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The Legend of Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga - character Slavic mythology and folklore (especially a fairy tale) Slavic peoples, old sorceress, endowed magical power, witch, werewolf. In its properties it is closest to a witch. Most often - a negative character.
The old forest sorceress, one of the most famous characters in Slavic folk myth-making. She looks not just scary, but emphatically repulsive: one leg like a skeleton, a long nose reaching to the chin. The eccentric appearance of the evil old woman corresponds to unusual way movement: Baba Yaga flies astride a broom, grip or mortar, covering her trail with a broom. Obey All the animals to Baba Yaga, but her most faithful servants are black cats, crows and snakes. She lives in a hut on chicken legs, which stands in a dense forest behind a fiery river and turns in all directions. You only need ask: “Hut, hut, become as old as your mother put: towards the forest with your back, towards me in front! - and the hut will obediently fulfill the request. The fence around the hut is made of human bones, there are skulls on the fence, and instead of a lock there is a mouth with sharp teeth. In ancient times, Baba Yaga was considered the gatekeeper between the world of the living and the dead, and her hut was considered the gateway to the otherworldly kingdom.
In fairy tales, Baba Yaga often acts as an antagonist to heroes who fight her and win by force or cunning. Witch (brews all sorts of potions) and an ogress, she kidnaps children and is not averse to killing a traveler who accidentally wanders into her hut, but, as a rule, she is fooled and punished. Sometimes Baba Yaga appears in the form of a giver, an assistant to heroes. Then she helps them, shows them the way, supplies them with magic items and gives wise advice.
According to the greatest specialist in the field of theory and history of folklore V. Ya. Propp, there are three types of Baba - Yagi: giver (she gives the hero a fairy horse or a magic object); child abductor; Baba Yaga warrior. There is a similar hero in German folklore: Frau Holle or Bertha. "Mystam-kempyr"- called Baba Yaga in Kazakh fairy tales.
Russian writers and poets A. S. Pushkin and V. A. Zhukovsky repeatedly turned to the image of Baba Yaga in their work. "The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich and Gray Wolf» , Alexey Tolstoy, Vladimir Narbut and others. Picturesque interpretations of her image have become widespread among silver artists century: Ivan Bilibin, Viktor Vasnetsov, Alexander Benois, Elena Polenova, Ivan Malyutin and others.
Origin of the image
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 came from "Baba Yaga bone leg". People treated their dead ancestors with respect and fear, they never disturbed them over trifles, fearing to bring trouble upon themselves, but in difficult situations still they came to ask for help. So, Baba Yaga is a deceased ancestor, a dead person, and children were often frightened with her.
Georgy Millyar played the role of Baba Yaga more often than others, including in films:"Morozko","Vasilisa the Beautiful","Fire, water and... copper pipes", "Golden Horns"
In the films “There, on Unknown Paths...” the role of the kind Baba Yaga was played by Tatyana Peltzer. In the film "Fire, Water and... Copper Pipes" the role of Baba Yaga's daughter was played by Vera Altaiskaya. In film " New Year's adventures Masha and Vitya" the role of Baba Yaga was performed by Valentina Kosobutskaya. In the film "At thirteen o'clock in the morning" Baba Yaga -Zinovy Gerdt. In film "Miracles in Reshetov"- Yola Sanko. In film "Start", directed by Gleb Panfilov, the character of Inna Churikova - Pasha Stroganova, plays the role of Baba Yaga in an amateur theater. How Ivan the Fool went after a miracle - Maria Barabanova
In 2004, the village of Kukoboy, Pervomaisky district Yaroslavl region was announced "homeland" Baba Yaga, the Baba Yaga Museum was created there. Russian Orthodox Church sharply criticized this initiative.
When introducing children to the heroes of folk tales, we definitely dwell on this image. Children dress up in a Yaga costume with laughter, act out small scenes, imitate the habits of the heroine in Baba Yaga aerobics, play folk games with the participation of a folklore character. Anya was recognized as the best Baba Yaga.
Baba Yaga, the owner of the hut on chicken legs, the forest witch, moving in a mortar and capable of destroying fairy tale hero or, conversely, to save him, we all know from childhood. And, it would seem, the question cannot arise: what is her nationality? Of course, ours, Russian! However, there are different versions.
