Baba Yaga Print

Baba Yaga is probably my favourite witch. She is ubiquitous in Russian and Slavic folklore, and is famous for living in a house which stands on chicken legs (sometimes two, sometimes four, sometimes just the one). She flies through the air in a mortar and pestle and sweeps away her tracks with a broom. Her teeth are made of iron. Her garden fence is made of children’s bones. And the manner in which you approach her hut is all important…

In fact, there are many Baba Yagas. In some tales, she will be described as a Baba Yaga, and you might get to meet her sisters throughout the course of the story. There are many many stories in which she appears, and her hut in the forest becomes like an initiatory cave where you win her approval if you can approach with truth and wits about you. There’s also a deep deep witch-fear, which Baba Yaga represents; she is old as the hills, and cunning. She is kindly Baboushka and terrifying ogress.