Why Yaga. How Baba Yaga became a negative character, and what traditions are associated with her. Yaga - a guide to the afterlife

13.11.2019

BABA YAGA is a well-known character of fairy-tale mythology, known to us since childhood.

From myself I will add to general description: lives in a hut on chicken legs, without windows and doors, roasts children in the stove, prepares a potion and various drugs. Let's try to figure out where this character, Baba Yaga, came from in Russian mythology. Of the many hypotheses about the origin of Baba Yaga, I adhere to the following.

The historian and writer A. Ivanov refers to the custom of the Finno-Ugric peoples, which is rooted in pagan times. They believed that the dead helped them from the other world, and after the death of a loved one they made a “babu” doll, or ittarma, where the spirit of the deceased was infused. Then they wrapped this doll in a fur coat made of animal skins, with the fur outside - a yaga. This coat was worn by women. Hence the name - Baba Yaga. At that time there was a matriarchy, which explains the feminine gender of the doll.

After the “babu” was wrapped in a yaga, they built a sacred somyakh building - a log house “without windows, without doors” (see photo in the album), and placed a doll there. Together with the doll, they put jewelry and other attributes of the deceased and carried it to the thicket of the forest, far from the settlements. Then the building was installed on the trunks of cut trees, so that neither animals could get it, nor people could steal it. And there were many who wanted to profit from treasures, “I’m going there I don’t know where”, but they didn’t return - such mysterious disappearances added horror to the image of Baba Yaga, as some kind of evil force.

Why on chicken legs? - the trunks of cut trees were “fumigated” with juniper branches, hence “chickens”, not chicken ones.
Why "no windows, no doors"? - the ritual doll does not need windows. Why a bone leg? - a sign of a dead man, belonging to the kingdom of the dead.
Why does it fly in a mortar? - a stupa is a funeral urn, more often wooden among the Slavic peoples, it was believed that the soul of the deceased was hiding there.
Why a broom? - this is a primordially feminine remedy, associated with the magic of cleansing power.

The frightening image of the evil sorceress Baba Yaga is accompanied by a belief about roasting in an oven. In fact, this is how healers nursed babies and treated children. They wrapped the child in dough and put it in the oven, where he “baked”, wore out, or recovered if he was sick. And was reborn for a new life.
According to the studies of ethnographers in the ancient tribes, there was also such a rite, it was called "cleansing by fire" and served to initiate adolescents. It was conducted by an old female priestess in a cave or deep forest, where teenagers must symbolically die in order to be reborn as men and become full-fledged members of the tribe, to marry.

Hut on chicken legs - the famous dwelling of Baba Yaga | Depositphotos — Oleksandrum79

The initiating role of Baba Yaga and the rite are encrypted in fairy tales. Researchers of fairy tales V.Ya. Propp, V.N. Toporov note: the hero gets to Baba Yaga in a hut, i.e. into the world of the dead, "dies", passes tests and is reborn in a new capacity. Baba Yaga is the agent of change.

Obviously, all the attributes of Baba Yaga are associated with death, and this undoubtedly loses the perception of her as a wise woman, a witch, i.e. who knows, who knows how and transmits her knowledge, who heals, "women - ritualists."
This perception reflects our deepest fears, the horror of the unknown, the unknown, the invisible.

Nevertheless, Baba Yaga is the archetype * of the wise Primordial Woman, the Wild Mother - a mentor (C.P. Estes). Mother helping and punishing. That is why this image is so firmly rooted in our collective and individual culture.

What do you think, Baba Yaga is WHAT?

More interesting topics about life, psychology and relationships - in the group

Baba Yaga is the wife of Veles and a strong sorceress, about whom many legends were composed in ancient Slavic mythology. Over time, this character gradually turned into an evil, scary, shaggy old cannibal on a bone leg, living in the forest in a strange house on bird legs and luring people to her. However, not all so simple. Has Baba Yaga always been a negative character, and what rituals and traditions are associated with her - read in the material.

What does her name mean and who is she

Scientists different countries tried to translate the word Baba Yaga, and as a result, they did not come to a consensus. There were no discrepancies with the term baba, it is safe to say that this part of the name means a female person. And what about Yaga? For example, in the Komi language the word "yag" means forest. From Czech "jeze" is translated as an evil aunt. In Slovenian, "jeza" means anger, while Serbo-Croatian offers a variant of "jeza", which means horror. In Sanskrit, the word yaga comes from the root ah, which means to move. If we go back to the origins, then translated from the Proto-Slavic “ega” means horror, danger, and anger.

All variants, except, perhaps, Komi and Sanskrit, suggest something terrible, terrible, evil. However, this Baba Yaga was not always: initially this character was positive.

In pre-Christian Russia, Yaga was considered the most famous coastline, she kept the family and folk traditions. After Russia was baptized, belief in pagan gods began to be considered heresy, and for the most part they turned into malicious and terrible creatures. This fate did not pass and Baba Yaga, who became a nasty, angry and ugly old woman, whose appearance and behavior inspired fear.

Yaga - a guide to the afterlife

In many Russian fairy tales, the main character must get to Far Far Away in order to achieve his goal. And it is Baba Yaga who helps him in this. After the prince, the peasant, any other good fellow gets to the grandmother, he asks her for help in this. At first, Yaga refuses, intimidating the hero, showing him his terrible dwelling, talking about his nightmarish deeds and about what suffering he will have to endure. But then he changes his anger to mercy and starts heating the bathhouse, where the guest carefully soars. This is nothing more than a ritual bath.

Then comes the time for treats, and this moment can also be considered as a kind of rite, the so-called mortuary dinner, designed to penetrate into the sinister realm of the dead. It turns out that the hero is alive, but after all the rituals, he is in a strange position, between the living and the dead, which later transformed into the saying "neither alive nor dead."

But after that, he easily falls into the desired kingdom, fulfills his mission there and wins.