Baba Yaga - Slavic
More precisely, a Proto-Slav. Experts trace her name to the root (j)ęga common to the Proto-Slavs, from which comes the Serbo-Croatian word jeza - “horror”, Slovenian jeza - “anger”, Czech jezinka - “forest witch”, “evil woman”, Polish jędza - “witch” ", "Baba Yaga", "evil woman". In modern Russian, the word “ulcer” is closest to the ancient root.
The idea of a terrible forest witch existed among many Slavic peoples, especially among the Western Slavs. In Czech and Polish fairy tales, Jerzy Baba appears, however, she flies not in a mortar, but on a teapot. In Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria, Baba Yaga is considered a night spirit who abducts small children. The image of this witch is also found in Austria, in the region of Carinthia, where the Slavs lived in former times. Here Baba Yaga - Pekhtra - is an indispensable participant in Christmas performances with mummers.
Baba Yaga - Indo-European
A number of experts trace the origins of Baba Yaga to those ancient times when the Indo-Europeans had not yet divided into different peoples. The name Yaga, which, of course, is consonant with “yogi,” allows us to make such assumptions.
Baba Yaga leads a hermit's life, lives in a desert area, she knows many secrets, apparently, she is very old, but extremely cheerful and strong - much like hermit yogis - and she moves in a mortar. “Stupa” is the name given to temples in some Hindu cults. Other experts trace the name Yaga to the name of the ancient Indian god of death, Yama. And here, too, there are no particular contradictions, since Baba Yaga has all the features of a deity guarding the entrance to the kingdom of the dead.
Baba Yaga - Finno-Ugric
There is reason to believe that Baba Yaga is the result of borrowing from the Finno-Ugric peoples, who abundantly populated the lands where they later settled Slavic ancestors Russians. First of all, this is evidenced by that very hut on chicken legs. The fact is that the Finno-Ugrians had the custom of burying the cremated remains of their dead in small log houses raised above the ground on stilts.
“Chicken legs” in this case are not chicken legs, but smoked with smoke from a funeral pyre.. Such “houses of the dead” were placed somewhere far from human dwellings in the wilderness. Speaking about the Finno-Ugric origin of the image of Baba Yaga, some researchers specify that she is a Sami. The Sami were considered sorcerers and lived in the wilderness.
The custom of burying the dead in log houses raised above the ground was not only among the Finno-Ugrians, but also among many peoples of Siberia, even among the Yakuts. This gives grounds to make very bold assumptions that Baba Yaga may be a Yakut.
Baba Yaga is Babai-aga
Babay-Aga - in Turkic languages means “big master”. This expression appeared in Rus' during the Mongol invasion. The Horde Baskaks were the very “great gentlemen” who came to the conquered Russian cities and villages and collected tribute to the Horde. They also took slaves.
Young people and small children were most often taken into slavery. “Don’t cry, little shooter! - mothers said during the Horde yoke, “otherwise Babai-Aga will come and take you away!” “Babaika” scares small children to this day. Perhaps the image of the terrible Babai-Aga merged with the image of the forest witch, mistress of the kingdom of the dead, which existed among our ancestors, or the transformation had other reasons, but gradually Baba Yaga appeared instead of Babai-Aga.
During my childhood, when every self-respecting school held pre-New Year's parties (for junior classes) and “discos” (for older people), an indispensable part of these events were performances by invited artists - sometimes professional, from the local drama theater, sometimes amateurs - mothers, fathers, teachers.
And the lineup of participants was just as indispensable - Father Frost, Snow Maiden, forest creatures (squirrels, hares, etc.), sometimes pirates, Bremen Town Musicians and devils with kikimoras. But the main villain was Baba Yaga. In what interpretations did she appear before the amazed public - both a hunchbacked old woman and a middle-aged woman with bright makeup - something between a gypsy fortune teller and a witch, and sexy young creature in a dress made of patches and charming shaggy hair on her head. The only thing that remained unchanged was its essence - to do as much mischief as possible to the “good characters” - not to let them into the Christmas tree, to take away the gifts, to turn them into old tree stump- the list is not limited.
Who is this Baba Yaga really? Folklore element? A figment of the people's imagination? Real character? An invention of children's writers? Let's try to find out the origin of the most insidious fairy-tale character of our childhood.
