And where, in fact, did the image of the evil old witch with a "bone leg" come from?
Baba Yaga is an image from our childhood. But, having reached a certain age, have we ever wondered where he came from in Russian folklore? And what does this fairy-tale character actually represent: good or evil?
Houses of the Dead
To begin with, let's remember the place of Baba Yaga's "registration". Remember: "Hut-hut, turn your back to the forest, to me in front!" And why exactly a hut and why on chicken legs?
Once upon a time, the territories of the upper Volga, Ob and Moskva rivers were inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes. Their culture is often called "Dyakovo", as one of their ancient settlements was discovered near the village of Dyakovo, in the area of modern Kolomenskoye.
Researchers who studied the Dyakovo culture were surprised for a long time that there is not a single burial ground among the ancient monuments of this tribe. Therefore, there was no information about the funeral rites of the Dyakovites. Meanwhile, in 1934, during the excavation of the Bereznyaki settlement in the Yaroslavl Volga region, archaeologists came across the remains of a small log cabin, inside which there were the cremated remains of several people.
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Among them were men, women and children. In 1966, a similar find was made in the Zvenigorod area during the excavation of another Dyakov's settlement near the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery. The structure was a low log cabin with a gable roof. The entrance to the building was located on the south side, at the very entrance there was a hearth.
The remains of at least 24 people were found inside. All of them were cremated. In some cases, the ashes were in special urn vessels, the walls of which on one side were badly burned, since most likely they were placed near the fire during the funeral ceremony. Scientists have dubbed these structures "houses of the dead."
It is known that it was customary to put log cabins over the graves in the north of Eastern Europe and Asia, and in some places this tradition existed until the 18th century. Apparently, the bodies were burned somewhere “on the side” and then placed in a log “tomb”. Sometimes "houses of the dead" were located on the territory of settlements, sometimes outside them.
As for the hut on chicken legs, according to some experts, in fact, we are not talking about chicken paws at all: the "houses of the dead" were placed on piles or stumps, which were smoked during the funeral ceremony before the remains were placed there. the deceased - so that rodents or insects do not get inside.
It would be more correct to call the legs "chicken". "Kuryi" appeared, apparently, in the process of the formation of folklore. Obviously, the "houses of the dead" also played a cult role. The ancient Finno-Ugrians saw in them "portals" leading to the underworld, where the deceased go … After all, for fairy-tale heroes, the journey into magical reality often begins precisely with the hut of Baba Yaga.
Horror story at night
And where, in fact, did the image of the evil old witch with a "bone leg" come from? Most likely, it was female priestesses who were instructed to perform the funeral rituals, perhaps they were old women …
There are other versions of the appearance of this most popular fairy-tale character. But let's first recall her typical portrait: "On the stove, on the ninth brick lies Baba Yaga, a bone leg, his nose has grown into the ceiling, snot hangs through the threshold, titties are wrapped on a hook, she sharpens her teeth."
Scary, angry, shaggy, nose - has grown into the ceiling, blind, she has a bone leg, flies in a mortar, sweeps her trail with a broomstick, lives in a dense forest, in a hut on chicken legs, the hut has no windows or doors, a fence around from bones and skulls, fries children, shoves them into the oven with a shovel. Horror and only, especially if you read this at night.
“The fence around her hut is made of human bones, and instead of pots, skulls hang on the fence; instead of a bolt she has a human leg, instead of locks - hands, and instead of a lock - a mouth with sharp teeth. Baba Yaga has shaggy hair, braids unattached.
In the culture of the ancient Slavs, loose hair is a connection with the other world; the dead woman's braids were still unraveling. Baba Yaga is apparently dead. Bone leg - dead so long ago that the body decayed. The nose has grown into the ceiling. Apparently, her house is very cramped.
Baba Yaga flies in a mortar, which is very similar to a deck - a prototype of the coffin. He covers his trail with a broomstick. There used to be a custom: when the deceased was taken on a sleigh on his last journey, a sled trail was covered behind him so that he would not return to the world of the living. Why does it fly? Because the dead do not walk, they are carried. And the soul flies. In addition, Baba Yaga does not see anything, she has no human vision.
