fuelled, pillars on which the Slavs erected a “death hut”.
Myth is an ancient folk tale about legendary heroes, gods, and natural phenomena; unreliable story, fiction.
Mythology is a set of myths of a people; the science that studies myths.
A pestle is a short, heavy rod with a rounded end for pounding something in a mortar. (Stone, copper, wooden pestle.)
A broomstick is a stick with a rag wound at the end, a washcloth, needles for sweeping, a broom.
A fairy tale is the oldest folk genre of narrative literature, mainly of a fantastic nature, with the purpose of moralizing or entertaining.
A mortar is a heavy metal, wooden or stone vessel in which grains, bark, leaves, etc. are pounded with a pestle. Stupa with Baba Yaga (in fairy tales about Baba Yaga, who flies in a mortar and with a broom).
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Municipal educational institution
"Koltalovskaya secondary school"
Research work
on the topic: “Baba Yaga. Who is she?"
Humanities section
Introduction
Chapter I. The image of Baba Yaga in Slavic folklore.
Chapter II. The origin of Baba Yaga and the etymology of her name.
Chapter 3. The meaning of Baba Yaga’s attributes: huts on chicken legs and stupas.
Conclusion.
List of used literature.
Introduction
“Baba Yaga is a kind of witch, an evil spirit,
under the guise of an ugly old woman.”
“Baba Yaga is positive
character of ancient Russian mythology.”
Relevance. Fairy tales are a wonderful creation of art. Our memory is inseparable from them. Russian fairy tales have created an intricate world. Everything about it is extraordinary: the ax itself cuts down the forest, the stove talks, the apple tree covers with its branches the children running from the geese-swans sent by Yaga.
In almost all fairy tales, one of the heroes is Baba Yaga. What is it about this dashing creature that frightens, but at the same time attracts, attracts to fairy tales? We have always been interested in the question: who is Baba, where did she come from in Russian folk tales and what does her name mean?
Therefore we chose research topic: “Baba Yaga. Who is she?"
Object of study- the image of Baba Yaga.
Subject of study– the name of Baba Yaga, her magical attributes (a hut on chicken legs, a mortar).
Research objectives:
2. Analyze and summarize the data obtained.
Research methods: to solve the problems, the work uses a descriptive method (namely: observation, classification, generalization).
Research material served as the texts of fairy tales,
scientific research about Baba Yaga.
Practical significance of the study: This material can be used in literary reading lessons, during class hours and quizzes.
CHAPTER 1
Depiction of Baba Yaga in Slavic folklore
Baba Yaga is a character in Slavic mythology and folklore (especially fairy tales) of the Slavic peoples, an old sorceress endowed with magical powers, a sorceress, a werewolf. In its properties it is closest to a witch. Most often - a negative character.
In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga has several stable attributes: she can cast magic and fly in a mortar.
Lives in the forest in a hut on chicken legs, surrounded by a fence made of human bones with skulls.
She pursues her victims in a mortar, chasing them with a pestle and covering their tracks.
broom). 
Baba Yaga has the ability to shrink in size - this is how she moves in the mortar. She lures good fellows and small children to her and roasts them in the oven (Baba Yaga engages in cannibalism).
According to the largest specialist in the field of theory and history of folklore, there are three types of Baba Yaga: the giver (she gives the hero a fairy-tale horse or a magical object); the kidnapper of children, Baba Yaga the warrior, fighting with whom “for life and death”, the hero of the fairy tale moves to a different level of maturity.
At the same time, Baba Yaga’s malice and aggressiveness are not her predominant features, but only manifestations of her irrational (inaccessible to the understanding of reason) nature. There is a similar hero in German folklore: Frau Holle or Bertha.
At the same time, Baba Yaga’s malice and aggressiveness are not her predominant features, but only manifestations of her irrational (inaccessible to the understanding of reason) nature. There is a similar hero in German folklore: Frau Holle or Bertha.
The dual nature of Baba Yaga in folklore is connected, firstly, with the image of the mistress of the forest, who must be appeased, and secondly, with the image of an evil creature who puts children on a shovel in order to fry them.
(this is reminiscent of the ritual of “baking a child”)
Baking a child is a ritual performed on infants suffering from rickets or atrophy (according to popular terminology - canine old age or dryness): an infant is placed on a bread shovel (sometimes pre-wrapped in dough) and thrust into a hot oven three times. According to other versions, a puppy is put into the oven together with the child so that the disease passes from the baby to the animal.