Slavic mythology
Baba Yaga (Yaga-Yaginishna, Yagibikha, Yagishna) - ancient character Slavic mythology. Initially, this was the deity of death: a woman with a snake tail who guarded the entrance to the underworld and escorted the souls of the deceased to the kingdom of the dead. In this way, she is somewhat reminiscent of the ancient Greek snake maiden Echidna. According to ancient myths, from her marriage with Hercules Echidna gave birth to the Scythians, and the Scythians are considered ancient ancestors Slavs It’s not for nothing that Baba Yaga plays a very big role in all fairy tales. important role, heroes sometimes resort to it as last hope, the last assistant - these are undeniable traces of matriarchy.
Was the bone leg a snake's tail?
Particular attention is drawn to the bony, one-legged nature of Baba Yaga, associated with her once bestial or snake-like appearance: “The cult of snakes as creatures associated with the land of the dead begins, apparently, already in the Paleolithic. In the Paleolithic, images of snakes are known, personifying the underworld. The emergence of an image of a mixed nature dates back to this era: top part the figures are from a person, the lower one from a snake or maybe a worm.”
According to K.D. Laushkin, who considers Baba Yaga to be the goddess of death, one-legged creatures in the mythologies of many peoples are in one way or another connected with the image of a snake ( possible development ideas about such creatures: snake - man with a snake tail - one-legged man - lame, etc.).
V. Ya. Propp notes that “Yaga, as a rule, does not walk, but flies, like a mythical serpent or dragon.” “As is known, the all-Russian “snake” is not the original name of this reptile, but arose as a taboo in connection with the word “earth” - “crawling on the ground,” writes O. A. Cherepanova, suggesting that the original, not established while the name of the snake could be yaga.
One of the possible echoes of old ideas about such a snake-like deity is the image of a huge forest (white) or field snake, traced in the beliefs of peasants in a number of Russian provinces, which has power over livestock, can bestow omniscience, etc.
Is the bone leg a connection with death?
According to another belief, Death hands over the deceased to Baba Yaga, with whom she travels around the world. At the same time, Baba Yaga and the witches subordinate to her feed on the souls of the dead and therefore become as light as the souls themselves.
They used to believe that Baba Yaga could live in any village, masquerading as an ordinary woman: caring for livestock, cooking, raising children. In this, ideas about her come closer to ideas about ordinary witches.
But still, Baba Yaga is a more dangerous creature, possessing much greater power than some kind of witch. Most often, she lives in a dense forest, which has long instilled fear in people, since it was perceived as the border between the world of the dead and the living. It’s not for nothing that her hut is surrounded by a palisade of human bones and skulls, and in many fairy tales Baba Yaga feeds on human flesh, and she herself is called the “bone leg.”
Just like Koschey the Immortal (koshch - bone), she belongs to two worlds at once: the world of the living and the world of the dead. Hence its almost limitless possibilities.
Fairy tales
IN fairy tales it operates in three incarnations.
Yaga the hero possesses a treasure sword and fights on equal terms with the heroes.
The kidnapper yaga steals children, sometimes throwing them, already dead, onto the roof home, but most often carried away to his hut on chicken legs, or to open field, or underground. From this strange hut, children, and adults too, escape by outwitting Yagibishna.
And finally, Yaga the Giver warmly greets the hero or heroine, treats him deliciously, soars in the bathhouse, gives useful tips, presents a horse or rich gifts, for example, a magic ball leading to a wonderful goal, etc.
This old sorceress does not walk, but travels around the world in an iron mortar (that is, a scooter chariot), and when she walks, she forces the mortar to run faster, striking it with an iron club or pestle. And so that, for reasons known to her, no traces are visible, they are swept behind her by special ones, attached to the mortar with a broom and broom. Frogs and black cats serve her, including cat Baiyun, crows and snakes: all creatures in which both threat and wisdom coexist.
Even when Baba Yaga appears in her most unsightly form and is distinguished by her fierce nature, she knows the future, possesses countless treasures and secret knowledge.
The veneration of all its properties is reflected not only in fairy tales, but also in riddles. One of them says this: “Baba Yaga, with a pitchfork, feeds the whole world, starves herself.” It's about about the wet-nurse plow, the most important tool of labor in peasant life.
The same huge role In the life of a fairy-tale hero, the mysterious, wise, terrible Baba Yaga also plays.
Vladimir Dahl's version
"YAGA or Yaga-Baba, Baba-Yaga, Yagaya and Yagavaya or Yagishna and Yaginichna, a kind of witch, evil spirit, under the guise of an ugly old woman. Is there a yaga with horns on his forehead (a stove pillar with crows)? Baba Yaga, a bone leg, rides in a mortar, presses with a pestle, covers the trail with a broom. Her bones come out from under her body in places; nipples hang below the waist; she goes for human meat, kidnaps children, her mortar is iron, she is driven by devils; there is a terrible storm under this train, everything is groaning, the cattle are roaring, there is pestilence and death; whoever sees the yaga becomes mute. Yagishna is the name of an angry, scolding woman."
