The Problem of Mysteriousness of Baba Yaga Character in Religious Mythology

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga - Baba Yaga
Evgenia V. Ivanova*
Ural Federal University named after B.N. Yeltsin
51 Lenina, Ekaterinburg, 620083 Russia

Received 28.07.2013, received in revised form 30.09.2013, accepted 05.11.2013
This article reveals the ambiguity of interpretation of Baba Yaga character by the representatives of different schools of mythology. Each of the researchers has his own version of the semantic peculiarities of this culture hero. Who is she? A pagan goddess, a priestess of pagan goddesses, a witch, a snake or a nature-deity? The aim of this research is to reveal the ambiguity of the archetypical features of this character and prove that the character of Baba Yaga as a culture hero of the archaic religious mythology has an influence on the contemporary religious mythology of mass media.
Keywords: religious mythology, myth, culture hero, paganism, symbol, fairytale, religion, ritual, pagan priestess.