The fairy tale only corrected the “plus” sign (overbaking a child should benefit him) to a “minus” (Yaga fries and eats children). Most likely, this happened during the period of the establishment of Christianity, when everything pagan was eradicated and demonized.
This image of Baba Yaga is also associated with the function of a priestess who guides teenagers through the initiation rite (initiating a young man into full members of the community). Initiation rites were created by the clan system and reflected the interests of the hunting society. They contained not only tests of dexterity, accuracy and endurance, but were also a partial introduction of teenagers to the sacred secrets of the tribe. The ritual usually consisted in the fact that boys 10-12 years old were taken away from the village for some time (most often deep into the forest, to a specially built hut), where they underwent a special school for hunters and members of society. There they were subjected to various tests. The most terrible test consisted of staging the “devouring” of young men by a monstrous animal and their subsequent “resurrection.” It was accompanied by physical torture, injuries, and ritual surgery. This mysterious and painful rite meant the symbolic death of the child and his rebirth as a full-fledged adult member of the community - a man, warrior and hunter who was allowed to marry
Often the initiation ceremony was directed and led by a woman - a sorceress or priestess. There is a version that she personified the Great Mother - a pagan goddess, ruler of the world and progenitor of all living things. This mysterious figure most likely became the basis for creating the fairy-tale image of Baba Yaga, who lives in a forest hut, kidnaps children(i.e. takes him away for the initiation rite), roasts them in the oven(symbolically devours so that a man is born), and also gives advice and helps selected heroes who have passed the test.
So in many fairy tales, Baba Yaga wants to eat the hero, but after feeding and drinking, he lets him go, giving him a ball or some secret knowledge, or the hero runs away on his own.
CHAPTER 2
The origin of Baba Yaga and the etymology of her name
Yaga is a famous person, but where did her name come from? Baba Yozhka, from Yasha, Yaschur, and then ancestor. Ancestors are the progenitors of all living things, that is, Baba Yaga held an honorable position in the pantheon of ancient Pagans.
There is an interpretation according to which Baba Yaga is not an original Slavic character, but an alien one, introduced into Russian culture by soldiers from Siberia. The first written source about it is the notes of Giles Fletcher (1588) “On the Russian State”, in the chapter “On the Permians, Samoyeds and Lapps”
“As for the story about the Golden Baba or Yaga Baba, about whom I happened to read in some descriptions of this country, that she is an idol in the form of an old woman who gives prophetic answers to the priest’s questions about the success of the enterprise or the future, then I was convinced that It's a simple fable."
According to this position, the name of Baba Yaga is associated with the name of a certain object. In “Essays on the Birch Region” by N. Abramov (St. Petersburg, 1857) there is a detailed description of the “yaga,” which is a garment “like a robe with a fold-down, quarter-length collar. It is sewn from dark non-spitters, with the fur facing out... The same yagas are assembled from loon necks, with the feathers facing out... Yagushka is the same yaga, but with a narrow collar, worn by women on the road” (the dictionary also gives a similar interpretation in the Tobolsk origin). 
Another hypothesis about the origin of the name Baba Yaga. In the Komi language, the word yag means pine forest. Baba is a woman (Nyvbaba is a young woman). Baba Yaga can be read as a woman from the bora forest or a forest woman.
There is another character from Komi fairy tales, Yagmort (Forest Man).
However, this position contradicts the data of modern scientific etymology, according to which the name Baba Yaga is in no way connected with the Turkic name for clothing “yaga”, which goes back to jaɣa/jaka - collar.
According to Max Vasmer, Yaga has correspondences in many Indo-European languages with the meanings “illness, annoyance, waste away, anger, irritate, mourn,” etc., from which the original meaning of the name Baba Yaga is quite clear.
According to another version, the prototype of Baba Yaga is a witch, a healer who treated people. Often these were unsociable women who lived far from settlements, in the forest. Many scientists derive the word "Yaga" from the Old Russian word "yazya" ("yaz"), meaning "weakness", "illness" and gradually fell out of use after the 11th century.
Supporters of the third version see Baba Yaga as the Great Mother - a great powerful goddess, the foremother of all living things ("Baba" is a mother, the main woman in ancient Slavic culture) or a great wise priestess.
There are other versions according to which Baba Yaga came to Russian fairy tales from India (“Baba Yaga” - “yoga mentor”), from Central Africa (stories of Russian sailors about the African tribe of cannibals - Yagga, led by a female queen). The sailors were horrified by the order that had been established there for centuries. Matriarchy flourished in the tribe; the priestess wore the tibia of a killed beast. There was also natural cannibalism there.
