Ancient Slavic Mythology: Baba Yaga or the Evil Witch

Gusiachkin Anastasia

Ancient Slavic Mythology: Baba Yaga or the Evil Witch

   Vladimir Dal, one of the greatest Russian lexicographers, writes that Baba Yaga belongs to a very specific category of witches or is an evil spirit which shows up in the form of an ugly old woman. He says that her bones are coming from under her skin in some places; she lusts for human flesh and kidnaps children to prey on them later. Devils are carrying her flying mortar which is made of iron. She lives in a dark far away forest in an old twisted house. She would normally try to murder a poor traveler who would happen to be unlucky enough to come across her shack. Even though I am not able to recall any old legend or a fairy story in which Baba Yaga would actually murder someone, her image is constantly accompanied with the presence of death. Everyone knows that she preys on human meat but only a few would be able to recall the actual situation.

   Vladimir Yakovlevich Prop, the Soviet folklorist, differentiated between three types of Baba Yaga in Russian mythology. The first type is Yaga the Gift Giver; she is the type of witch who would ask the lost hero a question about his or her journey, and give away a strong war horse or valuable items to assist the hero while on his or her quest. The second type is Yaga the Kidnapper; witches of this kind would steal children from their parents and try to fry them alive. Luckily, there are no stories in which Yagas succeed; the children are always rescued. However, the description of human skulls in the Yaga’s shack suggests that one of them must have succeeded at least once. The last type is Yaga the Warrior. This type is very vague and rare in Russian folklore. These witches would supposedly invade the house for whatever reason they would have on their mind.  Baba Yaga is also believed to be the guardian of an underworld and the guide for the dead.

   Baba Yaga is a typical witch that relies on her magic spells and potions. Long time ago, peasants from far away regions of Russian would call a woman Baba Yaga if she was making various healing potions from herbs or practice the witchcraft. Nowadays, we tell our children that if they act naughty, Baba Yaga will definitely come for them and take them to her twisted house which stands lonely in the dark woods.

   I was always fascinated by the stories my grandmother would tell me before the bed time. Witches, werewolves and other characters of a Slavic mythology were common inhabitants of my imaginary little world. When I was a little kid, I used to spend my summers in a faraway village where my grandmother lived back in the days. I can still remember a magical sound of the wind going through the leaves, and a calming murmur of a mountain creek. When you are small, things seem to be bigger. The local forest seemed to be enchanted to me; massive green trees, the singing of birds and gentle sunshine, which could hardly make its way through the leaves. Every minute I was hoping to stumble across a magical creature, or to see Baba Yaga’s shack. I decided to choose this character because it was a prominent figure in fairy tales I grew up with. My fascination with a Slavic mythology later led me to the department of humanities and literature studies.

Works Cited

    “Герои славянской мифологии: Баба-яга, Яга, Ягишна.” Герои славянской мифологии: Баба-  яга, Яга, Ягишна. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2015.                        <http://slavyans.myfhology.info/herous/babayaga.html>.

Ethnicity and Power, The Case of Indonesia’s Presidents

Indonesia is one of many countries that got benefit after the World War II ended, it gained its independence after occupied by the Dutch for more than 350 years. After Indonesia declared its independence, Soekarno became the first president, he was in the office from 1945 to 1967. He was also the Founding Fathers of Indonesia, along with Mohammad Hatta who served as the vice president. Both Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta were Javanese, the largest ethnic group in Indonesia which politically and culturally dominant.

There is a myth that widely spread all over the country that says the president of Indonesia must be Javanese and Muslim. I think it’s similar with what happens in USA where most of the presidents were WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant). Obama was the first president to break the myth. In Indonesia since 1945 up until now Indonesia has 7 presidents and all of them were Javanese and Muslim. A lot of people has different reasons about this case. Some people says it’s because Javanese is the largest ethnic group in the country, therefore the possibility of getting involved in the political situation is higher than any other ethnicities.

Some people also says that it has something to do with the typical Javanese behavior, usually they are very careful when they are about to speak because they don’t want to offend anyone, they try their best to avoid any conflicts or confrontation, and mostly they are modest. Besides, Indonesians tend to vote people who has the same ethnicity as them. They simply don’t trust people outside their ethnicity and they are afraid that the candidate does not have the same values as they do. Most Indonesians also have certain prejudices about other ethnic groups, that is why they prefer to choose people who share the same background.

If we look at Indonesia’s motto, Unity in Diversity, we can see the contrary. There are more than 300 ethnic groups scattered all over the country but there is only one ethnicity that is very dominant in many aspects such as politics, culture, and many more. Last year, a Chinese Indonesian was elected as a governor of Jakarta, the capital city, and it raised many opinions, there was even some violent protests opposing him. Due to his ethnicity he also frequently became the subject of racist statements. He was the first Chinese and Christian that elected as the Governor of Jakarta.

