Witches? Who are they really? Why do they have such a bad reputation? Do they really eat little children? 
Today we will look at one
stereotypical witch – Baba Yaga. Baba
Yaga lives in the forests of Russia. Her
home is a hut standing on chicken feet which kneel down when she is home making
it easy for her to exit and enter her home, and stand up when she is gone so
that no one else can enter. The hut has
the ability to turn 3600 in order to welcome her home. She has a cat and a dog. Her legs are bony, her teeth are iron. Supposedly she eats little children. She flies about in a magic mortar which she
steers with the pestle. She sweeps her
tracks away with her broom. So do NOT
venture out into the forest alone!
Where did my knowledge of
Baba Yaga come from? Jack and Jill magazine. Back in the 1950’s, the children’s magazine
ran a series on Baba Yaga which my mother read to my sisters and me. I was so fascinated by all the magical things
that Baba Yaga had in her life, they have stuck with me all these years.
I used this knowledge when
I was a librarian. We were not allowed
to tell witch stories for Halloween; so I got around that by using two books –
one with the fourth graders and one with the fifth graders to prove the need
for research even when writing and illustrating picture books.
The Widow’s Broom by Chris Van Allsburg was my choice for the fourth graders. We briefly discussed the witch trials in
Salem as background for the story. I
love Van Allsburg’s wordsmithing. If you've never read any of his books, do; they’re worth the effort.
Eric Kimmel’s Baba Yaga was my choice for the fifth
graders. Megan Lloyd is the illustrator
of this book. Ms Lloyd, I’m afraid, did
not do her research before making her illustrations. As you can see from the cover of the book,
Baba Yaga is flying on her broom and is perched precariously on a small mortar
while waving the pestle in her hand.
And, yes, she‘s pretty high off the ground. Yet when faced with a stream and a grove of
trees she cannot fly over them.
Inconsistencies. The house on
chicken legs has steps leading into it and therefore cannot kneel nor turn in
any direction without tearing them off.
Witches are not all
bad. Sometimes they just know more, and are
more in touch with nature than others; and long ago that was considered, by
some men, to be a bad thing. In some
places that is true today.
4 comments:
Hi there - I know not all witches are bad, yet when I hear the term, my mind automatically goes to the witch with the 'broom' for transportation. :)
@dino0726 from
FictionZeal - Impartial, Straighforward Fiction Book Reviews
Julie, the Saturday before last at the Stone Soup Storytelling Festival (Woodruff, SC), I had the honor to meet Baba Yaga in all of her wickedness through the voice of Donna Tillman, a younger storyteller (will graduate college next month). Wow! She told it with all the research needed and I am now a new fan of Russian folktales and of Donna Tillman. Thanks for bringing back a good (wickedly good) memory, Julie.
Hi Diane,
I think most people think of the witch on the broom, it's societal conditioning. :)
Sheila,
Oh I wish I could have heard her tell Baba Yaga! I have never actually told any of the Baba Yaga stories, I've just told about them.
Glad you had a wickedly good memory stirred up in your pot. :)
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