Baba Yaga textile doll. Do-it-yourself amulet doll “Baba Yaga”. Baba Yaga from plastic bottles, master class
BABA YAGA... WHO IS SHE?
V.Ya. Propp. Historical roots of fairy tales (fragments)
Yaga is a very difficult character to analyze. Her image is made up of a number of details. These details, put together from different fairy tales, sometimes do not correspond to each other, do not combine, do not merge into a single image. Basically the fairy tale knows three different forms of yaga. She knows, for example, the gift-giving yaga to whom the hero comes. She questions him, from her he (or the heroine) receives a horse, rich gifts, etc. Another type is the kidnapping yaga. She kidnaps children and tries to fry them, followed by escape and rescue. Finally, the fairy tale also knows a warrior yaga. She flies to the heroes' hut, cuts a belt from their back, etc. Each of these types has its own specific features, but in addition there are features common to all types. All this makes research extremely difficult.
Walking “wherever they look,” the hero or heroine ends up in a dark, dense forest. The forest is a permanent accessory to the yaga. Moreover, even in those fairy tales where there is no yaga (for example, in the fairy tale “Kosoruchka”), the hero or heroine still certainly ends up in the forest. The hero of a fairy tale, be it a prince or an exiled stepdaughter, or a runaway soldier, invariably ends up in the forest. This is where his adventures begin. This forest has never been better described. It is dense, dark, mysterious, somewhat conventional, and not entirely believable.
Here, a whole ocean of materials related to ideas about the forest and its inhabitants opens up before the researcher. In order not to get lost here, you must strictly adhere to only those ideas that are associated with the fairy tale. Thus, goblin and mermaids are almost not reflected in the fairy tale. The mermaid appears only once in the entire Afanasyev collection, and then in a saying. The goblin is always nothing more than a renamed yaga. The closer the connection between the fairytale forest and the forest that appears in initiation rites. The initiation ceremony was always performed in the forest. This is a constant, indispensable feature of it throughout the world. Where there is no forest, children are taken at least into the bush. 
The forest as a separate isolated element does not prove anything. But that this forest is not entirely ordinary can be seen from its inhabitants, and can be seen from the hut that the hero suddenly sees in front of him. Walking “wherever his eyes look” and accidentally raising his gaze, he sees an extraordinary sight - a hut on chicken legs. This hut seemed to be familiar to Ivan for a long time: “We’ll climb into you, eat bread and salt.” He is not at all surprised by her and knows how to behave.
Some fairy tales say that this hut “spins,” that is, it rotates around its axis. “In front of her stands a hut on chicken legs and constantly turns around” (Aph. 235). “It stands and turns” (K. 7). This idea resulted from a misunderstanding of the word “turns.” Some fairy tales clarify: when necessary, it turns. However, it does not turn by itself. The hero must make her turn, and for this he needs to know and say the word. Again we see that the hero is not at all surprised. He doesn't mince words and knows what to say. “According to the old saying, according to my mother’s saying: “Hut, hut,” said Ivan, blowing on it, “stand with your back to the forest, with your front to me.” And then the hut turned to Ivan, a gray-haired old woman was looking out of the window” (Af .560). “Hut, hut, turn your eyes to the forest, and turn your gates to me: I will not last forever, but last a night. Let the passerby in” (K. 7).
What's going on here? Why do you need to turn the hut? Why can't I just log in? Often in front of Ivan there is a smooth wall - “no windows, no doors” - the entrance is on the opposite side. “This hut has no windows, no doors, nothing” (17). But why not go around the hut and enter from the other side? Obviously this is not possible. Obviously, the hut stands on some kind of visible or invisible edge that Ivan cannot step over. You can only get to this edge through the hut, and the hut needs to be turned “so that I can get in and out” (See 1).