"Fu-fu," he says, "it smells of the Russian spirit." But she has a different vision - she sees the future. It is evident that Baba Yaga is a deceased woman. She lives, as mentioned above, in a hut on chicken legs. The Slavs also had such a custom: after the death of a person, when the soul was still undecided, it had to prepare a dwelling.
For this, a ritual doll was made, a house for it was placed on a felled tree. Here is another version of the appearance of a hut on chicken legs. The roots are very similar to chicken legs. A hut without windows and doors - the dead don't need them. There is only an entrance where the offerings are placed. The northern peoples still have this custom.
Many scientists believe that Baba Yaga is a divine essence, the progenitor of the human race. People come to her for advice. Ivan Tsarevich receives magic gifts, Vasilisa the Beautiful, after visiting Baba Yaga's hut, finds herself a husband-king and the ability to perform magical actions. She weaves extraordinary fabric, sews extraordinary shirts.
There is a popular wisdom that for any knowledge we must turn to our ancestors. And where are the ancestors? From the point of view of folk culture - in the other world. Baba Yaga is, as it were, the head of this other world. That is, to get some kind of knowledge, you need to turn to the other world. In other words, to the experience of ancestors, which is what the fairy-tale heroes do.
Great mother of the world
And also - about the origin of the word "Baba Yaga". Baba is the main woman in all cultures. Stone women were worshiped by many peoples. Baba was called a woman only after the birth of a child. The single-root word "babai" also means a brownie, the head of the clan. "Yaga" - fire - fire. There was a verb "yagat". This is a special cry in which all the energy was concentrated.
Hunters, women in childbirth yagali. That is, Baba Yaga was the main mother who knew everything. The image of the forest yaga-sorceress, apparently, goes back to the most ancient ideas about the Great Mother of the World - the mistress of animals, the progenitor of all living things, who knows the fate of people and endows shamans with their supernatural power.
Yaga in fairy tales acts as a gatekeeper, guarding the border between the world of the living and the world of the dead, and a guide to another world; she tests heroes trying to enter the world of the dead, and helps those who have passed these tests.
The yaga's hut, standing on the border of two worlds, is, as it were, a gateway to the dead kingdom, the afterlife; even her appearance in fairy tales and beliefs reminds of death: she is very similar to a domina (burial structure in the form of a human dwelling) and is often surrounded by human remains (skulls hang on a wattle fence, the door is propped up by a foot, etc.).
At the same time, Baba Yaga was clearly associated in the popular imagination not only with death, but also with the rites of rebirth, with the idea of dying and resurrection. For example, in fairy tales she often kidnaps children and seeks to fry them in the oven, which resembles the well-known in many places rite of "baking a child" performed on sick or weak children: the child was symbolically destroyed so that he would be reborn again as a different person.
It is even possible that the tales of the "abductor yaga" arose on the basis of an ancient witchcraft rite of initiation, the initiation of young men into hunters, and their introduction into a certain age group.
The initiation rite usually consisted in the fact that adolescents, boys 10-12 years old, were taken away from the village for some time and subjected to various tests, conducting a kind of exam in all practical hunting skills; at the same time, the young men seemed to "die" for the tribe, so that men, warriors and hunters were "born" instead.
Initiations were also a partial introduction of adolescents to the sacred secrets of the tribe, to the magical ritual of hunters. In ancient times, this complex ritual, the ceremony of initiating young men into hunters, could be led by a witch woman. Probably, such a woman symbolically represented the same Great Mother, the goddess - the sovereign and progenitor of animals, associated with the other world of the dead.
The image of such a "knowing" woman could well serve as the basis for the creation of the fabulous image of Baba Yaga, who comes from the forest, abducts children (that is, takes them away for the initiation ceremony) and seeks to fry them in the oven ("kill a child so that a man is born"), as well as giving advice and helping selected heroes who have stood the test.
So the famous folklore character is not at all as unambiguous as it seems. But the main thing is that without him there would be no wonderful fairy tales that we were all fond of in childhood …
Irina SHLIONSKAYA