“It has been suggested that Baba Yaga is merely Mokosh in her old age, when her fertility is lost but her wisdom and connection to the earth remains. Her honor too has been forgotten. She’s now reviled, but she has accepted her new role with the dignity she‘s always possessed.”
Kris Spisak takes the reader on a fabulous journey to get to the heart of this intriging figure, Baba Yaga, and to bring her out from the shadows. Spisak shares how in Russia, that much of Baba Yaga’s early history was oral only, making it impossible for us to know any sort of linear history. The first written down source was in a Russian Grammar book and her earliest confirmed image found in a Russian woodblock print, called a lubki. She appears in the folklore of various Slavic countries, such as Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Bulgaria and Serbia.
Each chapter begins with a Baba Yaga story that Spisak examines in depth, analyzing it with historical and cultural information, including looking at stereotypes of the time which often ridiculed and disparaged women. Spisak untangles it all to uncover, the best that she can, a more honest representation of Baba Yaga. She looks at many sources such as illustrators, various Slavic traditions, the meaning of Baba Yaga’s name, her roles, and much more. This is an incredibly interesting book, written in an enjoyable conversational style, and provides a fascinating look at Baba Yaga.
You can purchase this book at most book shops, Amazon, or directly from Red Wheel/Weiser: https://redwheelweiser.com/book/becoming-baba-yaga-9781642970517/
Thank you Red Wheel/Weiser for my copy!
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"Have you come to do deeds or run from them”
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