"Baba Yaga or Yaga Baba, a fairy-tale monster, a bogeyman over witches, a helper of Satan. Baba Yaga is a bone leg: she rides in a mortar, drives (rests) with a pestle, covers her trail with a broom. She is bare-haired and wears only a shirt without a girdle: that’s what the other is the height of outrage."
Baba Yaga among other peoples
Baba Yaga (Polish Endza, Czech Ezhibaba) is considered to be a monster, in which only small children should believe. But even a century and a half ago in Belarus, adults also believed in her - the terrible goddess of death, destroying the bodies and souls of people. And this goddess is one of the most ancient.
Ethnographers have established its connection with the primitive initiation rite, which was performed back in the Paleolithic and known among the most backward peoples of the world (Australians).
To be initiated into full-fledged members of the tribe, teenagers had to undergo special, sometimes difficult, rituals - tests. They were performed in a cave or in a deep forest, near a lonely hut, and they were in charge of old woman- priestess. The most terrible test consisted of staging the “devouring” of the subjects by a monster and their subsequent “resurrection.” In any case, they had to “die”, visit the other world and “resurrect”.
Everything around her breathes death and horror. The bolt in her hut is a human leg, the locks are hands, and the lock is a toothed mouth. Her back is made of bones, and on them are skulls with flaming eye sockets. She fries and eats people, especially children, while licking the stove with her tongue and scooping out the coals with her feet. Her hut is covered with a pancake, propped up with a pie, but these are symbols not of abundance, but of death (funeral food).
According to Belarusian beliefs, Yaga flies in an iron mortar with a fiery broom. Where it rushes, the wind rages, the earth groans, animals howl, cattle hide. Yaga is a powerful sorceress. She, like witches, is served by devils, crows, black cats, snakes, and toads. She turns into a snake, a mare, a tree, a whirlwind, etc.; The only thing he can’t do is take on a somewhat normal human appearance.
Yaga lives in a dense forest or the underground world. She is the mistress of the underground hell: “Do you want to go to hell? “I am Jerzy-ba-ba,” says Yaga in a Slovak fairy tale. For a farmer (as opposed to a hunter), the forest is an unkind place, full of all kinds of evil spirits, the same other world, and the famous hut on chicken legs is like a passageway into this world, and therefore one cannot enter it until he turns his back to the forest.
Yaga the watchman is difficult to deal with. She beats the heroes of the fairy tale, ties them up, cuts the straps out of their backs, and only the strongest and bravest hero defeats her and descends into the underworld. At the same time, Yaga has the features of a ruler of the Universe and looks like some kind of terrible parody of the Mother of the World.
Yaga is also a mother goddess: she has three sons (snakes or giants) and 3 or 12 daughters. Perhaps she is the cursed mother or grandmother. She is a housewife, her attributes (mortar, broom, pestle) are tools of female labor. Yaga is served by three horsemen - black (night), white (day) and red (sun), who ride through her “passage” every day. With the help of the death's head she commands the rain.
Yaga is a pan-Indo-European goddess.
Among the Greeks, it corresponds to Hecate - the terrible three-faced goddess of the night, witchcraft, death and hunting.
The Germans have Perchta, Holda (Hel, Frau Hallu).
The Indians have no less terrible Kali.
Perkhta-Holda lives underground (in wells), commands rain, snow and the weather in general, and rushes around, like Yaga or Hecate, at the head of a crowd of ghosts and witches. Perchta was borrowed from the Germans by their Slavic neighbors - the Czechs and Slovenes.
Alternative origins of the image
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 she was often used to scare children.
According to other sources, Baba Yaga among some Slavic tribes (the Rus in particular) was a priestess who led the ritual of cremation of the dead. She slaughtered sacrificial cattle and concubines, who were then thrown into the fire.
Baba Yaga is a character from Slavic mythology and folklore. He is an almost integral anti-hero of Slavic fairy tales. Often presented as an opponent of the main character of fairy tales and myths. Many researchers never cease to wonder who she is Baba Yaga Regarding Slavic mythology, what kind of goddess or creature is this, and how did the pagan Slavs actually represent Yaga?