Yaga healer and healer

Baba Yaga knows how to prepare a variety of potions, love potions, tinctures, she dries roots and herbs, in general, fully corresponds to the image of a healer. In ancient times, people who knew how to use the gifts of nature and achieve the desired results with the help of herbal remedies were most often feared, but at the same time revered. Once again they were not contacted, they were contacted only when there was a strong need for it.

Many healers really lived very secluded, often settled in the forest. This is understandable - it was more convenient to find the right herbs there and no one could interfere with the process of preparing medicines.

In old fairy tales, it is often mentioned that Baba Yaga roasts babies in the oven, putting them there on a shovel. But, if we recall the ritual of "baking" babies who were sick with rickets, then everything will become clear. The baby was wrapped in a kind of sheet of dough, laid on a shovel for bread and put into a warm heated oven several times. After that, the child was swaddled, the used dough was thrown out into the yard, where it (according to legends - along with the disease) was eaten by dogs.

Sinister attributes and contradictions

Baba Yaga lives, as every child knows today according to fairy tales, in a house on chicken legs. Why does this granny live in such a dwelling? The answer may be related to the fact that in ancient times it was customary for the Slavs to build original crypts for the dead, which were small buildings on high piles. Such houses were placed on the edge of the forest. There is an assumption that this is why Baba Yaga lives in a kind of house for the dead, and her hut can be considered as transshipment point between life and death.

Protecting her home, she erects a fence of bones, decorated with skulls. This character moves in a mortar, while during the flight he uses a broom to cover his tracks. The stupa looks like an oak log, and in the old days they kept the dead in it. Consequently, Baba Yaga is essentially rushing through the air in a coffin, in an oak mortar. This old woman has the talent of a sorceress, she is able to easily cause damage. Yaga is entertained by the fact that by cunning he lures people into his house, most often young men or children, in order to fry them in his huge oven and eat them.

Indeed, scary. Despite this, if we recall Russian folk tales, it is unlikely that at least one will come to mind in which Baba Yaga carried out her threats. On the contrary, the heroes, getting to the old woman's house, take a steam bath, eat deliciously, sleep sweetly, and then they also receive guidance, advice and gifts. They are offered valuable unusual items, for example, a flying carpet, gusli-samogudy, boots-walkers. With their help, the guest of Baba Yaga receives a special power, becomes practically invulnerable, which helps him to carry out his plans. Baba Yaga seems to endow the main character with special abilities, helping him defeat evil and achieve his goal. From an evil old woman, a kidnapper and a hooligan, Yaga returns to her original image - albeit a grouchy and absurd, but a kind woman-keeper.

If we analyze folk tales, then Yaga seems to be not just an evil old woman who knows how to conjure. She is something else, able to modify time and space, possessing divine power.

MBOU "Secondary school No. 15"

urban district city of Salavat

Research work

Baba Yaga: good or evil?

(the image of Baba Yaga in Russian folk tales)

5th grade student

Scientific adviser:

Davletbaeva Olga Vasilievna,

teacher of Russian language and literature

higher qualification category

Salavat 2014

Table of contents:

n\n

Content

Page

Introduction

Main part Section 1. General view about Baba Yaga

Section 4. "Portrait" of Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga - Goddess?

Baba Yaga - a guide to the afterlife?

Conclusion

List of used literature

Application

Introduction

“Baba Yaga is a kind of witch, an evil spirit, under the guise of an ugly old woman. V. Dahl.

“Baba Yaga - positive
character of ancient Russian mythology. V. A. Ivanov

Often, inattentive reading of fairy tales makes it difficult to correctly understand the image of the most popular character in Russian folk tales - Baba Yaga. Someone considers her villain, and someone, on the contrary, a good helper. What it really is, we have to find out.

Relevance. Fairy tales are beautiful works of art. Our memory is inseparable from them. Russian fairy tale has created an intricate world. Everything in it is unusual: the ax itself cuts the forest, the stove talks, the apple tree covers with its branches the children running from the swan geese sent by Yaga.

In almost all fairy tales, one of the heroes is Baba Yaga. What is in this dashing creature that frightens, and at the same time attracts, attracts in fairy tales. folk wisdom says: "They meet by clothes, see off by mind." It is not the appearance and the impression made that are important in a person, but his character, abilities, knowledge. The principle of evaluating a person by clothing has been reflected in the cultural and ethnographic traditions of many peoples since ancient times. By the wealth and cut of clothes, the status of a person, his social status. Folk wisdom, however, has always distinguished this external form of evaluation from the substantive, universal one. In the rating scale, the mind occupies the “top” position and therefore, as a result, a person is judged in all social strata primarily for the mind, which is known when business communication with him. We know that the positive characters of folk tales are not always attractive in appearance (“The Frog Princess”), but the people appreciate them for their diligence, affection, and ability to come to the rescue. The most controversial image of Russian folk tales is Baba Yaga.

That's why I chose research topic : "The image of Baba Yaga in Russian folk tales"

C research area: analyze the image of Baba Yaga in Russian folk tales and draw a conclusion about its essence.

Research objectives:

Learn from

additional literature about Baba Yaga.

Conduct a survey on the topic of work among students.

Analyze the image of Baba Yaga and draw conclusions.

Object of study - the image of Baba Yaga.

Subject of study - Russian folk tales.

Hypothesis. Suppose that Baba Yaga is a fictional character in Russian folk tales, personifying evil in fairy tales.

Research methods : Reflections, reading books, survey, analysis of results.

Research material the texts of the fairy tales of A.N. Afanasyev served.

Practical significance of the study : This material can be used in literature lessons, when conducting class hours and quizzes.

Main part

Section 1. General idea of Baba Yaga.

Starting point Our study was a written survey in grades 1,5,7 of our school (141 students in total). We asked the guys a question regarding the role of Yaga in folk tales: “Why is Baba Yaga needed in a Russian folk tale?” The following responses were received:

To scare naughty children - 13%;

For magic - 15%;

There was someone to fight with - 8%;

Help the hero - 16%;

Helps to get into the fairy-tale world - 4%;

interesting, fun with her - 44%.