The open side of the hut faces the thirtieth kingdom, the closed side faces the kingdom accessible to Ivan. That is why Ivan cannot go around the hut, but turns it around. This hut is a guard post. He will not cross the line until he is interrogated and tested to see whether he can go further. Actually, the first test has already been passed. Ivan knew the spell and managed to blow on the hut and turn it.
We will continue to follow the actions of the hero. The hut has turned, and the hero enters it. He doesn't see anything yet. But he hears: “Fu, fu, fu! Before, the Russian spirit was unheard of, unseen; today the Russian spirit sits on a spoon and rolls into its own mouth” (Af. 137). “The Russian spirit came to my forest!” (North 7). Or in short: “Ugh, how Russian bone stinks” (Af. 139). We need to dwell on this detail. It is very significant.
However, as soon as we turn to comparatively earlier stages, we immediately receive the key to our motive. This material shows that Afanasyev was not mistaken in asserting that Ivan’s smell is the smell of a person, and not a Russian. But his statement can be clarified. Ivan smells not just like a person, but like a living person. The dead and incorporeal do not smell, the living smell, the dead recognize the living by their smell.
The smell of Ivan is the smell of a living person trying to penetrate the kingdom of the dead. If this smell is disgusting to the yaga, then this is because the dead generally experience horror and fear of the living. No one alive should cross the cherished threshold.
The canon of the fairy tale requires that the exclamation “Fu, fu, fu,” etc. be followed by an inquiry about the purpose of the trip: “Are you torturing for business or flying for business?” We expect the hero to now reveal his goal. The answer he gives must, however, be recognized as completely unexpected and not resulting from the threats of the yaga. First of all, he demands to eat. “Why are you shouting? First, give him something to drink and feed, take him to the bathhouse, and then see him out and ask questions” (Af. 105). And, what is most extraordinary, the yaga completely humbles herself with such an answer: “Baba Yaga gave them something to drink, fed them, and took them to the bathhouse” (105). “She got down and bowed low” (137).
Note that this is a constant, typical feature of yaga. She feeds and treats the hero. Let us also note that he refuses to speak until he is fed.
What is this? Why do heroes never eat, for example, before leaving home, but only at the yaga? This is not an everyday, not a new-realist trait, this trait has its own special history. Food has a special meaning here. By demanding food, the hero thereby shows that he is not afraid of this food, that he has the right to it, that he is “real.” That is why the yaga submits to his demand to give him food.
We now turn to consider the yaga itself. Her appearance is made up of a number of particulars, and we will consider these particulars first separately, and only after that we will consider her figure as a whole. The yaga itself appears in two forms: either when Ivan enters, she lies in the hut - this is one yaga, or she flies in - this is a yaga of another type.
Yaga the Giver is in the hut when Ivan arrives. First of all, she is lying down. It lies either on the stove, or on a bench, or on the floor. Further, she occupies the entire hut. “There is a head in front, a leg in one corner, another in the other.” (Aph. 102). “Baba Yaga lies on the stove, a bone leg, from corner to corner, her nose rooted in the ceiling” (137). But how do you mean “your nose has grown into the ceiling”? And why does the yaga take up the entire hut? After all, she is nowhere described or mentioned as a giant. And, therefore, it is not the hut that is big, but the hut that is small. Yaga resembles a corpse, a corpse in a cramped coffin or in a special cage where they are buried or left to die. She is a dead man.
The Russian yaga does not have any other signs of a corpse. But Yaga as an international phenomenon possesses these characteristics to a very wide extent. “They are always characterized by the attribute of decomposition: hollow back, softened meat, brittle bones, back, pitted
eaten by worms" (Guntert). 