In this article I will try to provide strong evidence in favor of the fact that Baba Yaga is not at all a separate creature or a separate goddess who was engaged in some of her duties, but one of the names Slavic goddess winter and death. Perhaps the evidence and comparisons that will be given in one article are quite enough to clarify the image of this mysterious fairy-tale character.
Baba Yaga in performance modern people is an ugly old woman from fairy tales who flies on a mortar and lives in a hut on chicken legs. We will also analyze these attributes of Yaga further and present them as additional evidence of the image of the goddess of the dead. Old woman Yaga lives in a dark forest, practices witchcraft, communicates with Koshchei and is considered almost the most important Slavic witch.
First of all, it is worth examining the name “Yaga” itself, although, to be honest, etymology is not so important in determining the image of this goddess of the ancient Slavs. Researcher M. Vasmer concluded that Yaga comes from the Proto-Slavic word (j) ega, which means horror, danger, anger. Thus, “Baba Yaga” could be translated as Evil Baba, Dangerous Baba. Other etymologists suggest that Yaga comes from the Proto-Slavic word ega, which means “snake,” which, according to their theory, indicates the chthonic origins of the image of Baba Yaga.
To prove that Baba Yaga is none other than the goddess Mara (Morana, Marena), first of all it is worth examining the habitat, the way of living, and also, so to speak, the “life partner” of Baba Yaga from folk tales.
As you know, Baba Yaga lives in a deep, dense, gloomy, dark and impenetrable forest. Her habitat is a certain house on chicken legs, which is surrounded by a fence of bones with skulls. To interpret this plot from folk tales, it is worth remembering again scientific term“katabasis”, about which you can read more in a separate article “”. To briefly describe what katabasis is, it is a phenomenon in world mythology when a hero descends into the underworld or the world of death. This plot comes from Proto-Indo-European mythology, which subsequently, with the settlement of peoples and natural changes in the forms of beliefs, began to change, in particular, it moved from the plane of the hero’s journey into the underworld into the plane of the hero’s journey into the dark and impenetrable forest. Apart from the transfer from the dungeon to the dark forest, practically nothing has changed - darkness, complex obstacles, omnipresent dangers and the main objective- kingdom underground king or the underground queen, the queen of the world of the dead. As you know, in Slavic mythology the queen of the world of the dead is Morana, so, in all likelihood, the heroes of fairy tales go to the forest to Morana.
The house itself, the attributes of the house and the attributes of Baba Yaga also speak about the patronage of the dead. A fence or palisade, which is made of bones and skulls, is a clear hint that the hero finds himself in the kingdom of death. The very appearance of the house, which is known as the “hut on chicken legs,” is a symbol of the once existing tradition of burying the ashes of people or the remains of people in special ones, which were also called bdyny and golbtsy - a small house that stands on a high stick or leg. Such houses are the prototype of a fairy-tale hut on chicken legs. Some dominos, especially those that were created large sizes and stood on several pillars at once, had several crossbars at the bottom that made the dominoes stable, which made them look like chicken paws. Such houses were considered the residence of the souls of the dead in our world, that is, the house of the dead, which in Once again considers Baba Yaga to be the patroness of the dead.
It is also worth noting the stupa on which Baba Yaga flies in Slavic fairy tales. A stupa is a fabulous representation of a dugout oak log, which is similar to the stupa in which people were buried in ancient times. That is, in simple words speaking, Baba Yaga flies in a coffin or funeral oak stupa.
One cannot help but recall Kashchei the Immortal. Koschey is often represented in folk tales, as the husband of Baba Yaga, and this is one of the surest proofs that Baba Yaga is Morana. Koschey, aka Chernobog, is the owner underworld dead. In many pagan beliefs, in the underworld, his beloved, the queen of the world of the dead, sits with him. In Greece - this, in Rome -, among the Slavs - Koschey and Moran. The fact that in fairy tales Baba Yaga is called the beloved or wife of the owner of the underworld clearly indicates that Baba Yaga and Morana are one and the same mythological person.
In one of the fairy tales “Ivan Tsarevich and Marya Morevna” Baba Yaga lives “far away lands, in the thirtieth kingdom, not far from the sea beyond the fiery river.” That is, in the language of Slavic mythology, Baba Yaga lives behind the fiery fire, which separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. In the same tale we find an interesting mention that, beyond the fiery river, Baba Yaga owns a herd of glorious mares. The question arises: why was such detail preserved in folklore? We can find the answer in the pagan mythology of the Slavs and other peoples, where there is a mention of the abduction by the underground gods of countless herds from solar or heavenly gods, which is a symbolic abduction of the “heavenly flocks - clouds” of winter from summer.
