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In part 1 of this series of blog entries I wrote about why I thought children adopted from Russian should be familiar with Russian fairy and folk tales. In part 2 I wrote about some of the iconic figures from the Russian epic poems (bylina). In this entry I’m going to discuss characters from the Russian pagan tradition: the fairy tales.
Here’s where we have my favorite evildoer, Baba Yaga, who I posted about a couple of months ago, along with Ivan the Fool, Papa Frost (Ded Moroz), and Vasilisa the Beautiful.
Baba Yaga is the quintessential evil witch sorceress woman. She lives in a hut that runs around on chicken legs and she likes to eat little babies for breakfast. She is a bad, bad lady. Here’s a good link about Baba Yaga, should you want to know more.
Ivan the Fool is a simple-minded but lucky fellow who shows up in many Russian folktales. Here is one story about Ivan the Fool, and here is another.
Papa Frost, or Ded Moroz, is the spirit of Christmas, as I’m sure you know. Ded Moroz brings presents to children at Christmastime, although he doesn’t travel down the chimney, like our Santa; he appears in person. Some scholars think that Ded Moroz has links to the Saint Nicholas mythology, but others think he has connections with a legendary “ice smith” from eastern Slavic mythology, who could make ice from water.
Vasilisa the Beautiful shows up in a number of Russian folktales. Think Cinderella crossed with Sleeping Beauty crossed with Snow White. She is born poor, but beautiful and virtuous as well as being hard working, and in many tales she has an evil stepmother or a missing father. As a young girl she goes up against Baba Yaga and wins, and versions of her as an older married woman has her rescuing her husband from various predicaments.
There are many more common characters in Russian folklore. The Firebird, Ivan the Brave, the Bear, the Cat, and the Fish all come to mind as iconic characters. And no doubt a scholar of Russian folklore would scoff at my little list – but at least this is a start.
Do you have anyone or anything to add?