If this observation is correct, then it will help us understand one constant feature of the yaga - bone-footedness. To understand this feature, we must keep in mind that “awareness of a corpse” is a very late thing. In the earlier materials from America that we have already cited, the guardian of the kingdom of the dead is always either an animal or a blind old woman - without signs of a corpse. Analysis of the yaga as the mistress of the kingdom of the forest and its animals will show us that her animal form is her oldest form. She sometimes appears like this in Russian fairy tales. In one Vyatka fairy tale by D.K. Zelenin (3B 11), which is generally replete with extremely archaic features, the role of a yaga in a hut is played by a goat. “The goat lies on the beds, the legs are on the beds,” etc. In other cases, it corresponds to a bear, a magpie (Aph. 249, 250), etc. But the animal never has a bone leg, not only in Russian material (which could be explained by phenomena of language - “yaga” rhymes with “leg”), but also in international material. Consequently, the bone leg is somehow connected with the human appearance of the yaga, connected with its anthropomorphization. The transitional stage from animal to man is a man with an animal leg. A yaga never possesses such a leg, but Pan, fauns and a motley line of all evil spirits possess such legs. All kinds of elves, dwarfs, demons, devils have animal legs. They retain their animal legs just as the hut preserved them. But at the same time, yaga is so firmly connected with the image of death that this animal leg is replaced by a bone leg, that is, the leg of a dead person or skeleton. The bone-footedness is due to the fact that the yaga never walks. She either flies or lies, that is, she outwardly manifests herself as a dead person.
Yaga gradually becomes clear to us as the guardian of the entrance to the thirtieth kingdom and at the same time as a creature associated with the animal world and the world of the dead. She recognizes the hero as a living one and does not want to miss him, warns him of dangers, etc. Only after he has eaten does she show him the way. She recognizes Ivan as if he were alive by his smell. But there is another reason why the yaga perceives Ivan by smell. Although this is never said in the Russian fairy tale, it can still be established that she is blind, that she does not see Ivan, but recognizes him by his smell. This blindness was, by the way, already suggested by Potebnya. He explains this blindness as follows: “Yaga seems, by the way, to be blind. One can guess that Baba’s blindness means ugliness. The idea of darkness, blindness and ugliness are akin and can replace one another.” This is proven by analysis of the root “lep” in Slavic languages (Potebnya). This conclusion of Potebnya is incorrect simply because she is blind not only on Russian or Slavic soil. The blindness of creatures like Yaga is an international phenomenon, and if we were to take the path of studying the etymology of a name or word for the phenomenon denoting it (which is always very dangerous and often incorrect in essence, since the meaning changes, but the word remains), then it would be necessary to study a comparative study of the designation of blindness in different languages. None of them will lead to the name of the yaga. But such an analysis might show that “blindness” does not simply mean the absence of vision. Thus, the Latin caecus not only means active blindness (unseeing), but also, so to speak, passive (invisible - caeca nox - “blind” night). The same can be deduced regarding the German ein blindes Fenster.
So, an analysis of the concept of blindness might lead to the concept of invisibility. A person is blind not in himself, but in relation to something. Under "blindness" the concept of a certain reciprocity of invisibility can be revealed. In relation to Yaga, this could lead to a transfer of the relationship of the world of the living to the world of the dead: the living do not see the dead in the same way as the dead do not see the living. But, one might argue, then the hero would also have to appear blind. Indeed, this is how it should be, and this is how it actually is. We will see that the hero who ends up with the yaga becomes blind.
But is Yaga really blind? This is not directly visible, but it can be judged by some indirect signs. In the fairy tale “Baba Yaga and Zhikhar,” the yaga wants to kidnap Zhikhar and flies to him at the moment when his friends and roommates, the cat and the sparrow, have gone to get firewood. She starts counting spoons. “This is the cat’s spoon, this is Vorobyov’s, this is Zhikhar-kova.” Zhikharko could not stand it, he roared: “Don’t touch my spoon, Baba Yaga!” Baba Yaga grabbed Zhikharko and dragged him away,” (Af. 106). So, to find out where Zhikharko is, the Yaga must hear his voice. She doesn’t look out, she listens, just as she sniffs out an alien. 
