BABA YAGA - RUSSIA’S BOGEYMAN
BABA YAGA IS A POWERFUL witch, keeper of mystic items, and summoner of several disembodied flying hands to do her bidding. She flies in a giant mortar and sweeps her tracks away with a broom. Her house walks on chicken legs and is entered by saying, “Turn your back to the woods and your front to me.”
Baba is short for Babushka, Russian for grandmother, sorcerer, or fortune-teller. Yaga is a negative term with no direct meaning.
She’s depicted as an individual or three separate women, similar to Macbeth’s Weird Sisters. She appears as a worn-out hag who sharpens her teeth to eat children.
Baba Yaga can smell nearby Russians and has traveled with three horsemen, representing the day, sun, and night, which symbolizes her control over natural elements.
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