These are, perhaps, one of the most interesting heroes of Slavic mythology, which, having passed into the category of fairy-tale characters, has changed a lot. The mythological Yaga has little in common with our childhood memories of the old woman who is always hurting at New Year's parties. Researchers associate the origins of this image with the times of matriarchy, it has many features of the female patron spirit of the tribe, and, in addition, it has one most important function - Baba Yaga protects the border between the worlds, allowing only real heroes to pass through it.
Border guard
There are several storylines associated with Baba Yaga. Most often, she acts as a prophetic adviser or kidnapper. Its first hypostasis is the most interesting. The fact is that this character in its initial meaning is the keeper of the border between our world and the kingdom of the dead, “that world”, which in fairy tales acts as the Far-away kingdom. Fairy tales known from childhood are taken for granted, and in them we often encounter cultural codes, the meaning of which is not clear to us, although it can, of course, be perceived intuitively. In the case of Baba Yaga, there are many such signs. Take, for example, her dwelling - a strange building from a modern point of view - a hut on chicken legs, which for some reason turns. Researchers unambiguously associate this structure with a domina-coffin - a burial structure on pillars. This hut is a kind of checkpoint to another world, so the hero cannot just go around it, finding that she is standing "with her back to him." By turning it, the hero, by the way, shows his knowledge of certain rituals.
Nicholas Roerich. "Hut of Death", 1905.
The description of Yaga herself: a bone leg, a long nose (which “has grown into the ceiling” because she lies in a cramped hut for a long time), iron teeth, a strangely sharpened scent that recognizes the “Russian” - that is, the human spirit, etc. n, unambiguously indicate that we are not quite a living character. However, this did not make him immediately unambiguously evil for the ancient man. The ancient ideas about death were different from ours and were always associated with the renewal of nature, with the eternal cycle of life. And if we remember the Shchuras (Churas) - patron ancestors who were just buried on the border of their land so that they would protect the clan, then Baba Yaga becomes generally a very respected character.
Georgy Millyar is the main Baba Yaga of our fairy tales.
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Then the hero performs a series of actions that are also strange in a modern view - he requires a bath and food for himself. Researchers of myths believe that it is the ritual ablution and meal that allow him to then cross the border between the worlds, and the watchman gives him more information, a lot of advice and sometimes magical objects. The hero always calls her after that, affectionately “grandmother”.
Baby in the oven
The second role of the fabulous Baba Yaga - the kidnapper of children, possibly indicates the participation of this image in ancient initiation rites, which were often associated with symbolic death. Especially those that marked the transition of a person from one of his roles in society to another. Dying in the old incarnation of a girl, a wife was born in a new family (wedding ceremonies are full of ancient funeral symbols), so that a new full-fledged member of the tribe appeared in the world, the boy had to disappear. Most often, such rituals were carried out in the form of tasks that the young man had to perform in the forest, far from home. So, it is possible that the role of Baba Yaga as a patroness and guide to the world of the dead here was also purely positive.
Baba Yaga is the most controversial character in Russian fairy tales.
By the way, the question of her possible cannibalism is also being successfully resolved. The fact is that ethnographers associate the most terrible episode, wandering in many tales - putting a child in a stove on a shovel, with the rite of "baking babies", which is very common among many peoples of Eastern Europe. Do not be alarmed, this was done for good purposes, and in principle it should not harm the children.
This action, strange in a modern view, was very common among our ancestors. For example, Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin was exposed to it in childhood (this is mentioned in the biography of the classic V. Khodasevich). One of the last recorded descriptions of this ceremony dates back to 1942! The person over whom he was still being conducted may be in good health. Moreover, this was always done precisely to increase the health of the newborn - most often they tried to fix it - “bake” the shortcomings of a premature or sick baby (the oven in our ancestors had a great sacred meaning).
The ritual of "baking a baby" was supposed to add health and vitality to the baby. The ritual could vary from place to place, but the main points were always general. The child was coated with specially prepared dough (of course, in special water and with a lot of slander), tied to a bread shovel and three times briefly sent to a warm (not hot!) Oven. In some areas, however, the child was necessarily carried over the coals. In some places it was entrusted to the midwife, in others - to the mother, in others - to the oldest woman in the village. There were always several participants and the action was accompanied by their dialogue. For example, if the mother performed the ceremony, then the mother-in-law could stand at the door. Entering the house, she asked: "What are you doing?" The daughter-in-law answered: “I’m baking bread,” and with these words she moved the shovel into the oven. The mother-in-law said: “Well, peks, peks,but not quail”and went out the door, and the parent took the shovel out of the oven.
From patroness to evil sorceress
The symbolism of such actions is clear in principle - a child who “did not reach the condition” in the mother's womb was “baked” in a furnace that symbolized the female womb. That is, the baby temporarily went back to “that world”, and came “to this world” again, receiving at the same time the blessing from the family fire. Of course, only those who are able to open and control the border between the worlds, to which our ancestors were always extremely careful, could lead such a ceremony. Over time, Baba Yaga, the respected patroness of the family, performing the role of a liaison between the world of the living and the dead, thus having a connection with the ancestors, turned into a fabulous monster devouring babies.
Liya Akhidzhakova as Baba Yaga in the movie "The Book of Masters".
Researchers associate such a transformation with the changed attitudes and beliefs of our ancestors. Gradually, with a departure from matriarchy and a change in attitude towards death, this character acquired clearly negative qualities. By the way, the transformation of the image of Baba Yaga continued in the 20th century - they began to give her comic features of a silly, even flirtatious and not necessarily evil old woman
Still from the movie "Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf".