Another feature of the yaga's appearance is her sharply emphasized feminine physiology. Signs of gender are exaggerated: she is depicted as a woman with huge breasts:
“Tits through the bed” (Onch. 178. The bed is a pole for towels, etc.); “Yaga Yagishna, Ovdotya Kuzminishna, nose to the ceiling, tits across the threshold, snot across the garden bed, rakes up soot with her tongue” (Sm. 150). Or: “On the stove, on the ninth brick, lies Baba Yaga, a bone leg, her nose has grown into the ceiling, snot is hanging over the threshold, her tits are wrapped on a hook, she is sharpening her teeth.”
So, Yaga is equipped with all the signs of motherhood. But at the same time, she does not know married life. She is always an old woman, and an old woman without a husband. Yaga is not the mother of people, she is the mother and mistress of animals, moreover, forest animals. Yaga represents the stage when fertility was conceived through a woman without the participation of men. Hypertrophy of the maternal organs does not correspond to any marital functions. Maybe that is why she is always an old woman. Being the personification of gender, she does not live the life of gender. She is already only a mother, but not a spouse either in the present or in the past. True, in the fairy tale she is never called the mother of animals. But she has unlimited power over them. 
It is widely believed that the yaga is a character who is typically given difficult tasks. This is true only for women's fairy tales, and even then it can be shown that these tasks are mainly of late origin. A man is given tasks much less often, rarely at all, and they are very few in number. Usually the reward follows immediately after the dialogue. ""You can hardly get it! Shall I help" - and gives him his horse" (Aph. 174). “She fed him, gave him something to drink and gave him Zolotitsa Mare” (Sev. 46). There are many such cases that can be cited; this is a typical form. The question arises: why does the yaga reward the hero? Outwardly, artistically, this award is not motivated. But in the light of the materials given above, we can say that the hero has already passed a number of tests. He knew the magic of opening doors. He knew the spell that turned and opened the hut, he knew the magic of gestures: he sprinkled the door with water. He made a propitiatory sacrifice to the beasts guarding the entrance. And, finally, the most important thing: he was not afraid of the yaga’s food, he himself demanded it, and thereby forever joined himself to the host of otherworldly creatures. Questioning follows the test, and reward follows the questioning. This also explains the confidence with which the hero carries himself. In what he sees, not only is there nothing unexpected, on the contrary, everything seems to have been known to the hero for a long time, and is exactly what he expected. He is confident in himself due to his magical weapons. This armament itself is really not motivated by anything. Only occasionally do we meet such characters as an aunt instructing a girl on how to behave with a yaga. The hero knows all this because he is a hero. His heroism lies in his magical knowledge, in his strength.
About Baba Yaga from other sources
Whether you braid your hair or create tousled hair depends on the image of Baba Yaga you are creating. We tie the scarf on the head so that the knot is in front.
If desired, Ezhka can wear a vest and hang beads around her neck.
In this master class, the fairy-tale heroine was given a broom in one hand and a bag with the inscription “Luck” in the other. The whisk was made from ordinary thin branches wrapped with twine around a sushi stick.
The bag is very easy to sew. A rectangle is cut out of a piece of fabric, sewn along the edges, filled with padding polyester, and pulled together at the top. The inscription (“Luck”, “Happiness”, “Wealth”, etc.) is written on a separate piece of fabric, which is then glued or sewn onto the bag.
So we sewed a charming and youthful Baba Yaga:
More interesting:
Send your photos
Do you also make beautiful crafts? Send photos of your work. We will publish the best photos and send you a certificate of participation in the competition.
Whether you braid your hair or create tousled hair depends on the image of Baba Yaga you are creating. We tie the scarf on the head so that the knot is in front.
If desired, Ezhka can wear a vest and hang beads around her neck.
In this master class, the fairy-tale heroine was given a broom in one hand and a bag with the inscription “Luck” in the other. The whisk was made from ordinary thin branches wrapped with twine around a sushi stick.