For me it’s sad because even though the motto of Indonesia is Unity in Diversity but the people does not really unite and does not really accept the difference and the diversity itself. They still have prejudices against some other people who does not have the same ethnicity or background as them. It is just unfair to judge people by their background. In order to be a more successful country we should see about what they do or what they have accomplished. On that way people from other ethnic groups will also have the same chances and equal opportunity in many aspects. 

Homeless People: A View from A Foreigner

When the first time I stepped out of the Ferihegy Airport it was a winter day, it was cold for me who has been living with sunshine everyday for all of my life. But I was excited so I ignore the coldness. Then I got on the old, scary metro like I always see on TV where they pictured the subway of Bronx. Again, I ignored all of it for the second time. Long story short, it was nearly evening and it was already dark, I did not see anything much after that.

Then the next day I was out exploring the city of Budapest, and I can see everything with my eyes. How the people in here are tall, how beautiful the buildings are, how there are a lot of people smokes, and another thing I noticed was there are many homeless people in Budapest. I’m not saying that my country is free from the poor or homeless people, they are there but I don’t see them every day. They have a house though it’s only a rickety shack. But in here I can see them every day, everywhere.

This is a very sensitive issue I know, but I just can’t help but noticing. Many of them are living in a metro station or just simply on the street. For example, in Ferenciek Tere metro station I can some people living there, I know the metro station is still new but they make it less looks new. They just live there and I have not seen anyone give them money. But they still have some breads and blanket, though it is not much but I think it is enough to keep them warm and not starving. But to live outside on winter is tough, and of course nobody wants that to happen to them.

I have no clue about who the homeless people are, are they Hungarians or immigrants from other countries. I looked at the internet and I saw that actually Hungarian government has a legislation about it. It says that homeless people can be fined, the also may receive a custodial sentence too in under certain circumstances. But I have not seen any government officer or police do their job to talk to the homeless people or maybe to relocate them somewhere else. It is a hard task to convince them to live a better life but it’s for their own good. I am no one to judge but in my honest opinion (and I’m sure everyone else’s), it will be much nicer if they move to another place and no longer live in public spaces.

To sum up, there are a lot of homeless people living in Budapest. According to some locals the percentage of them also getting higher year by year. The government actually has a legislation about it but I’m not sure if it’s working effectively or not. But from a foreigner’s point of view who just started living in Budapest, it was not the impression I expected before I came. 

The Dream of Emese –The Hungarian Origin Myth of the Árpád-dynasty

           Origin or founding myths play a crucial role in national identity as they elevate an event from the past on a highly symbolic level bearing essential information about the values of the nation. In the rich Hungarian storytelling tradition, the Dream of Emese occupies an important place because it traces back the origin of the Árpád-dynasty with the glorious future envisioned for the Hungarians with the birth of Álmos, Árpád’s father.

            The myth is not only significant because of the conception of the founding ancestor of the Hungarian Kingdom but also because of the turul, the mythological bird and also the military ensign of the nation. As the legend says, a turul bird appeared to Emese, wife of Ügyek or Ugek, in a dream and inseminated her after which glorious kings arose from her womb and a great stream of water started to flow from her loin and lead through fertile pastures and rich lands. The shamans of the tribe interpreted the dream as a prophecy about Emese’s child who would be a great and noble man leading his people to their new prosperous homeland from Levedia. Thus the child to be born was named Álmos, from the Hungarian word ‘álom’ which means dream. Among the peoples in Inner Asia, the symbol of water means power and the great flow of water from Emese’ womb can be interpreted as the unstoppable strength with which the Magyars advanced to the Carpathian Basin. The myth of Emese is mentioned in two historical sources, in the Gesta Hungarorum and the Chronicum Pictrum, both from medival times ( around the 13^th and the 14^th century) thus the story compounds elements from Christian and nomadic tribal traditions. The Christian influence of the myth lies in the attributed sacredness to the Hungarian kings while the appearance of the turul is rooted in the ancient nomadic totem animal cult. These cults regarded certain animals as sacred and divine and worshipped their animal spirits for help or protection. The word ‘turul’ is of Turkish origins and it was a shared symbol by different ethnicities whose societies worked in the pagan shamanistic framework and inhabited the Eurasian steppe. Thus the bird in the myth is the heritage of the semi-nomadic migrating times of Hungarian history. Besides the birth of Álmos, the turul was involved in the Settlement of the Magyars by showing the direction to the rich land of the Carpathian Basin.

