Who is Baba Yaga

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Baba Yaga is a famous Russian witch and one of integral characters of Slavic folklore. Traditionally she looks like an ugly old woman, which lives in a strange and mystic scare looking house which stands on chicken legs and is located in dark and dense Russian forest. She flies in a big mortar and except broom uses special wooden pestle to drive in the right direction.

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According to various Russian legends, fairy tales and stories of those, who claim to have seen Baba Yaga, she is a very ambiguous person. Depending on context she can help or spoil the life of people who find her. In one story she helps brave stranger – chevalier, called in Russian folklore Bogatyr’, find his fiancée or kill a dragon, in other story she may give him the wrong direction, make problems on his journey or even try to kill him (as usual to eat when he is sleeping).

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Baba Yaga is always surrounded with many interesting, funny facts and special items. For example she may have magic ball of threads which shows the way or self-organized table cloth which cooks dinner for everybody who carries her. She may have different legs, big ugly nose or wear untidy clothes. Testing visitors she may ask them tricky questions to decide what to do with them (weather to eat or to help). She may also ask to help her in one of her affaires. Baba Yaga is basically one of a fairy tale puzzles that should help main character obtain his goals. To Enter Baba Yagas mysterious house Russian heros always say «Izbushka, Izbushka – povernis’ ko mne peredom, a k lesu zadom» what means – «Hut, Hut turn your face to me and your back to the forest».

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In ancient times in families parents scare their children that if they misbehave Baba Yaga may come and eat them.

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You can find Baba Yaga in different Russian films, cartoons and books with traditional fairy tales. And of course you can find her personally in some deep dark dense forest for example somewhere in Siberia.