The bag is very easy to sew. A rectangle is cut out of a piece of fabric, sewn along the edges, filled with padding polyester, and pulled together at the top. The inscription (“Luck”, “Happiness”, “Wealth”, etc.) is written on a separate piece of fabric, which is then glued or sewn onto the bag.
So we sewed a charming and youthful Baba Yaga:
More interesting:
Send your photos
Do you also make beautiful crafts? Send photos of your work. We will publish the best photos and send you a certificate of participation in the competition.In all Russian fairy tales there is always an irreplaceable character - Baba Yaga.
She lives in a hut on chicken legs somewhere on the road to the thirtieth kingdom, is friends with Koshchei, flies on a broom and threatens to eat everyone who does not guess her riddles. Many in childhood were afraid that an evil fairytale woman was hiding on the roof, or in a dark corner of the room, or looking out the window, intending to drag us away and eat us. In fact, Baba Yaga is not scary at all, she is very wise, strong and a little cunning. She helps the smart and brave, and destroys evil and envious people.
Today I suggest you sew Baba Yaga using the stocking technique, which will become a wonderful talisman for your home or summer cottage.
All you need to make a fairytale grandmother is:
- - nylon fabric,
- - synthetic winterizer,
- -wire,
- - scraps of fabric,
- -remains of gray yarn,
- -eye accessories.
Baba Yaga is sewn in the same way as all products using the hosiery technique, using a tie. It can be made of any size, in the form of a small souvenir-amulet 10 cm high or medium size for a summer cottage with a height of 50 cm.
So, let's start sewing from the head.
Pick a stack of padding polyester of the size you need for the headstock. Be sure to wrap the pieces of padding polyester into one solid piece.
Then use wire to make a frame for the nose, with a curved tip and wings.
Wrap the frame with padding polyester.
Attach the frame to the padding polyester blank under the head and sew it to fix it in the correct position.
Form cheeks and chin from padding polyester.
We start with the nose tie. To do this, insert a thread that best matches the color of the stocking material from right to left into the bridge of the nose.
We sew several times and bring the needle diagonally to the lower part of the nose, forming the nostrils.
After stitching two nostrils, cut off the thread and insert the needle above the wing of the nose, and bring it out into the nostril. We sew alternately the two wings of the nose to give them expressiveness.
Next, cut the thread and insert the needle into the right cheek from top to bottom. We sew several times at the same points to fix the correct shape. Leave the long end of the thread, cut off the needle and insert it into the other cheek.
We also stitch several times, and then tie the free ends of the threads together, tightening them as much as possible.
Her lower lip is slightly protruding, and her upper lip is sunken, since the grandmother is middle-aged and practically toothless.
We grab the upper part of the chin with our hand and stitch the lower lip.
Then we sew the top one.
You can make a large convex mole on the left cheek. To do this, we insert a small piece of padding polyester inside and stitch it with thread, wrapping it around the ball.
We sew the places for the eyes, bringing the needle to the back of the head.
Using a glue gun or polymer glue, glue the eyes to Babushi Yagusi's face.
Using gray yarn we make hair. To do this, yarn can be wound around a box of a suitable size, then removed and sewn to the head.
Instead of yarn, you can use artificial hair or leftover long-haired fur.
The head is ready, now you need to make the arms, legs and torso.
Handles are made in the same way as for dolls using the stocking technique. First you need to make a frame in the shape of a hand from wire, then wrap each finger with padding polyester, cover it with stocking fabric and stitch it.
In order to make the body, if the headstock is small, you can use a regular plastic drink or mineral water bottle.
If the doll is large, then take a regular nylon golf course and stuff it with synthetic padding. Using pieces of padding polyester, form the chest and hump of the headstock.
For the legs, you can also take two knee socks, stuff them with padding polyester and sew the foot itself in the same way as doll legs are sewn using the hosiery technique.
Sew all body parts together.