As you can see, the answers of the respondents showed, firstly, the variety of Yagi functions in the fairy-tale world and, secondly, the obvious interest of students in this fairy-tale character.

Section 2. Where did Baba Yaga come from?

Why was Baba Yaga called Yaga?

Let us first try to answer the question: who is fabulous Baba Yaga? This is an old evil witch who lives in a deep forest in a hut on chicken legs, flies in a mortar, chasing her with a pestle and covering her trail with a broom. He likes to feast on human flesh - small children and good fellows. However, in some fairy tales, Baba Yaga is not at all evil: she helps the good fellow by giving him something magical or showing the way to him.

Here is such a controversial old woman. On the question of how Baba Yaga got into Russian fairy tales, and why she is called that, researchers have not yet come to a common opinion. We found the most popular versions in different sources.

According to one of them, Baba Yaga is a guide to the other world - the world of ancestors. She lives somewhere on the border of the worlds of the living and the dead, somewhere in " distant kingdom"And the famous hut on chicken legs is, as it were, a gateway to this world; therefore, it is impossible to enter it until it turns its back to the forest. Yes, Baba Yaga herself is a living dead man. Such details speak in favor of this hypothesis. "Firstly, her dwelling is a hut on chicken legs. Why exactly on legs, and even "chicken ones"? It is believed that "chickens" are modified over time," chicken ", that is, fumigated with smoke. The ancient Slavs had such a custom of burial of the dead: a "hut of death" was placed on pillars fumigated with smoke, in which the ashes of the deceased were placed. Such a funeral rite existed among the ancient Slavs in the 6th-9th centuries. Perhaps the hut on chicken legs indicates another custom of the ancients - to bury the dead in domina - special houses , placed on high stumps.In such stumps, the roots come out and really look something like chicken legs.

Yes, and Baba Yaga herself - shaggy (and braids in those days were untwisted only to dead women), blind-sighted, with a bone leg, a hooked nose (“nose has grown into the ceiling”) - a real evil spirits, a living dead. The bone leg, perhaps, reminds us that the dead were buried with their feet towards the exit of the domino, and if one looked into it, one could see only their feet.

*Nicholas Roerich "Death Hut" (1905)

That is why Baba Yaga was often used to frighten children - just as they were frightened by the dead. But, on the other hand, in ancient times, the ancestors were treated with respect, reverence and fear; and, although they tried not to disturb them over trifles, as they were afraid of bringing trouble on themselves, in difficult situations they still turned to them for help. In the same way, Ivan Tsarevich turns to Baba Yaga for help when he needs to defeat Kashchei or the Serpent Gorynych, and she gives him a magical guide ball and tells how to defeat the enemy.

According to another version, the prototype of Baba Yaga is witches, healers who treated people. Often these were unsociable women who lived far from the settlements, in the forest. Many scientists deduce the word "Yaga" from the Old Russian word "yazya" ("yaz"), meaning "weakness", "illness" and gradually fell into disuse after the 11th century. The passion of Baba Yaga to fry children in the oven on a shovel is very reminiscent of the so-called rite of "baking", or "baking", babies with rickets or atrophy: the child was wrapped in a "diaper" of dough, laid on

* Actor Georgy Millyar incomparably played the role of Baba Yaga in many films-tales of Alexander Row. He himself invented the image of his Baba Yaga - a dirty, shapeless rag wrapped around his torso and head, dirty gray hair, a large hooked nose with warts, protruding fangs, insanely gleaming eyes, a croaking voice. Millyar's Baba Yaga turned out to be not just scary, but creepy: many small children were seriously frightened when watching the film.

on a wooden bread shovel and stuck into a hot oven three times. Then the child was unrolled, and the dough was given to the dogs to eat. According to other versions, the dog (puppy) was put into the oven along with the child, so that the illness passed to him.

And it really helped a lot! Only in fairy tales this rite changed sign from "plus" (treatment of the child) to "minus" (the child is fried to eat). It is assumed that this happened already in those times when Christianity began to take hold in Russia, and when everything pagan was actively eradicated. But, apparently, Christianity still could not completely defeat Baba Yaga - the heiress of folk healers: remember, did Baba Yaga manage to fry someone in at least one fairy tale? No, she only wants to do it.

They also derive the word "yaga" from "yagat" - to shout, putting all their strength into their cry. Giving birth was taught to women giving birth by midwives, witches. But also "yagat" meant "shouting" in the sense of "swearing", swearing. Yaga is also derived from the word "yagaya", which has two meanings: "evil" and "sick". By the way, in some Slavic languages, "yagaya" means a person with a sore leg (remember Baba Yaga's bone leg?) Perhaps Baba Yaga absorbed some or even all of these meanings.

Supporters of the third version see in Baba Yaga the Great Mother - the great powerful goddess, the foremother of all living things ("Baba" is the mother in ancient Slavic culture, main woman) or a great wise priestess. In the days of hunting tribes, such a priestess-sorceress disposed of the most important rite - the ceremony of initiation of young men, that is, their initiation into full members of the community. This rite meant the symbolic death of a child and the birth of an adult man, initiated into the secrets of the tribe, who has the right to marry. The rite consisted in the fact that teenage boys were taken into the depths of the forest, where they were trained to become a real hunter. The rite of initiation included the imitation (performance) of "devouring" the young man by the monster and the subsequent "resurrection". It was accompanied by bodily torture and injuries. Therefore, the initiation rite was feared, especially by boys and their mothers. What does the fabulous Baba Yaga do? She kidnaps children and takes them to the forest (a symbol of the initiation ceremony), roasts them (symbolically devours), and also gives helpful tips survivor, i.e. passed the test.

As agriculture developed, the initiation rite became a thing of the past. But his fear remained. So the image of a witch who performed important rituals was transformed into the image of a shaggy, terrible, bloodthirsty witch who kidnaps children and eats them - not symbolically at all. This was also helped by Christianity, which, as we indicated above, fought pagan beliefs and represented pagan gods as demons and witches.