             Although the Hungarian tribal society was patriarchal, the myth’s symbolism shows the significance of matriarchy by originating the Magyars from the ancestress, Emese. According to the myth, the woman is not only the source of the family which is the smallest unit of these nomadic tribes but also the source of life, fertility and greatness. In the myth, her fertility is literal; the stream of water from her womb is the source of a nation.

            This Hungarian myth about the wondrous conception of a leading figure in the Settlement of the tribes is based on the two major symbols, one is a bird of prey and the other is a fertile woman. Similarly to other founding myths, it involves a miraculous experience, a divine messenger, a dream and a prophecy about the nation’s future. The Dream of Emese is one of the most important myths of Hungary with its layered symbolic meanings and its heritage from both nomadic and medieval Christian times.

"AUX ARMES CITOYENS"

“Aux armes, citoyens” *

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a myth is “a story from ancient times, especially one that was told to explain natural events or to describe the early history of a people”. It thus supposes that a myth is imaginary and can be used to explain historical gaps for instance, but History itself contains its own myths. Because of its highly subjective way of being told, some historical events have been magnified throughout the centuries, until they reached a mythical status. One such event could be the French Revolution of 1789 – nowadays considered a major event in History-, because of how it is tightly related to French identity and to the way France perceive itself as a country. But we can wonder if this event has not been distorted and told in a way that deprives it of its accuracy. In that manner, we can consider it more of a complex national myth, whose interpretation is maybe not that close to reality, despite its undeniable importance.

According to Alfred Cobban, a Professor of French History at University College in London. According to him the Revolution did not actually lead to a new social order, the bourgeoisie just replaced the nobles . In this regard, the way the French Revolution is told is a myth: an interpretation not in accordance with reality.

Nevertheless, the events of 1789 have a symbolic importance and carry great power. If History might have been sometimes “betrayed”, it does not matter when compared to the strong values driven by the Revolution myth. It has been built so that we think of it as the ultimate symbol of our values. It is supposed to mirror our national motto, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”. And our national holiday corresponds to the most symbolic day of the Revolution: the take of the Bastille prison, on July 14th. When reading the famous History of the French Revolution (1847) by French historian Jules Michelet, what is emphasized is the spontaneous action of the mob, allowing the oppressed to be on the political stage. It is told as a Revolution made by the people for the people, and as a story of how the downtrodden of France gained their own freedom.

The Revolution embodies Republican ideas: equality of rights for every citizen and the sharing of wealth. Because it lead to the constitution of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizens (1789), it became the paradigm for democracy. France takes a great pride in being responsible for a major impact on the development of liberty and democracy in Europe and worldwide, and today political leaders still allude to the Revolution in their speeches.

The Revolution of 1789 is also supposed to be a symbol of the nation's unity. This is why as soon as 1790, July 14^th became the French national holiday. Even though the Revolution was a clear signal for important class conflicts, it has been chosen as an emblem for class reunification.

1789 also refers to a time of Enlightenment. Many historians agreed to say that the influence of philosophers such as Rousseau, Voltaire or Montesquieu, has truly change how people used to think. At the core of French identity, this strong literary and intellectual tradition is deeply rooted. It is impossible for someone in the French educational system not to have heard those names and not know about their writing.

As we have just seen, the Revolution of 1789 had a tremendous impact on French identity. This myth has a wide variety of values: from political to social and even cultural ideals, but behind all these bright and fair principles, some harsh truths also lay . France can claim itself to be the country who brought democracy to Europe, but that does not change the fact that today those values are at stake and are often violated. But even if the myth does not suit reality, and the values conveyed are not respected, it should not mean we abandon those values. And this is what this myth is here for.

* “Aux armes citoyens” is a lyric from the French National Anthem “La Marseillaise” and means “To arms, citizens”

The contradictory myth of Countess Báthori Erzsébet: Psychopath, vampire, or victim?

Erzsébet Báthori, also known as the Blood Countess or Countess Dracula, is one of the most contradictory women in Hungarian history. She allegedly killed more than 600 servant girls and bathed in virgin girls’ blood to retain her youth – but nowadays more and more historians think that she was only a victim of a conspiracy in order to get her lands in Transylvania and weaken the power of the Báthori family.

