Rowan & Pine: A Feminist Folklore & Mythology Podcast - Episode Thirty-Six： Baba Yaga - C.G.E (Calming Geese Energy)

00:00:00.000 hey y'all emily and i forgot to mention it when we were recording together but

00:00:14.040 rowan and pine has joined the pod moth media network this is just the psa to let you know

00:00:19.440 that there will be no difference to you as a listener except for an ad for another amazing

00:00:23.300 podcast on the network before each of our episodes

00:00:26.040 need with the and go and go yeah i don't know is that a cultural thing

00:00:35.320 um no but in this scenario it's an interesting choice i'm just i just always keeping you on

00:00:44.220 your toes every first couple times i'm like wait are you doing just one two three we have started

00:00:50.160 an episode hello everybody hello i was gonna say we're back but we haven't really been gone

00:00:59.300 no we were we came back last time and we're still back and just a reminder because we didn't say it

00:01:07.020 last time we're on our reduced summer schedule we're down to once a month um it says in the

00:01:14.100 description of the podcast so if you didn't see that that's your fault it even has a little

00:01:18.960 calendar emoji and we might be rocking like this for a little while who knows yeah um life is crazy

00:01:26.920 maybe we'll have some new voices pop up who knows we'll see how it goes the look on your face

00:01:36.680 i'm easter egging is that what it is easter no it's bread crumbing

00:01:42.700 when you when you tease something crumbing well if it actually happens who knows

00:01:48.960 yeah because what is an easter egg that's when it's like hidden stuff for you to find right

00:01:55.720 yes and it's usually like only certain people will notice it whereas breadcrumbing is where

00:02:00.840 you like hansel and gretel we should know this because we're the brothers grim hansel and gretel

00:02:05.360 um where you lay little trail for people to follow hansel and gretel also relates to my

00:02:12.800 episode today but oh yes did you have okay we still have not stated the band that brought us

00:02:21.240 together and i'm not gonna state it now but this band had a live show dvd come out like forever ago

00:02:30.780 so the halloween one that dvd yeah you're giving it away okay i'm gonna edit that out at that oh

00:02:38.380 I'm going to bleep it yeah yes I did have that one with the smudgy lens they had yes but it's

00:02:45.860 like a smudgy lens on the camera they had easter eggs in that yes yes they did I can't remember

00:02:51.520 any of them now but I remember there was much discussion about it yeah it was like you I had

00:02:56.740 to you had to find like a title three button or something oh I don't know it was like really

00:03:02.640 interesting yeah because they there was a clip from a movie and it was a very strange clip but

00:03:11.540 it had crispin glover in it okay let's just and then i think there was every movie with crispin

00:03:17.880 glover is strange right but then then i think there was like a live commentary on it yes minus

00:03:27.600 one of the members because they were sick or something like that is this ringing a bell to

00:03:33.920 you i'm like am i making this up in my head no it is it is it is ringing a bell yes because i think

00:03:40.260 it was around the time that album came out where he is also sick during recording that album yes

00:03:45.520 what does it all mean the people who know know right people who don't know are like i don't care

00:03:53.360 yeah fun for us which by the way if there's new people here our listenership has gone up

00:04:01.540 a lot we jump like a thousand listeners in a week because neve is making titty talks

00:04:07.880 just kidding yeah i'm making titty talk

00:04:11.660 emily emily had a dream where i was whoring myself out on tiktok for um

00:04:18.200 for views for listeners rather not even views listeners um which to be fair you know if it

00:04:26.640 gets you

00:04:27.020 but yes um if you found us through tiktok hello um it's it's strange we we find still find it

00:04:36.220 weird being perceived yeah um knowing that people listen to us it's like emily's got this whole

00:04:42.620 mysterious elusive thing going on because she's not really on tiktok so

00:04:45.740 everybody would be like who who is she but you're putting me on tiktok you're like making videos

00:04:53.160 of me so yeah but like only from stuff that you've already put out you know yes you know what i mean

00:05:01.280 like it's only clips from episodes or lives that we've done so so in case you were wondering

00:05:06.140 anybody neve is the one who's running our social media at this point

00:05:09.680 i have almost nothing to do with it because i'm lazy um because you i am like weird i get into

00:05:20.680 weird moods moods where i do nothing but post on social media and then i get into another mood

00:05:25.740 where i don't want anything to do with it and i'm in the posting mood at the moment i'm in the 0.96

00:05:29.680 i don't want anything to do with it mood so that makes sense yeah i have i have a child who sucks

00:05:35.960 all my attention all day and then i'm just like nobody touch me nobody look at me nobody talk to