There are other versions, according to which Baba Yaga came to Russian fairy tales from India ("Baba Yaga" - "yoga mentor"), from Central Africa (stories of Russian sailors about an African tribe of cannibals - Yaggas, led by a female queen). .. But we will stop there. It is enough to understand that Baba Yaga is a multi-faceted fairy-tale character who has absorbed many symbols and myths of the past.

Section 3. Habitats of Baba Yaga

Folklore researchers disagreed about the interpretation of Baba Yaga's place of residence. So V.Ya. Propp in his book "The Historical Roots of a Fairy Tale" notes that "the fairy tale forest, on the one hand, reflects memories of the forest as a place where the ceremony was held, on the other, as an entrance to the realm of the dead." In many Russian fairy tales, Baba Yaga's place of residence is considered to be the bank of the Smorodina River, across which the Kalinov Bridge is thrown. The Smorodina River in Slavic mythology is the border between the world of the living and the dead.

The dwelling of Baba Yaga is a hut on chicken legs. It is modeled on the image of the burial house of the Slavs, who were installed on large stumps with roots resembling chicken paws. Thus, the hut on chicken legs is the place of transition from the world of the living to the world of the dead. This is also evidenced by the fact that the hut is moving. And consequently, Baba Yaga was set up to guard the border between the worlds.

The hut of Baba Yaga stands in the thicket of the forest or on the edge. It is always turned towards the forest - the world of "dark forces". To get into the hut, you need to turn it “backward to the forest - frontward to yourself, i.e. turn to the world of the living. A hut without windows, without doors: like any burial, they are not needed. The legs are just “chickens”. "Kur" - a rooster - has been a symbol of time since ancient times, and it is closely connected with eternity.

Around the hut there is a fence made of human bones. Skulls are stuck on the poles, the eye sockets of which glow at night and illuminate the entire clearing.

According to fairy tales, Baba Yaga lives in a dense and impenetrable forest thicket, in a hut on chicken legs, around the hut there is a fence made of human bones, and on the fence instead of pots there are skulls, instead of bolts - a leg, instead of constipation - hands.

Maryushka went out into the clearing, and in the clearing there was a hut on chicken legs, around a tyn, and horse skulls on stakes. (“Finist is a clear falcon”);

She ran - there is a hut on chicken legs, she stands - turns("Swan geese").

P
Why is Baba Yaga's hut "on chicken legs"?

Consider several versions of the appearance of the hut:

1. Baba Yaga is an ancient image of death (dead person). In ancient times, there was a custom to bury the dead on mounds (on hills). Baba Yaga's hut also stands high above the ground - "on chicken legs". In ancient times, the dead were buried in dominoes - houses located above the ground on very high stumps with roots looking out from under the ground, similar to chicken legs. People believed that the dead were flying on coffins. The dead were buried with their feet towards the exit, and if you looked into the domino, you could only see their legs - hence the expression "Baba Yaga is a bone leg."

2. The mysterious hut on chicken legs is nothing more than a "storage" or "chamya" widely known in the North - a type of outbuilding on high smooth pillars designed to protect gear and supplies from mice and predators. Sheds are always placed “back to the forest, to the traveler in front”, so that the entrance to it is from the side of the river or path.

3. “Baba Yaga is lying on the stove with a bone leg, from corner to corner, his nose has grown into the ceiling and Baba Yaga is lying, in one corner of the leg, in the other another.” What kind of hut is this, in which a person can barely fit and, moreover, lying down? Could it be a coffin? Everything shows that Baba Yaga is a dead woman. She lives in a hut on chicken legs. Previously, the Slavs had a custom: after the death of a person, when the soul had not yet decided, it needed to determine a home. To do this, they made a ritual doll, a house for her was placed on a felled tree. Here is a hut on chicken legs. The doll occupied almost the entire house; maybe that's why the hut in fairy tales is always small for Baba Yaga?

Section 4. "Portrait" of Baba Yaga

In order to find out what kind of Baba Yaga our peers represent, I conducted a survey. I interviewed 47 people (100%). According to the results of the survey, I found out that 81% believe that Baba Yaga is evil, and 19% are kind. All the guys (100%) represent Baba Yaga as an old woman, while 85% describe her as an old woman in rags, 8% are dirty and unwashed, 4% present her with a hump, 3% represent Baba Yaga as a warrior. I asked a question about the vehicle of this heroine and found out that 97% of the guys believe that Baba Yaga flies on a broomstick, while 53% say that she also uses a stupa. There were also original answers: 3% believe that Baba Yaga flies in a bucket, 2% - in a basket.

For a more detailed study of the image of Baba Yaga, I turned to the collection "Folk Russian Tales" edited by A.N. Afanasiev.

I studied 80 fairy tales, and only in 10 fairy tales did I find the presence of Baba Yaga.

Baba Yaga appears before us in the form of a toothless old woman ("The Enchanted Queen"). She is so terrible that Afanasyev calls her face - “veined muzzle” (“Geese-swans”). Speaking about the figure, it should be noted the absence of a hump. However, she has certain problems with her legs: in the fairy tale “Geese-Swans” a “clay foot” is mentioned, in the fairy tale “Baba Yaga” - a bone one, in the fairy tale “Ivan Tsarevich and Bely Polyanin” - a golden one. Due to the fact that the grandmother has problems with her legs, in all the above-mentioned tales she uses such vehicles as a mortar, which she “drives with a pusher, sweeps the trail with a broom”, in the fairy tale “Marya Morevna”, Baba Yaga “jumps on an iron mortar” .

I came to the conclusion that the appearance (portrait) of Baba Yaga is practically not described anywhere. She is always in action - she flies on a mortar, shouts at her servants, catches up with the heroes. And judging by her actions, she is not a weak and infirm old woman, but rather energetic, strong and strong-willed. She has a good and healthy appetite: "eats for ten."

Section 5. The main images of Baba Yaga

I researched several fairy tales in which Baba Yaga is present and found the following:

1) Baba Yaga - Goddess?