They also derive the word “Yaga” from “yagat” - to scream, putting all your strength into your cry. “Yagat” meant “shout” in the sense of “scold”, swear.” Yaga is also derived from the word “yagaya,” which has two meanings: “evil” and “sick.” By the way, in some Slavic languages “yagaya” means a person with a sick foot (remember Baba Yaga's bone leg?) Perhaps Baba Yaga absorbed some or even all of these meanings.
CHAPTER 3
Magical attributes of Baba Yaga (hut on chicken legs, stupa)
The image of a “hut on chicken legs” is a unique phenomenon, forming a single whole with the image of Baba Yaga herself. Firstly, she is able to move (chicken legs). Secondly, it recognizes the human voice and responds to commands. Thirdly, she is able to see through windows, speak through doors, and think.
The hut is often surrounded by a fence made of human bones, with skulls with eye slits mounted on them. And instead of the wooden supports on which the gate is hung, there are human legs, instead of the bolt there are human hands, and in place of the lock for the key there is a human mouth with sharp teeth.
In ancient times, the dead were buried in domovinas - houses located above the ground on very high stumps with roots peeking out from under the ground, similar to chicken legs. The houses were placed in such a way that the opening in them faced the opposite direction from the settlement, towards the forest. People believed that the dead flew on their coffins. The dead were buried with their feet towards the exit, and if you looked into the house, you could only see their feet - this is where the expression “Baba Yaga bone leg” came from. People treated their dead ancestors with respect and fear, never disturbed them over trifles, fearing to bring trouble upon themselves, but in difficult situations they still came to ask for help. So, Baba Yaga is a deceased ancestor, a dead person, and children were often frightened with her.
And in the stupa - no less wonderful than Baba Yaga's house - a means of transport - they also see connections with the funeral cult. Among the Hindus, in general, a stupa is a cult funeral and memorial structure.
(Well, so do the Indians!)
The image of Baba Yaga is associated with legends about the hero’s transition to the other world (the Far Far Away Kingdom). In these legends, Baba Yaga, standing on the border of the worlds (the bone leg), serves as a guide, allowing the hero to penetrate into the world of the dead, thanks to the performance of certain rituals.
In fairy tales, the hut ROTATES. The same cannot be said about burial houses, of course.
In general, it must be said that houses on pillars are quite commonplace in ancient Russian architecture. Barns, bell towers, and residential buildings were placed on poles or stumps. Firstly, it’s cold, secondly: the spring flood of water, thirdly: mice...
But only one type of building on one of these pillars rotated.
This is, of course... A MILL... 
Isn't it the post-mill, typical of the Russian north, and there is a hut on chicken legs?
What I especially like about this hypothesis is that in this scenario there is no need to invent a funerary explanation for the stupa.
A stupa is a very logical attribute for a mill owner. For a STUPA is a MILL, only a manual one.
CONCLUSION
I think the resolution of the conflict lies in the validity of the hypothesis that initially in pagan times Baba Yaga was a positive deity, almost the personification of the Mother Goddess. And only with the advent of Christianity did she suffer the fate of all other pagan idols - they turned into demons, demons and witches, old witches, sometimes cannibals, living somewhere in the forest in a hut on chicken legs... . The Great Mother was simply unlucky: faceless virtue. No one remembers what this life-giving goddess was like. But Baba Yaga, terrible and bloodthirsty, thundered through the centuries...
List of used literature
1. Afanasyev Russian fairy tales in 3 volumes. - M., 1957.
2. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language in 4 volumes. - M.: “Russian language”, 1991.
3. , Toporov Yaga // Slavic mythology. Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1995.
4. About Russian fairy tales, songs, proverbs, riddles of the folk language: Essays. - M: Children's literature, 1988.
5. Propp roots of a fairy tale. - L., 1986.
6.ru. wikipedia. org›wiki/ Woman-Yaga, ru. wikipedia. org›wiki/ Hut _on _chicken _legs
7. sueverija. *****›Muzei/ Jaga.htm
8. *****›Whychka›where18.php
BABA YAGA is a well-known character from fairy-tale mythology, known to us since childhood.
I’ll add it to the general description: he lives in a hut on chicken legs, without windows or doors, roasts children in the stove, prepares potions and various potions. Let's try to figure out where this character, Baba Yaga, came from in Russian mythology. Of the many hypotheses about the origin of Baba Yaga, I adhere to the following.
