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baba yaga

Baba Yaga, in the Russian folk tale of Vasalisa and Baba Yaga, is a wicked witch who lives in the center of the dark woods and is the keeper of the fire. She is feared by all, and is a creature of the night. In the tale, Vasalisa is sent to get the fire from Baba Yaga after the fire at home is allowed to die out by her evil step-sisters. Vasalisa goes into the dark woods and is quickly lost, but for the wooden doll in her pocket, the final gift from her dying mother. Whenever Vasalisa is uncertain as to where to go or what to do, she takes the doll out of her pocket, feeds it, and then asks for its advice.

    
   

With the dolls help, Vasalisa finds the dwelling of Baba Yaga – and it is frightening in the extreme. All around it are fences topped with skulls through which fire shines. The hut itself rests on chicken legs that move it from place to place at will. Baba Yaga is a horrifying creature, terribly ugly with an exceedingly long nose, sharp teeth, and bad temper. In exchange for the fire, which Vasalisa seeks, Baba Yaga demands many super-human tasks be done in trade. Each night as Baba Yaga mounts her mortar and pestil and flies off for her nightly rounds, she leaves Vasalisa with several very daunting tasks – impossible to accomplish in one night, if at all. But each night, Vasalisa takes out her doll, feeds it, and asks the doll what to do.

  baba yaga detail  
           
The doll merely says for Vasalisa to go to sleep and not to worry about it. In the morning, when the child awakes, Baba Yaga is returning and finds all the chores done perfectly. After several days of this, Baba Yaga is suspicious and asks Vasalisa if she, by any chance, has her mother’s blessing. Indeed she does, she admits to Baba Yaga. Whereupon Baba Yaga immediately sends her away from her camp saying anyone with a mother’s blessing must not remain in her presence. Baba Yaga quickly grabs one of the skulls on the fence posts and gives it, fire and all, to Vasalisa, telling her to leave at once, which, of course, she does.
vasalisa close up    
     
       

Vasalisa returns home with the fire, finds her father has returned and sent away the wicked step-mother with the step-sisters, and the story ends happily ever after.

Baba Yaga takes on many different persona in Russian folklore, most often that of the wicked witch. But she is also considered the wise old crone, the one to whom one goes for advice in hard times. She is, indeed, the keeper of the fire, fire being the most valued possession next to water, of course. The fire symbolizes life, power, and creativity, among many other things. As in all fairy tales, one must face what one fears most for all to go well in the end.

     vasalisa