Baba Yaga is More Than a Witch

Atlas Obscura rolls out their annual series of spooky and supernatural stories for the month of October with a look at the legendary witch, Baba Yaga, in an excerpt from the new book Becoming Baba Yaga: Trickster, Feminist, and Witch of the Woods.

Baba Yaga is an old witch who lives in the woods of eastern Europe, according to tales told to scare children. She sweeps down and takes children who aren't good or don't obey their parents. But in her long folklore history, she's more than that. The earliest mention of Baba Yaga in text is from 1755, and lists her in a pantheon of deities, with no kinship to other deities. There are even older woodblocks that tell her story in pictures. The witch's purpose and characteristics vary somewhat from culture to culture, hinting that Baba Yaga goes further back in oral tradition than we know. She does have an origin story featuring the devil, but it was written in 1840. Even if it was based on older tales, Baba Yaga was around long before Christianity took over Europe. Baba Yaga may be a witch, but she has been a goddess and a sorceress, too. Read more about the ancient witch at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Ivan Bilibin)