In fairy tales, Baba Yaga is represented with a bone leg! The bone leg again suggests that Yaga directly relates to the world of the dead. Let us remember the etymology of the word “Koschey”, which comes from the word “bone”, that is, Koschey is a bone god, the god of the bone (dead) world.
Another proof is the Maslenitsa traditions that have survived to this day in Croatia. If we burn the goddess of winter and death Morana on Maslenitsa, then in Croatia they burn Baba Yaga on Maslenitsa!
Thus, ethnographic, mythological and fairy tale material makes it quite clear that under the guise of Baba Yaga, in a veiled form, beliefs in the goddess of winter and death Morana have reached us.
Baba Yaga in the film "Morozko" 1964
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Baba Yaga is a mysterious creature that is described in many Russian fairy tales. To this day, scientists are concerned about the still unsolved mysteries surrounding this mysterious creature. Who is Baba Yaga?
Scientists translate the strange name of this old woman in different ways. Some are convinced that “yaga” corresponds to some Indo-European languages meanings of “annoyance, illness, grieve.” But from the Komi language “yag” is translated as “pine forest” or “pine forest”, and the word “baba” means a woman. Therefore, Baba Yaga is a forest woman.
Baba Yaga lives in the forest, she flies in a mortar. Practices witchcraft. She is helped by geese-swans, red, white and black riders, and also “three pairs of hands.” Researchers distinguish three subspecies of Baba Yaga: warrior (in battle with her the hero switches to new level personal maturity), giver (she gives magical objects to her guests), and child abductor. It is worth noting that she is not a uniquely negative character.
They describe her as a scary old woman with a hump. At the same time, she is also blind and only senses a person who has entered her hut. This dwelling, which has chicken legs, gave rise to scientists’ hypothesis about who Baba Yaga is. The fact is that the ancient Slavs had a custom of erecting special houses for the dead, which were installed on stilts, rising above the ground. They built such huts on the border of the forest and the settlement, and placed them in such a way that the exit was from the side of the forest.
It is believed that Baba Yaga is a kind of guide to world of the dead, which in fairy tales is called the Far Away Kingdom. In carrying out this task, the old woman is helped by certain rituals: ritual ablution (bathhouse), “dead” food (feeding the hero at his request). Having visited Baba Yaga's house, a person temporarily finds himself belonging to two worlds at once, and also receives some specific abilities.
According to another hypothesis, Baba Yaga is a female healer. In ancient times, unsociable women who settled in the forest became healers. There they collected plants, fruits and roots, then dried them and prepared a variety of potions from these raw materials. People, although they used their services, were at the same time afraid of them, as they considered them witches associated with evil spirits and evil spirits.
Not long ago, some Russian researchers put forward another very interesting theory. According to her, Baba Yaga was none other than an alien who arrived on our planet for research purposes.
Legends say that a mysterious old woman flew in a mortar, while covering her tracks with a fiery broom. This whole description is very reminiscent jet engine. The ancient Slavs, of course, could not know about the wonders of technology, and therefore interpreted fire in their own way and loud sounds, which could be emitted by an alien ship.
This interpretation is also supported by the fact that the arrival of the mysterious Baba Yaga, according to the descriptions of ancient peoples, was accompanied by the fall of trees at the landing site and a storm with a very strong wind. All this can be explained by the impact of a ballistic wave or the direct effect of a jet stream. The Slavs who lived in those distant times could not know about the existence of such things, and therefore explained it as witchcraft.
The hut standing on a chicken leg was apparently spaceship. In this case, its small dimensions are quite understandable. And the chicken legs are the stand on which the ship stands.
The appearance of Baba Yaga, which seemed so ugly to people, could have been quite ordinary for alien creatures. Humanoids, judging by the descriptions of ufologists, do not look any more beautiful.
Legends also claim that the mysterious Baba Yaga was supposedly a cannibal, that is, she ate human flesh. From the same point of view new theory, various experiments on people were carried out on the ship. Later, all this became overgrown with legends and fairy tales that were told to children. This story has come down to us in this form. It is difficult to prove something when so many years have passed, but still the mysterious Baba Yaga left her mark on history, not only fabulous, but also, perhaps, quite material. It just hasn't been found yet.