Sew a garment of a suitable size from scraps of fabric of different colors and put it on the headstock. Clothing can be slightly asymmetrical, colorful, with patches.
You can knit beautiful bast shoes for your feet.
Glue the head to the body.
Tie a scarf on Yagusa's head, and make a broom from branches and a twig.
For a small grandma, a broom can be made by wrapping a skewer with floral tape and gluing brown yarn.
You can make a house for Baba Yaga from boards and place it in the yard. It will protect and protect your home from bad people and will serve as a beautiful decorative element.
It will be especially interesting for children to live with a fairy tale next door.
Fairy-tale character Baba Yaga. Master class with step-by-step photos.
The work was carried out by Arina Fedoseeva, a student of class 1 “A” at MBOU gymnasium No. 69 in the city of Krasnodar.Supervisor: Goncharova Anna Anatolyevna, primary school teacher at MBOU gymnasium No. 69 in the city of Krasnodar.
Description: The master class is intended for joint activities of preschool and primary school children and teachers and parents.
Purpose: toy, souvenir, gift, decorative element of the interior.
Target: make a fairy-tale character - Baba Yaga with your own hands.
Tasks:
- teach how to make Baba Yaga with your own hands;
- master simple and interesting ways of making various parts from waste material;
- teach how to work carefully with glue;
- introduce safety precautions when working with scissors;
- develop fine motor skills of the hands;
- cultivate artistic and aesthetic taste, interest in work;
- develop the child’s imagination and fantasy;
- cultivate perseverance and accuracy.
In the fairy-tale story “Kuzka the Little Brownie” by T.I. Alexandrova, which Arina recently read, there was an unusually charming Baba Yaga! And we decided to make a doll to role-play the fairy tale.
Baba Yaga is the most striking character in Russian fairy tales. She is cheerful, and unpredictable, and kind, and evil, and even insidious! Baba Yaga lives in a hut on chicken legs, and uses a broom to fly!
Materials required for work: brown woolen threads, cotton wool, flesh-colored nylon golf, scissors, glue, the top of a plastic bottle, felt in four colors (red, blue, white, brown), fabric, two plastic forks.
Progress:
We put a flesh-colored nylon golf course on the neatly trimmed top of a plastic bottle. We tie the neck of the bottle with woolen thread, and fill the upper part of the golf with cotton wool and give it the shape of a head.
We make hands from two plastic forks: after carefully cutting off the edges, we wrap each fork with cotton wool.
Then we cover it with nylon golf and sew it up. We tighten each tine of the fork with a thread so that it looks like the fingers of a hand.
Now we make the nose: we cut off the elastic from the nylon golf, stuff it with cotton wool and sew it on.
We cut out eyes from blue felt, and pupils from white felt. Glue on Baba Yaga's eyes!
Cut out a fairytale smile from red felt.
Now we glue the finished arms to the body.
Let's make hair: wrap a skein around your palm and tie it. Cut the skein on the other side and straighten it.
Glue the hair to the head.
We make a skirt from brown fabric (we used an old knitted scarf).
Made from orange fabric - a blouse! We wrap the fabric around the upper body and arms and secure the fabric. Now tie the scarf and the outfit is ready! Our Baba Yaga is a fashionista!
Now let's make a fairy broom. We roll a tube out of brown felt and secure it with glue.
We cut wool threads of the same length - about 10 cm. We tie the threads to a felt tube.
Unscrew and tie again. The broom is ready!
There is a hut at the edge of the forest,
There's an old lady who lives there
For many, many years now
And she has no friends.
Here the hut is spinning
As that old lady wishes.
Turns his back to the forest
And the old lady is very happy.
On the broom every night
She doesn't mind flying...
I can't fly without a broom,
There is nothing to cover the tracks with.
Woe, woe for Yaga,
If she doesn't have a broom.
Look at me,
Well, why am I not beautiful?
My maiden beauty
Can't help but like it!