{"id":6479,"date":"2012-03-01T01:10:37","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T06:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=6668"},"modified":"2012-02-26T16:58:32","modified_gmt":"2012-02-26T21:58:32","slug":"myths-and-legends-journeys-through-time-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2012\/03\/01\/myths-and-legends-journeys-through-time-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Myths and Legends: Journeys Through Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you’re ever in Russia, you might want to be a careful about going into the woods. Even for a <\/span><\/p>\n

little bit. Not only are there animals and weather conditions you would probably not want to <\/span><\/p>\n

deal with…as well as the chance of getting lost, but there’s also Baba Yaga. Who is Baba Yaga?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well..she’s a witch. A witch of Russian folklore actually. She’s not your typical witch fairy tale<\/span><\/p>\n

witch in that she flies on a broom and performs magic, spells and what else. Instead, Baba <\/span><\/p>\n

Yaga has two things.\u00a0 A moving, living house of which the feet are chicken legs, and a mortar <\/span><\/p>\n

and pestle which she mainly uses for travel. The stories vary on what her house looks like. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some say it has windows and a door, some say only a door, while other say no windows, no<\/span><\/p>\n

door, only a chimney though which she enters and exits. All stories agree though that the <\/span><\/p>\n

house is a log cabin that either moves around on chicken legs, is surrounded by a fence made<\/span><\/p>\n

out of the bones of her victims (often children) or both. Oh, it would seem that I forgot to<\/span><\/p>\n

mention that Baba Yaga was a cannibal. She was particularly fond of children and a good<\/span><\/p>\n

number of tales involve her seeking out children to eat. Whether or not she ever actually <\/span><\/p>\n

found any, depends on the story. Mostly she was used to teach a lesson of why a child should <\/span><\/p>\n

always behave. In a way you could say she was the Russian version of the Boogey Man. Quite <\/span><\/p>\n

often she fulfilled the role of a donor. In essence, she would help a hero or heroine with their <\/span><\/p>\n

journey but only if they did something for her in return…and quite often it was unpleasant. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes she was willing to help, sometimes she wasn’t. Like all beings of mythical nature, <\/span><\/p>\n

she could be tricked. Especially if one knew the phrase that got her house to show the front <\/span><\/p>\n

door. If a person uttered the phrase ”Turn your back to the forest, and your front to me.” then <\/span><\/p>\n

the house would turn around revealing it’s door to whomever spoke the phrase. In some <\/span><\/p>\n

stories Baba Yaga is accompanied by three riders. One rider dressed completely in <\/span><\/p>\n

white;white rider, white horse, white outfit. This rider represented Day. A second rider <\/span><\/p>\n

dressed completely in red; red rider, red horse, red outfit. This rider was the sun and a third <\/span><\/p>\n

rider who was dressed completely in black; black rider, black horse and black outfit. This rider <\/span><\/p>\n

was Night. Baba Yaga also has servants…but they’re invisible and inquiring about them would <\/span><\/p>\n

mostly likely get a person killed. Inquiring about the riders is alright though.\u00a0\u00a0 Baba Yaga’s <\/span><\/p>\n

main mode of transportation is a mortar and pestle. She travels in the mortar at great speeds, <\/span><\/p>\n

using\u00a0 the pestle as an oar to direct her. She also sweeps away her tracks with a broom made <\/span><\/p>\n

of silver birch, so she’s not exactly easy to find. People do come across her though. If they’re<\/span><\/p>\n

kind, good of heart and pure of spirit…she’s more likely to help. If they’re rude, mean and <\/span><\/p>\n

just generally unlikeable…she’s more likely to eat them.<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Baba_Yaga<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.oldrussia.net\/baba.html<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.pantheon.org\/articles\/b\/baba_yaga.html<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.pantheon.org\/areas\/featured\/witchcraft\/chapter-8.html<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re ever in Russia, you might want to be a careful about going into the woods. Even for a little bit. Not only are there animals and weather conditions you would probably not want to deal with…as well as the chance of getting lost, but there’s also Baba Yaga. Who is Baba Yaga? Well..she’s a witch. A witch of Russian folklore actually. She’s not your typical witch fairy tale witch in that she flies on a broom and performs magic, spells and what else. Instead, Baba Yaga has two things.\u00a0 A moving, living house of which the feet are chicken legs, and a mortar and pestle which she mainly uses for travel. The stories vary on what her house looks like. Some say it has windows and a door, some say only a door, while other say no windows, no door, only a chimney though which she enters and exits. All stories agree though that the house is a log cabin that either moves around on chicken legs, is surrounded by a fence made out of the bones of her victims (often children) or both. Oh, it would seem that I forgot to mention that Baba Yaga was a cannibal. She was particularly fond of children and a good number of tales involve her seeking out children to eat. Whether or not she ever actually found any, depends on the story. Mostly she was used to teach a lesson of why a child should always behave. In a way you could say she was the Russian version of the Boogey Man. Quite often she fulfilled the role of a donor. In essence, she would help a hero or heroine with their journey but only if they did something for her in return…and quite often it was unpleasant. Sometimes she was willing to help, sometimes she wasn’t. Like all beings of mythical nature, she could be tricked. Especially if one knew the phrase that got her house to show the front door. If a person uttered the phrase ”Turn your back to the forest, and your front to me.” then the house would turn around revealing it’s door to whomever spoke the phrase. In some stories Baba Yaga is accompanied by three riders. One rider dressed completely in white;white rider, white horse, white outfit. This rider represented Day. A second rider dressed completely in red; red rider, red horse, red outfit. This rider was the sun and a third rider who was dressed completely in black; black rider, black horse and black outfit. This rider was Night. Baba Yaga also has servants…but they’re invisible and inquiring about them would mostly likely get a person killed. Inquiring about the riders is alright though.\u00a0\u00a0 Baba Yaga’s main mode of transportation is a mortar and pestle. She travels in the mortar at great speeds, using\u00a0 the pestle as an oar to direct her. She also sweeps away her tracks with a broom made of silver birch, so she’s not exactly easy to find. People do come across her though. If they’re kind, good of heart and pure of spirit…she’s more likely to help. If they’re rude, mean and just generally unlikeable…she’s more likely to eat them. http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Baba_Yaga http:\/\/www.oldrussia.net\/baba.html http:\/\/www.pantheon.org\/articles\/b\/baba_yaga.html http:\/\/www.pantheon.org\/areas\/featured\/witchcraft\/chapter-8.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}