Baba Yaga is an echo of that distant past, when women ruled the world, and it was called Matriarchy. She is the mistress of natural phenomena, as well as birds and animals. Perhaps it reflected the image of the Great Goddess, the Mother Goddess, the creator of our world. But, since with the departure of matriarchal relations, men took everything into their own hands, they reduced almost all female images and made them secondary, and sometimes simply forgot about them. So, only an old, wrinkled, bony shell remained from the beautiful Ancestral Woman. But the spirit in her is still alive, and she has not lost her magical knowledge. And the fact that Baba Yaga is represented in different ways may also be connected with the ancient image of the Goddess. She is, as it were, triune, that is, one in three persons. She is the Warrior, and the Giver, and Poh reader. She is both the Creator and the Destroyer. And each "role" of Baba Yaga corresponds to a certain age and function.

The first "role" of Baba Yaga - Warrior , this is a young girl whose blood plays, she thinks about the struggle and victory, the area of \u200b\u200bher universe is Heaven, that is, she is a Goddess. In fairy tales, she appears as a heroic girl (Sineglazka), or a daughter, the niece of the old Baba Yaga (that is, the young Baba Yaga).

AT most of the tales as presented by A.N. Afanasyeva Baba Yaga is a militant character. So in the fairy tales "Baba Yaga", "Marya Morevna" she pursues the heroes. In the fairy tales "Baba Yaga and Zamoryshek" (this fairy tale is in the editions of 1958, 1979), "Tereshechka" (in the fairy tale "Tereshechka" Yaga appears in the form of the Chuvilikha witch), she tries to kill the main character. But most clearly her militant character is revealed in the fairy tale "Ivan Tsarevich and Bely Polyanin". It is in this tale that the features of the heroine Svyatogorka (Buri-Yaga) - the heroine of Slavic myths - can be traced. In the fairy tale “Ivan Tsarevich and the White Polyanin”, Bely Polyanin “fights with Baba Yaga with a golden foot for thirty years” for his beautiful daughter. In this tale, against the Bely Polyanin, Baba Yaga “puts up an army-force innumerable” in defense of her property and her beautiful daughter.

AT the second "role" of Baba Yaga "- the Giver and Redeemer from trouble . "Baba Yaga - the giver" sounds very warm and kind. However, in the tales from the collection of A.N. She brings Afanasyev's gifts to the main characters not at all from a pure heart. In the fairy tale “Vasilisa the Beautiful”, she “presents” a skull with burning eyes as a gift to Vasilisa only because she learns about the amulet that the girl has, and therefore, because of this amulet, she tries to get rid of her as quickly as possible. In other tales, Baba Yaga is not going to give anything to anyone at all, she is simply deceived or robbed while sleeping (“Marya Morevna”, “Baba Yaga”).

In the collection of A.N. Afanasiev, there were also such tales where Baba Yaga is a positive hero and acts as a mentor. So in the fairy tales “Go there - I don’t know where ...”, “The Frog Princess”, “The Enchanted Queen”, she helps the main character, shows him the way, but does not give anything. There are also fairy tales where Baba Yaga is not alone: she has daughters (“Go there, I don’t know where ...”, “Ivan the Tsarevich and Bely Polyanin”) whom she takes care of, sisters (“The Frog Princess”, “Enchanted queen").

AT
In these tales, Baba Yaga is already an adult woman who has received certain life and magical experience, and has entered the time of childbearing, fertility (for the earth). Her habitat is Earth. She is also a Goddess, but closer to people, their problems and aspirations. This image can be subdivided into several more:

I
ha-adviser (Yaga herself does nothing for the hero, but indicates who to turn to for help, for example, to her older sister). We have already read about such a Baba Yaga in the fairy tale about Sineglazka - the Bogatyrka. More precisely, this tale is called "About rejuvenating apples and living water."

Guardian Yaga, patroness (following with the help of her magical assistants (owls, saucers, etc.) the adventures of the hero).

In a fairy tale"Vasilisa the Beautiful" the girl was left without a mother. The evil stepmother decided to kill her. Then the stepmother Vasilisa sent to Baba Yaga for fire for the torch. Baba Yaga tests the heroine, makes her work for herself, asks questions, but also saves the heroine from evil relatives ov. That is, she acts again as a giver.

In a fairy tale "King Maiden" Ivan fell in love with the girl, but the evil stepmother and the uncle did not allow him to communicate with her. Then the Maiden wrote a letter to Ivan, in which she exposed all the evil deeds of his relatives, and asked Ivan to look for her far away. And so Ivan went to look for her ... In this tale, Baba Yaga is not only the Giver, but also the Eater, a lover of raw meat.

But in a fairy tale "Enchanted Queen" Baba Yaga is not one, but there are three of them (repeating the same action three times enhances its significance). She acts here as the mistress of natural forces.

And the third "role" of Baba Yaga - the Kidnapper. It is believed that this is one of the most common images of Baba Yaga. However, we were able to find A.N. Afanasiev, there are only two such tales. So in the fairy tale "Tereshechka", where she appears in the form of the Chuvilikha witch, Yaga kidnaps the boy: "She grabbed him and into the sack, and rushed ..." And in one of the most famous fairy tales“Swan Geese” she makes the children of her pets engage in theft: “Geese swans have long gained a bad reputation for themselves, they stole a lot and stole small children.”

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then an old woman, close to death, and therefore to the afterlife. She is already a master in witchcraft and magic, she can command the forces of nature, animals, forest creatures, and has power over them. And kidnapping (to eat) young people, children, she, as it were, sacrifices them to herself in order to prolong her existence even for a little while.

AT fairy tale " Swan geese" Baba Yaga appears as a kidnapper and the Eater of children, which is served by birds (swan geese). Children are saved from her house, thanks to magical helpers.

There is another tale in which Baba Yaga appears in the same form. This is a fairytale"Baba Yaga and Zhikhar". Zhihar is a spirit that lives in a human dwelling; brownie; little fairy man. Here it is presented in the form of a "little brother" who sometimes disobeys his elders and gets into trouble.

