Long before witches were Halloween costumes and aging was a curse, there was Baba Yaga: bone-legged, iron-toothed, and untameable. In this episode of The Fem Files, I trace the roots of this Slavic folklore legend, from her deep ties to nature and feminine power, to the ways she still creeps through our culture today.

🕯️ Keywords: Baba Yaga, Slavic folklore, feminist folklore podcast, mythology podcast, wild woman archetype, crone archetype, women and aging, feminist mythology, witch archetype, women in myth, Slavic mythology, pagan folklore, ancient goddesses, feminine rage, feminine power, women in history, dark feminine energy, the witch wound, witchcraft history, folklore analysis

Sources:

https://www.dubravkaugresic.com/writings/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Melissa_Katsoulis.pdf

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/baba-yaga-confounding-crone-slavic-folklore-002836

https://www.worldhistory.org/Baba_Yaga/

https://medium.com/@folklegends/baba-yaga-unraveling-the-mysteries-of-the-enigmatic-witch-42a3dadb1c

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20221118-baba-yaga-the-greatest-wicked-witch-of-all

https://www.storymasterstales.com/post/who-is-baba-yaga#:~:text=This%20association%20reveals%20her%20as,Goddess%20in%20Russian%20fairy%20tales.

https://fairytale.fandom.com/wiki/Baba_Yaga#:~:text=Slavic%20folklore%2C%20Baba%20Yaga%20is,mother%2C%20or%20archetypal%20image%22.

https://ces.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/162/Baba-Yaga-informational-material.pdf