---
title: Baba Yaga
description: A cruel figure from Russian tradition.
author:
  name: Graciela Paula Caldeiro
  url: http://graciela-caldeiro.idoneos.com
canonical: https://mitosyleyendas.idoneos.com/en/bestiario_mitologico/baba_yaga/
source: en/bestiario_mitologico/baba_yaga/index.md
---

<figure class="commons-illustration" data-commons-id="15092">
  <img src="/bestiario_mitologico/baba_yaga/resources/commons-baba-yaga-15092.jpg" width="1561" height="2000" alt="An old woman advances through a forest in a mortar, holding a pestle in her hand with a broom behind her." loading="lazy" decoding="async">
  <figcaption>Baba Yaga, Ivan Bilibin (1900). Illustration for Vasilisa the Beautiful.<br>Source: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bilibin._Baba_Yaga.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wikimedia Commons</a>. Public domain.</figcaption>
</figure>


<h2 id="baba-yaga">Baba Yaga</h2>

A recurring figure in Russian mythology. She is a bony, wrinkled old woman with a blue nose and teeth and breasts of stone. Baba Yaga eats people, preferring children; to do so, she tears them apart with her teeth while beating them to pieces with her breasts. She then adorns her dwelling with the skulls of her victims, using them as candleholders.

Baba Yaga, despite being very cruel, helps those who serve her.