2) Is Baba Yaga a guide to the afterlife?

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aba-yaga lives in the Hut on chicken legs, which is somewhat reminiscent of a coffin. And she herself is a guide to the world of the dead. Her notorious Bone Leg can also be a sign that she is half a corpse herself (since only one leg is ossified). And some fairy tales, in general, call Baba Yaga one-legged - "Oh, you, Grandmother Yaga, you have one leg!", - the hero of the fairy tale "Ivan Tsarevich and the hero Sineglazka" addresses Yaga. In the fairy tale "Vanyusha the Fool" Baba Yaga comes to three brothers who are located in the forest, and "jumps around them on one leg." But much more common in fairy tales is not a one-legged, but a bone-legged Baba Yaga. It is this, not entirely alive, old woman who can give the hero permission, as well as a magical item that will lead him to the afterlife (the Thirtieth Kingdom). Her hut has chicken legs, and the Chicken in Slavic mythology was a symbol of female fertility. And the hut seems to be able to hear. After all, on Ivan's spell, she really turns to him in front, that is, the door. These qualities can say that both the hut itself and its mistress are related to the Animal magical world, and are guides to another world. It doesn't have to be the underworld. He's just different. It can also be an imaginary world, getting into which the Hero begins to show more clearly the qualities that he was embarrassed in ordinary life (politeness, tolerance, mercy to others, etc.) Baba Yaga gives him a kind of setting for victory, for future happiness . And although she looks unsightly, even scary, her actions almost always run counter to the external impression. Maybe the saying “Do not drink water from your face” is right. Even a beautiful princess with a beautiful appearance can do something nasty, and a terrible old woman, if you treat her like a human being, kindly, will give the last magic item so that only Ivan finds his Happiness and Love.

At the same time, the image of the half-dead Old Woman is also associated with the rite of Initiation, Initiation, which in those ancient times was passed by all men, and possibly women. This rite meant that a person becomes an adult, a warrior, a hunter, and can also create his own family and continue the family line. It was a secret ceremony. Until now, we don’t really know what happened there, we can only guess (largely thanks to fairy tales)

P Rohod rite of initiation in several stages. Basically there were three of them: temporary death, communion (initiation to the totem) and rebirth or transformation. As I understand it, the meaning of this rite is in many ways similar to Christian baptism, or any other initiation into a sect or community. Immersion in water symbolizes death, and emerging - rebirth, a pure life without sins. So those who went through the initiation ceremony had to go through an imaginary, symbolic death, and then, through familiarization with a certain generic totem animal, join animal magic, learn to understand the language of animals and birds, acquire power over animals, and also be able to influence on the weather. I believe all initiates became Mages and Wizards.

The fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful", which we have already mentioned today, describes the rite of initiation. The girl is sent to Baba Yaga for fire, hoping that she will eat her, that is, she is sent to death, to death. This is the first step of the ceremony. The second step is the girl's entry into the house of Baba Yaga and her trials, which can be compared with communion. And the third step is to free the girl and give her magical abilities (a skull that kills with fire)

Section 6. Generalized image of Baba Yaga

AT As a result of the research, I developed my own image of Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga is a lonely old woman who lives far from people. She is toothless, with a "veiny face" and unsightly appearance. Instead of one leg - a prosthesis (bone, clay, gold). She moves in a mortar with the help of a pusher and a broom. Grandmother has a bad temper, she is rude, lazy, slovenly, greedy, suspicious, aggressive cannibal, ready to take up arms at any time. Most likely, she became so not of her own free will, but from a hard life alone, without a family. But goodness still slumbers deep in her soul and sometimes wakes up. At these moments, Baba Yaga happily helps the protagonist to get out of a confusing situation, shows the way, tells how to defeat the enemy.

Thus, in the tales I read, Baba Yaga appears as an old, toothless woman, she has a long nose. Baba Yaga lives in the forest, in a hut on chicken legs, which turns its back to the forest, and to the stranger in front; the fence around the hut is made of human bones, on the fence there are skulls, instead of doors - legs, instead of locks - hands, instead of a lock - a mouth with sharp teeth. Heroes address Baba Yaga affectionately - "grandmother". Baba Yaga helps heroes who deserve it, although she cannot stand the Russian spirit.

In 6 tales out of 11, Baba Yaga is a positive character, in 5 tales - a negative one. So, Baba Yaga cannot be considered only an evil and grumpy sorceress. Baba Yaga has magical things, various animals serve her. Chasing fairytale heroes running away from her, she chases after them like a black cloud. In two tales, Baba Yaga dies: in one, she fell into a fiery river from a bridge (“Marya Morevna”), in another, Ivan Tsarevich cuts off her head (“Ivan Tsarevich and Bely Polyanin”). In three tales Baba Yaga has sisters, in one tale even children (41 daughters). This tale is unusual in that Baba Yaga does not live in a hut on chicken legs, but in white-stone chambers. Baba Yaga knows the future, has countless treasures, secret knowledge. Baba Yaga is the owner of fire (“Vasilisa the Beautiful”), magical things, knowledge that helps the protagonist defeat his opponent (“The Frog Princess”).

Conclusion

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This study has shown that Baba Yaga is a fictional character with several prototypes. Therefore, the essence of Baba Yaga is ambiguous.

On the example of fairy tales from the collection of A.N. Afanasyev, we created a generalized image of Baba Yaga in order to draw students' attention to folklore and show the need for a more careful reading of Russian folk tales.

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To do this, the fifth-graders of our school were asked to answer a number of questions. The survey participants unanimously answered that Baba Yaga is an old woman. At the same time, 93% consider her a negative character, and only 7% - positive.

I studied the historical origins of the image of Baba Yaga and analyzed the features of the image of this character in fairy tales from the collection of A.N. Afanasiev.

As a result, I was able to combine the features of Baba Yaga from various Russian folk tales, create a generalized image and find the features of this character (see the table in the appendix). It turned out that Baba Yaga in many fairy tales is a positive character.

