I loved reading these stories because I've always been enchanted by the idea of Baba Yaga; I think the fascination comes from not knowing how Baba Yaga will be portrayed in the story. In some tales, she's a good character, in others she's a neutral observer, and in others she's the antagonist. I can't think of many folktale characters that have that kind of depth and range. Anansi is one and the wolf from the three little pigs/little red riding hood has been rewritten as a sympathetic character in modern adaptations. But are there many more? This is something I'm going to have to think about for a while.
So in honor of Baba Yaga (and my new-found skills at modifying clip art in Microsoft word), I created my own clip-art Baba Yaga. Hopefully I can use her on my proposed "Did you know" signs for the Folktales section at the library.
Baba Yaga
I wanted to reflect her flexible role in various stories, so although she looks a little surly, she wouldn't be immediately frightening. I was able to create her from a clip art version of Befana, the Italian epiphany witch. Befana is similar to St. Nicholas; she brings candy to good children and coal to the bad ones. The interesting part about her legend is that if you see Befana, all you'll get from her is a whack from her broom, regardless if you're good or bad. Isn't that a great way to keep kids in bed!Here's the image of Befana I used to create Baba Yaga:
As you can see, the have the same body type, but Baba Yaga is paler, a little meaner looking, and has fly-away hair and a babushka. I also changed the color scheme of her dress; every image I've ever seen of Baba Yaga has here wearing red in some way and most feature purple too.
While modifying the Befana image, I was able to do a little research on her. It's an interesting story and one that I'll be blogging about later!
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