She was born in 1560 and she was only 15 years old, when she married Ferenc Nádasdy, a young nobleman and captain, who was known as the “black bey” by the Ottomans. After her husband died in the Fifteen Years War (1604), she was left alone with her children. She was an influential and powerful noblewomen, who held a great amount of land in Transylvania and lived in the castle of Csejte. Her uncle was a Transylvanian lord, who ruled that part of the country and who opposed the Habsburgs. There were no signs of her insanity until her trial, which started in 1610, but the whispering had already started about her cruel nature and her tortured servants. She left her fortune to her children and denied the charges against her. In her trial, several witnesses and survivors claimed that the Countess murdered almost half a hundred servants and young girls and to retain her youth, she bathed in her victims’ blood. According to the myth, when she was captured there were still dead and dying people in her castle. As she was a noblewoman, she could not be put on trial, sentenced to death or sent into prison, but she was captured by her son-in-laws and Count Thurzó and she was put under arrest in her castle and walled up until she died. Her partners were beheaded.

Historians think that she was not worse than the other noblewoman of her age; although she may have tortured her servants, she could not murder 400-600 people in such a short time. There are proofs that it is also unlikely that she bathed in virgins’ blood as human blood thickens too fast. They also claim that it was only a conspiracy, as she was not there when her trial occurred and there was no legal verdict. Most of them think that the main cause of Báthori’s trial was that the Habsburgs wanted to get her large amount of lands. Count Thurzó’s personal hostility could be another cause. There are several theories why Thurzó hated Báthori so much, some historians claim that he was in love with the Countess, who rejected him and some of them claim that he was motivated by the great amount of money involved in the case. 

In the last few decades Báthori has appeared in popular culture a lot, mostly as a vampire or a serial killer and she is also known as Countess Dracula or The Blood Countess. There have been several books and films published about her life, such as Julie Delpy’s The Countess (2009) or Bathory (2008) and her character also appears in a vampire story called Fright Night 2 (2013). Her true story has never been revealed, but historians favours the theory that she was only the victim of a conspiracy trial because of her power and lands in Transylvania.

References

Szabó, K. (2010). Mítosz kontra valóság, avagy igazságot Báthory Erzsébetnek? Retrieved from http://www.rubicon.hu/magyar/oldalak/mitosz_kontra_valosag_avagy_igazsagot_bathory_erzsebetnek/

Kleisz, Á. (2013). Báthory Erzsébet: Tömeggyilkos vagy áldozat? Retrieved from http://www.origo.hu/tudomany/tortenelem/20131219-bathory-erzsebet-grofno-tomeggyilkos-vagy-artatlan-aldozat.html

BBC History Magazine. (2014). Az ártatlan tömeggyilkos. Retrieved from http://index.hu/tudomany/tortenelem/2014/08/21/bathory_erzsebet_az_artatlan_tomeggyilkos/

The Legend of the Roosters

                                                    The Legend of the Roosters

 “Once upon a time, when the Turkish armies were attacking the city of Durdjevac, the Turkish military leader came across a strong resistance” is one of the most famous lines in Croatian mythology, as everyone has heard the famous tale of the Croatian stand. This is not too surprising as the tale encapsulates the way Croatians like to think of themselves.

The story tells a tale of a small city in Croatia, called Durdjevac. Turkish attacks are a part of our history and this particular one is one of the favourites as it shows how we use our wit. Since the Turkish armies could not reach the people of Durdjevac, who were hiding in the fortress, they decided to camp around the city and wait until there would be no food left in the fortress. Indeed, as the time passed by the food vanished. By the end, the only thing left was a small rooster. Since the rooster was rather tiny, it was impossible to feed the army of Durdjevac with it. In the moments of desperation, an older woman came up with an idea. She suggested that they should put the rooster in to the cannon and shoot it into the Turkish camp. As they had no better plan, the captain decided to listen to the old woman. Once the Turkish soldiers saw the rooster, they thought there was plenty of food left in the fortress, as Croatians could afford to be throwing it away. The Turkish military leader, Ulama-Beg, gave up and left the battle. He got so angry that he put a curse on the people of Durdjevac, calling them roosters. “And you there, feathered heroes that fight battles with roosters, shall always carry the name roosters! Your children shall call you roosters, and your grandchildren will stay roosters!”

The Legend of the Roosters is one of the most interesting ones in our history. Every June, the people of Durdjevac celebrate this story with an open theatre. Each year the performance gets bigger and better. It is performed on the authentic location from which the legend comes and it includes hundreds of extras, amateurs, knights and professional actors. The whole scene is set to show the tale in the most truthful way possible.

I feel like this story tells a lot about Croatians. Maybe, not even the story itself, but the way we preserved it and kept it as our intangible treasure. As there is no real proof that this has ever happened, I find it amusing how proud of it my little nation is. Croatians are very patriotic and in many cases consider themselves better than others. I think this legend is a perfect example of it, since it presents Croatians as a wise and a witty nation. Not only does it shows how smart we are, but we also have to be better than someone else. I feel like this might be a complex of a small country. Indeed, we are a tiny nation which we are aware of, so we have to show that even though tiny, we can outwit anyone.