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Despite all the negative qualities, Baba Yaga still remains one of the most beloved and popular heroes of Russian folk tales, as any person tries to find a grain of beauty even in the most ugly creature.

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aba yaga, perhaps one of the oldest fairy tale characters who came to fairy tales from the depths of centuries - from Slavic myths. And myths are nothing more than the idea of ancient people about the origin of the world, its structure and the place of man in the system of the universe. The image of Baba Yaga is very interesting. On the one hand, all children are afraid of her, and on the other hand, in fairy tales, it is she who helps the main character in difficult times. Acquaintance with Yaga usually takes place in her house or somewhere in the forest, not far from the hut itself. The hut is located on the edge of the forest, which symbolizes the border of the worlds, and Yaga herself, living on this border, acts as a kind of conductor between the worlds. While there, she maintains a balance between good and evil. Nevertheless, in any fairy tale, Baba Yaga plays an important role. Exclude it from the story, and the main character will never be able to win: he will either not get the sword he needs - a treasurer, walking boots, a carpet - an airplane, a harp - samogudy, or he will not receive parting words where to look and where to go, but in the end , will certainly turn out to be hungry and dirty, since this old woman will certainly feed him from the beginning, give him water and soar in the bathhouse, and only then does everything else. Thus, without her, nowhere and, probably, she is not so scary ... The image of Baba Yaga is very widely represented not only in books, but also in films, animation and music. We will not even try to list all the mentions of it. After all, such a task is not yet within the power of scientists who have been studying this old woman for many decades. We only note that in the cinema the role of Baba Yaga was most effectively played by Georgy Millyar in the films “Frost”, “Vasilisa the Beautiful”, “Fire, Water and ... Copper Pipes”, “Golden Horns” and Tatyana Peltzer in the film “There, on the Unknown paths...". We can see what different images this hero of fairy tales has ...

long term plan: In the future, I want to study the mythical image in more detail and analyze the influence of history on the development of the image. It will also be interesting for me to read and analyze the tales of the peoples of the world, where there is a character similar to the Russian Baba Yaga.

List of used literature:

Asov A.I. The sword of Svarog. Myths of the Slavs, told for children / A.I. Asov. – M.: AST: Polygraphizdat, 2010. – 288 p.

Zabylin M../M. Zabylin. - M .: Edition of the bookseller M. Berezin, 1880. - 607 p.

Folk Russian Tales: From the collection of A.N. Afanasiev. - M .: Fiction, 1979. – 348 p.

/ V.Ya. Propp. – M.: Labyrinth, 2000. – 336 p.

Big book of Russian folk tales . M .: Planet of childhood, 2003.

Internet sources:

1.http://www.yaga.ru/rus/r_events_obj.html?71

2. http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki

3. http://images.yandex.ru/images.html

4. http://www.babybiog.ru/community/post/

5. http://www.fanbio.ru/mif/83-2010-05-16-00-57-36.html

APPENDIX. Table. The image of Baba Yaga in Russian folk tales

Name of the fairy tale

Habitat of Baba Yaga

Appearance

Magical things in fairy tales and other miracles

Animals serving Baba Yaga

positive or negative character

"Swan geese"

“... there is a hut on a chicken leg, about one window, it turns around itself ...”

"... the muzzle is sinewy, the leg is clay"

golden apples

Mouse, swan geese

Negative because he kidnaps children to eat

"Princess Frog"

“There is a hut on chicken legs, it turns around itself”

"... the teeth are on the shelf, and the nose has grown into the ceiling"

Clew

Positive, as it gives advice on how to defeat the enemy (Koshchei)

"Baba Yaga"

“There is a hut in the forest, and Baba Yaga sits in it”

Baba Yaga - bone leg

Scallop, towel

Cat, dogs, bulls

Negative because I wanted to eat the girl

"Baba Yaga and Zamoryshek"

“Third nine lands on a steep mountain stand white-stone chambers, surrounded by a high wall, iron pillars are placed at the gates”

Baba Yaga - bone leg (has 41 daughters)

Magic handkerchief, fire shield

Negative because I wanted to kill all the brothers

"Vasilisa the Beautiful"

“In the dense forest, the hut of Yagi-Baba; a fence around the hut made of human bones, human skulls with eyes stick out on the fence; instead of doors at the gate - human legs, instead of constipation - hands, instead of a lock - a mouth with sharp teeth "

“He rides in a mortar, drives with a pestle, sweeps the trail with a broom”

chrysalis;

three riders (white, red, black);

three pairs of hands

Positive, as she helped Vasilisa by giving her fire (a skull with burning eyes)

"Maria Morevna"

"Far distant lands, in the kingdom of the thirtieth, beyond the fiery river stands the house of Baba Yaga, around the house there are twelve poles, on eleven poles on a human head, only one is unoccupied"

“He jumps at full speed on an iron mortar, drives with a pestle, sweeps the trail with a broom”

Magic Handkerchief

Magic horses

Negative, because she wanted to kill Ivan Tsarevich

"Ivan Tsarevich and Bely Polyanin"

“She ran to a deep abyss, picked up a cast-iron board and hid under the ground”

Baba Yaga - golden leg

Magic needle, awl

Negative, as she fought with the heroes

"Go there - I don't know where, bring that - I don't know what"

A hut on chicken legs

A gray-haired old woman sits, spinning a tow

Magic ball, club, ax, pipe.

Swat Naum

Frog

Positive, because she helped Andrey the shooter

"The Enchanted Princess"

Three Baba Yagas. At the eldest “there is a hut, and then ... one pitch darkness, nothing to be seen ...”