Historian and writer A. Ivanov refers to the custom of the Finno-Ugric people, which dates back to pagan times. They believed that the dead helped them from the other world, and after the death of a loved one they made a “baba” doll, or ittarma, into which the spirit of the deceased would inhabit. Then they wrapped this doll in a fur coat made from animal skins, with the fur outward - yaga. Women wore such a fur coat. Hence the name - Baba Yaga. At that time there was a matriarchy, which explains the feminine gender of the doll.
After the “baba” was wrapped in a yaga, they put together a sacred building called somyakh - a log house “without windows, without doors” (see photo in the album), and placed the doll there. Jewelry and other attributes of the deceased were placed along with the doll and taken to the depths of the forest, far from settlements. Then the building was installed on the trunks of cut trees, so that neither animals could reach it nor people could steal it. And there were many who wanted to profit from the treasures, “I’m going there, I don’t know where,” but they did not return - such mysterious disappearances added horror to the image of Baba Yaga, as some kind of evil force.
- Why on chicken legs? - the trunks of the cut trees were “fumigated” with juniper branches, hence “chickens”, not chicken ones.
- Why “no windows, no doors”? - a ritual doll does not need windows. Why a bone leg? - a sign of a dead person, belonging to the kingdom of the dead.
- Why does he fly in a mortar? - a stupa is a funeral urn, often wooden among the Slavic peoples; it was believed that the soul of the deceased was hidden there.
- Why a broom? - This is a traditional feminine remedy associated with the magic of cleansing power.
The frightening image of the evil witch Baba Yaga is accompanied by a belief about roasting in an oven. In fact, this is how healers nursed babies and treated children. They wrapped the child in dough and put him in the oven, where he was “baked”, carried to term, or recovered if he was sick. And was reborn for a new life.
According to the research of ethnographers, ancient tribes also had such a ritual, it was called “purification by fire” and served for the initiation of adolescents. It was conducted by an old woman priestess in a cave or deep forest, where teenagers must symbolically die in order to be reborn as men and become full-fledged members of the tribe and get married.
The initiating role of Baba Yaga and the ritual are encrypted in fairy tales. Researchers of fairy tales V.Ya. Propp and V.N. Toporov note: the hero ends up in Baba Yaga’s hut, i.e. into the world of the dead, “dies,” undergoes trials and is reborn in a new quality. At the same time, Baba Yaga is an agent of change.
It is obvious that all the attributes of Baba Yaga are associated with death, and this undoubtedly loses the perception of her as a wise woman, a witch, i.e. knowledgeable, able and transmitting her knowledge, healing, “women - ritualists.”
This perception reflects our deepest fears, the horror of the unknown, the unknown, the invisible.
And yet, Baba Yaga is the archetype* of the wise Primordial Woman, the Wild Mother - mentor (K.P. Estes). Mothers who help and punish. That is why this image is so firmly rooted in our collective and individual culture.
What do you think, Baba Yaga is WHAT?
More interesting topics about life, psychology and relationships - in the group
We were all brought up on fairy tales, and one of the most frequent and mysterious heroes was Baba Yaga. Who is she really, an evil witch who tried to fry Ivanushka in a Russian oven, a kidnapper of small children, or is she still a good character who helps fight against evil forces. After all, she more than once helped the main characters in the fight against Koshchei the Immortal, pointed out the right path and gave wise advice on how to get rid of various kinds of evil spirits. This well-known fairy-tale character, in the form of a disfigured old woman, had animals and birds in his house, treated them with respect and even consulted with them on what to do in a given situation. Agree that Baba Yaga is a very controversial person, what do we really know about her and her personal life?
Let's try to figure out who Baba Yaga is. In reality, there is no exact and unambiguous opinion. According to some sources, she is considered the patroness of the forest and animals, a good ancient Greek goddess who guards the underground entrance to the Far Far Away Kingdom (the afterlife).
But there is another version that the word “yaga” originated from the word “yogi”, and Baba Yaga herself comes from India. It is not for nothing that she has a hermit lifestyle and lives in the forest, far from people and populated areas. This way of life is characteristic of Indian hermit yogis. Her means of transportation, a stupa, is reminiscent of Indian buildings - stupas, which are religious structures with hemispherical outlines.
According to other sources, she received this name because she was a very quarrelsome, angry and abusive woman; in Rus' such people were often called Yagishna.
Some researchers claim that Baba Yaga emigrated to us from the Northern part of the planet. Residents of the North used to build their homes on poles, this was necessary so that wild animals could not penetrate into the reindeer herders’ homes; in addition, at a height, the snow did not completely cover the house, and it was possible to get out of the snow blockage. These buildings in their shape resemble Baba Yaga’s home - a hut on chicken legs. There is also an assumption that she received this name because she lived in an area where moss grows - reindeer moss, which was once called “yag”.
