Baba Yaga: The Wild Witch of the Woods - (Slavic Folklore Explained)

Every like helps make sure little timmy isn't eaten.

My mom didn't use stories to get me and my siblings to behave. She'd just beat the hell out of us.

In Slavic lore chickens are creatures that can walk between worlds. So her house having chicken feet (a single foot in most stories which may relate to mushrooms) means her house can move between the worlds, not just moving in the forest.

When I originally read that her hut walked around on chicken feet (and before seeing any depiction), I was not visualizing two giant chicken feet as is commonly portrayed, but rather a multitude of ordinary sized chicken feet holding the house six inches to a foot off the ground, like a great square millipede.

My parents are both Russian and used to always tell me about baba yaga growing up, not really to scare me but just because I liked spooky whimsical stories, vasilisa was my mother’s story of choice and I absolutely loved it. We lived very close to a mountain forest and I would always go pretend to search for her hut when I was younger. Guess I wasn’t afraid of being eaten alive.

I find her a personification of nature. She can be kind, just, or horrid and cruel. She is old as time, wise, but unpredictable.

I grew up with tales of Baba Yaga. She was not necessarily evil and was meant to be respected. My grandfather used to tell me she lives in the woods of the owl mountains (which we could see from our town) and that she sees everything. This means we should behave if we don't want to be punished and we should not brag about our good deeds as she will reward us unless we lack humility (which would warrant some more punishments)

Love how dark Slavic folklore is 😍

"Baba" also means "old woman" in Japanese. Interesting.

Baba Yaga...the one you send to kill the fxcking boogeymen.

In Poland, we also have Baba Yaga. I remember being told that when children are naughty she comes and takes them into the forest. Also, we were told to behave in presence of older ladies as some of the ones living alone are witches. The story is imho very useful ;) 1. Scares the children into behaving. 2. Shows that going into the forest with a stranger is a bad idea. 3. Teaches to respect the elders, especially not doing pranks to old ladies living alone (these are the most vunerable). During the wars many, many men died and so seeing a village inhabited my mostly older women and children was not uncommon. 4. Shows that old ladies can be helpful if they like you :D My late grandmother was kind of like that, She was suffering from a incurable neurological condition but still managed to scold us when needed and spoil us when possible ;)

So the Russian guy in Ant-Man wasn't just making that up

"Your just a weirdo who eats chicken feet" Me: Meep

My preferred Baba Yaga is a mixture berween those last two interpretations mentioned: A helpful figure, yes, and to an extend self-serving... She's an independent, oftentimes grumpy, morally grey but at core wise and benevolentish hag. She's the arch-witch: The wise old woman in the woods, feared and respected. Honoured and shunned. She's Baba Yaga. What more need she be?

I remember when I was a kid,no older that 5 maybe,my mom would tell my that Baba Roga was going to catch me if I wander away from my home. For good portion of my childhood I though she lived at the beging of my street and I even thought I saw her and I remember being really afraid of her. Turns out it was just a random elderly lady

From my spiritual tradition and college course I took, it was mentioned that Baba Yaga was most likely seen as evil over time, as some deities do. It was said she could control weather, was a healer and guide to those who pass into the afterlife. As the people began to fear death, so to was she feared, made to look old and decrepid as age was associated with the coming of death.

I liked the version in Bartok the Magnificent. everyone treats her like an evil witch so she plays along. the moment Bartok treats her like a person, she's super helpful and nice

Nobody has to make me eat my Brussels sprouts. Cooked in olive oil, fresh garlic, cracked pepper, and a bit of pink salt... They are divine! If Baba Yaga is well behaved, I may let her have a nibble.

"Listen here, Timmy; you're gonna clean that plate or I'm telling John you kicked a dog!"

"You're just a weirdo who eats chicken feet" Everyone else in Southeast Asia: *loads gun*