Baba Yaga - bone leg, old, toothless

Flying carpet, walking boots, invisibility cap

Positive, because she helped find the princess

"Finist - a clear falcon"

Three Baba Yagas.
"There is a hut on chicken legs - spinning"

Legs from corner to corner, lips in the garden, and the nose has grown to the ceiling. The third is “black itself, and one fang sticks out in the mouth”

silver saucer and golden egg, silver hoop and gold needle,

silver bottom and golden spindle

Cat dog, Grey Wolf

Positive, since all three helped find Maryushka

"The Tale of Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water"

Three Baba Yagas (sisters).
"Hut on a chicken leg, about one window"

"... a silk tow is tossing, and throws threads through the beds"

Living water, rejuvenating apples

Magic horses

Positive, as she gave advice on how to find water and apples

Who really was Baba Yaga - a Slavic deity or evil spirits? Scientists have not yet been able to come to an unambiguous conclusion when answering this question. At the same time, next to these two statements, there is also a third one: Baba Yaga is also referred to as some special forces that maintain a connection between the worlds of the living and the dead.

What is curious about this is this: in Russian folklore, the image of Yaga was transformed over time: in the pre-Christian era of Russia, she was an unconditional positive character, speaking on the side of Good (the fairy tale "Morozko"), and a little later, just as unconditionally negative ("Geese-swans", "Tereshechka").

Oddly enough, but the change in attitude towards Baba Yaga, according to scientists, may be due to the gradual convergence of Russian culture with Western.

The real role of Baba Yaga, which few people know about

In pre-Christian Russia, in the villages, the most respected people were healers, sorcerers and witches (“knowledgeable” women - healing healers). They were treated as judges, doctors and even elders. And the authorities, as we know, need sacredness, which is achieved by a halo of mystery, magical grandeur and inaccessibility. Therefore, if the princes built themselves a tower with high fences, then the healers went to live in the forest, where at the same time it was easier to collect medicinal herbs, many of which are still the main ones for us in the category of traditional medicine.

They went into the forest, but, as you know, a person inherently does not tolerate loneliness, therefore healers and got themselves pets with whom they whiled away the time - only wolves and black cats have come down to us from folklore, but their diversity, most likely, was more. For a magical rapprochement with them, then illiterate people took the usual affection of owners and pets, which we can now see in every cat and dog owner.

And people went to such healers in the forest: for a medicinal potion or for conspiracies. Why for medicines is understandable, but why behind conspiracies? This question can easily be answered by the magazines on the relevant topics that are still published in large numbers. And now a certain number of people go to the grandmother-whisperer or healer, to find out everything about themselves and their relatives. And not only illiterate people walk, but also quite invested with power, influence and having a large number of of money. Remember Juna, in fact, she was a classic Baba Yaga.

People have always been greedy for predictions and "magic". This is what healers did with their magical rituals filled with mystery and symbolism.

Why did Baba Yaga put children in the oven?

It is curious, but according to the researchers, Yaga did not eat, did not fry them. She performed the ritual of “baking” the children. What is this rite?

In Ancient Russia, the stove has always been considered the heart of the house, and the hearth is a “sanctuary of perfect purity”, to which they prayed for mental and bodily health.

Then a ritual appeared, the meaning of which was to “bake” a premature, sick or weak child in a sacred fire. A woman used to put her sick child on a shovel, placing it in the oven three times, saying incantations. But not everyone could do it themselves, and therefore turned to healers.

By the way, we know from folklore that not only fire possessed a means of purification. In accordance with the fairy tale about the Little Humpbacked Horse, the same meaning was attached to boiling milk. Now remember what we give to children who have a cold.

Why did Baba Yaga live in a hut on chicken legs?

This also has an explanation. After the development of the North, the locals had a tradition to put mills on a special structure resembling a pillar. Due to this, the mill rotated after the wind. Does it look like a hut on a chicken leg? In addition, in Russia, the mill was often associated with evil spirits and secret forces.

The secret power of Baba Yaga

First of all, of course, this is her connection with the world of the dead.

Her hut stands “in front of the forest”, and among the ancient Slavs, the forest was considered a mysterious place where the souls of the dead go.

The hut on chicken legs of Baba Yaga is surrounded by a tyn with human skulls - symbols of death.

The bone (dead) leg of Baba Yaga can also serve as confirmation of her connection with death.

Yaga lies on the stove, occupying the entire hut - "his nose has grown into the ceiling." This suggests that the hut is nothing but her coffin.

However, under the world of the dead, our ancestors most likely meant the mental world, the world of the spirit and knowledge. That is, the same quackery and worldly wisdom.

Baba Yaga - on the side of Good or Evil?

According to folk legends, Yaga acts either as an assistant or as a villain. In some cases, he gives advice to the main character and gives him a magical item, and in the other, he builds all sorts of obstacles for the characters, kidnaps children, burning them in an oven. This duality of the image is understandable from some point of view: Christianity, which replaced the pagan gods, also supports the duality of some biblical images. Remember that according to Daniil Andreev's interpretation, Judas betrayed Christ because he loved him more than others?

But let's put all the features characteristic of Baba Yaga together:

She is a hermit who leads an ascetic life.

She had tamed animals (raven, wolf, cat, swan geese) that obeyed her will.

Yaga possessed knowledge known only to her, performed magical rites.

She helped the characters of fairy tales with advice, gave them the things they needed to achieve their goals.

She treated the adult characters kindly, but she put the children on a shovel and put them in the oven (why and why, we already know).

Putting it all together, can it now be unequivocally stated that Baba Yaga is an evil, negative character?

In the minds of the people, Yaga acted on the side of good, personified the spirit of wisdom, healing, and only in fairy tales did she go over to the side of evil.

Why did Baba Yaga become evil?

Most likely, this is due precisely to the struggle with the ancient Slavic beliefs, which was carried out after the Christianization of Russia. It is quite possible that the West also participated in the demonization of Baba Yaga during the numerous attempts of our rapprochement with him.

And the key here is the well-known expression “There is a Russian spirit, there smells of Russia”, which is used in an indisputable negative way.

And now let's remember which of our fellow citizens certainly uses the term "this country" when discussing Russia, who speaks of it exclusively in a negative way?

And here it is worth thinking about: could a Russian grandmother-healer who went to live in a Russian forest to help local residents, talk about Russia, not referring to her?

Agree, after all these arguments, the question arises: why did Baba Yaga have to be demonized so clearly?