A Who's Who of World Mythology : Baba Yaga


Baba Yaga Bony Legs or Bony Shanks (also Jezi-Baba and Baba Jaga) is a deity of Eastern European folklore. Baba is a word meaning “older than a girl” and may be taken to mean grandmother in this context. Though sometimes seen as a crone-witch or as a forest spirit, she has been interpreted as an ancient goddess of life and death. In some stories she had two older sisters also called Baba Yaga, so she may be seen as a triple goddess. As the leader of a host of spirits, she is depicted as a demonic spirit. Her demonization is most likely due to the introduction of Christianity and it almost certainly made her the “grandmother of the devil.” In her guise as wise hag, she sometimes gives advice and magical gifts to heroes and the pure of heart. The hero or heroine of the story often enters the crone's domain searching for wisdom, knowledge and truth. In fact, she is guardian of the Water of Life and Death. When one is killed by sword or by fire a sprinkling of the Water of Death heals all wounds. A corpse sprinkled with the Water of Life is reborn.

Her faithful servants are the White Horseman (Bright Dawn), the Red Horseman (Red Sun) and the Black Horseman (Dark Midnight). Day breaks when the White Horseman shoots an arrow into the sky, and the sun rises as the Red Horseman shoots his arrow. Night appears as the Black Horseman gallops across the land. Amongst her other servants are three bodiless and menacing pairs of hands, which appear out of thin air to do her bidding. She calls them "my soul friends" or "friends of my bosom."

Baba Yaga is described as a man-eater with iron teeth, though she might petrify her victims instead. She was so thin as to be almost skeletal, while her mouth is said to stretch from the Earth to the Gates of Hell. When she slept, she stretched out in all directions upon her ancient brick oven, and her nose was so long that it rattled against the ceiling of her hut when she snored.

The strange forest house of Baba Yaga had the legs of a chicken, and so it could move about at will. Though it was mostly described within a fence of human bones and skulls with flaming eyes, it might also be found spinning around and shrieking as it moved through the forest or standing at rest with its back to the visitor. The windows of the hut seemed to serve as its eyes, and the door was its mouth through which it might speak. It would only turn to face the visitor and lower itself to ground when a secret incantation is said. Then it would throw open the door with a loud crash.

When she wished to travel, Baba Yaga would climb into her mortar and pestle (or iron kettle) and take to the skies, going faster as she banged the pestle against the mortar and sweeping away any trace of her passage with her fiery silver-birch broom.