Everyone has seen that Baba Yaga wore a sleeveless fur coat, and there is a possibility that her name came from a simple phrase - baba in a yaga (sleeveless fur coat).
In addition, there is a belief that Baba Yaga had Asian roots and, accordingly, bore an Asian name. Proof of this is her expression: “Fu-fu, it smells like the Russian spirit.” The fact is that each race has its own body odor, and most often people can smell the smell belonging to a person from a different race from a distance.
There is another incredible version, but it also has a place. Baba Yaga is a creature who came to our world from the world of the dead, that is, a deceased woman. In ancient times, the deceased were buried in houses that stood on stumps at some height, the roots of which peeked out of the ground, and resembled chicken feet. The door to the room was located in the opposite direction from the area where the villages were located, that is, in front to the forest, and back to populated areas. People believed that at night the dead could fly in their coffins, so they were laid with their feet facing the exit. Anyone who entered any house could see the legs of a dead man. This is where the expression “Baba Yaga bone leg” comes from. The deceased were treated with great respect and were not disturbed unnecessarily. Although if troubles arose, people believed that the deceased could help them in difficult situations and turned to them for help.
Well, the final version is that Baba Yaga arrived on our Earth from space and is an alien. Her stupa is a kind of spaceship. Rather, it is even a device that makes up one of the stages of a huge spaceship necessary for mobile movement in space over short distances.
The options for the origin of the sorceress presented above cannot be refuted or confirmed - everyone chooses the option that is close to them. But, I think, regardless of her origin, we will love Baba Yaga, as the image that has been familiar to us since childhood, showed us a mysterious, original personality, with a bright and independent character.
Baba Yaga from fairy tales still scares children - he will come, carry away and eat. She also appears in works for adults - for example, she is mentioned in the first film about John Wick. What kind of character is this?
Who is Baba Yaga?
There are several versions. According to one of them, this is an ancient Slavic goddess, and not at all evil - she patronized children and was called Baba Yoga.
With the advent of Christianity to the Slavic lands, the good patroness was transformed into an evil old woman. By the way, the goddess did not have any bone leg, but had a snake tail.
Scientists believe that initially Baba Yaga was not a mythical creature - she was a wise woman, a midwife who helped women give birth from their burdens. And her nickname came about because women in labor, when giving birth to a child, shouted loudly - “Yagali”.
Another version is connected with Siberia: they say that the ancient peoples who lived there wore strange fur clothes. It surprised and frightened the Slavs so much that they endowed those who wore it with supernatural powers - this is how the goblin and Baba Yaga appeared.
Well, the simplest version is this: these are witches and healers who usually lived on the outskirts of the village. And despite the fact that they helped people, the peasants were afraid of them and told different stories. This is how the collective image of a character known to everyone appeared.
The world of the living and the dead - in one hut
It was believed that this old woman belonged to two worlds at once. And therefore, by the way, she could either be an evil child abductor or a relatively positive character helping the main characters. Hence the bone leg - this is what physically connected her with everything beyond the grave. And her home was not easy, because Baba Yaga’s hut stood on chicken legs.
This is how researchers interpret the request known from children's fairy tales for her unusual hut on chicken legs: as long as her door faces the thicket of the forest, she is part of the world of the dead. When she turns to the one asking, she seems to return to the world of the living. And the inhabitant of the hut simply becomes a moderately harmful, but wise grandmother who will help both with deeds and with advice.
Yagi-Yagishna always has a hooked nose, she is usually hunchbacked and has poor vision. It must certainly be shaggy and, of course, with a bone leg. There is usually no emphasis on clothing, but in some fairy tales she is described as an old woman dressed in traditional Slavic attire.
Scientists' views on Baba Yaga as a mythological archetype
According to some researchers, this is a hellish goddess who loves bloodshed, feeding her own granddaughters with human blood (especially children's blood).
According to another scientific version, she embodies matriarchy on the one hand, because she is the mistress of the forest. On the other hand, in the tales of Baba Yaga they also saw echoes of animalism (the theory belongs to V. Propp) - that is why her hut stands on chicken legs.
And finally, there is a theory according to which the image of the character came from the Greek myths about the goddess Hecate, so this scientific point of view categorizes Baba Yaga as a guide to the world of the dead (aka the Far Far Away Kingdom).