Baba Yaga's Hut
The hut on hen's legs in which the mythical Baba Yaga dwells is an interpretation of a Siberian structure which preserved food supplies against animals. A simple cabin was built atop the stumps of living trees. With spreading roots below these resembled chicken legs. The only access into the cabin was via a trapdoor in the middle of the floor.

Matriarchal Siberian pagans used a similar hut to hold sacred figurines. A bone-carved doll in rags inside a small cabin atop of a tree stump fits a common description of Baba Yaga, who barely fits her cabin, her nose scratching the ceiling.

Ancient Slavs had a funeral tradition of cremation in huts of this type. In 1948 Russian archaeologists Yefimenko and Tretyakov discovered similar huts with traces of corpse cremation and circular fences around them; yet another possible connection to the Baba Yaga myth.

Original: 9 x 6 linocut print.
Print Size: not yet available
Card Size: not yet available

<< Back