00:05:42.060 me i have to say though i do like going on our podcast instagram compared to my own instagram

00:05:49.400 because i follow like news and political stuff on my own instagram whereas on our podcast instagram

00:05:55.860 it's all like witchy women memes spooky like haunted locations and um people who love halloween

00:06:04.740 and keep posting about how it's already

00:06:06.420 fall yeah so

00:06:08.520 it's nice to go on there I do like

00:06:10.660 going whenever I pop over there I'm like oh

00:06:12.620 wow look at all this cool stuff and then I want to

00:06:14.660 send it to you but you're also on

00:06:16.680 the Instagram so

00:06:17.640 hey you post it you just keep

00:06:20.660 posting it on the stories because I'll see it did you see

00:06:22.620 the one that I posted today

00:06:23.860 yes

00:06:25.960 one of my friends sent it to me and I was like this is

00:06:28.560 gold yeah

00:06:30.420 it's so good shall we get into

00:06:32.620 it yeah let's get into it

00:06:34.500 i also was listening to the song baba yaga by slaughter to prevail today um because it's one

00:06:41.060 of my gym songs and when you kept saying that we're going to do baba yaga i was like

00:06:46.540 i'm gonna listen to that but it's not a fun song and i'm not gonna play any of it because

00:06:51.180 they're very angry and rushing i was gonna say is it a good song i don't think i've ever heard it

00:06:55.760 no but it's like it's sort of like very doom very like scary so it's you know it's portraying

00:07:04.360 her as the witch the the witch that she is yes um i let me look for it there's this like folksy

00:07:15.000 kind of band and they okay here we go charming disaster um they have a really interesting album

00:07:25.540 where they basically just like have songs about folktales oh i love that but so sometimes this

00:07:31.880 song gets stuck in my head because it's like okay the album is called spells and rituals

00:07:36.560 by charming disaster but the baba yaga song is like baba yaga

00:07:41.640 that's amazing yeah wait let's see can you hear it yep yep okay

00:07:51.840 have you seen it in the glen

00:07:54.620 her cottage up on chicken legs better hope that she ain't home 1.00

00:08:01.760 she'll suck the marrow from your bones 0.96

00:08:04.700 oh god that's really good yeah it's way different from the slaughter to prevail song 1.00

00:08:23.600 which um yeah like one of the lyrics of that is just you're fucked cool cool yeah i was like is

00:08:32.020 it kind of like folksy like that or is it just like no it's like i'm not even gonna say what 0.88

00:08:37.940 genre of metal because people are really precious about that and i'll get it wrong

00:08:41.020 yeah like you say somebody's doing metal and they're like no they're not and you're like

00:08:44.840 okay yeah i made that mistake before i called something new metal one time and they were like

00:08:49.940 how dare you sorry so sorry kill me for it somebody was like oh tool they're like math

00:08:58.200 metal i'm like that's not a thing you just made that up because you don't know what tool are 0.95

00:09:01.540 oh my gosh if tool are math metal don't write at me and tell me i don't care

00:09:07.700 just just preempting that just yeah just keep it to yourself please

00:09:14.300 you listen to tool i'll listen to tool we'll have our different interpretations

00:09:19.180 all right so today i am talking about baba yaga as you might have guessed

00:09:28.020 and we're not going about john wick yeah i completely forgot that his nickname is baba

00:09:36.320 yaga and it really bothered me when i was watching it in like what yeah because doesn't baba mean

00:09:42.660 old woman i mean you're probably gonna tell us like all about it anyway but like doesn't mean

00:09:46.800 old woman yeah it just is very and it's not like i've never seen any of the john wick movies

00:09:53.140 but from what i know there are no similarities no no there's nothing to you know he's just

00:10:01.200 basically nicknamed that because he's a really good assassin so he's like really good at killing

00:10:05.200 people like that's that's all it is yeah which is weird makes no sense it's not like calling

00:10:13.340 oh my god never mind i'm not even gonna go there i was gonna try to like make a batman reference

00:10:18.900 yeah and then i'm like wait what's the origin story it's not like it's like a female assassin

00:10:26.160 who's older or something like that like that would make a little bit more sense who lives in

00:10:29.660 yeah yeah okay so baba yaga some believe that she is the epitome of evil one tale says that 0.98

00:10:40.580 the devil boiled 12 women in a

00:10:42.580 cauldron to create the essence of 0.99

00:10:44.480 evil. After the devil

00:10:46.400 spat into the cauldron, Baba Yaga

00:10:48.680 appeared in a burst of flames.

00:10:51.100 Wow.

00:10:52.360 That's visceral.

00:10:54.140 Yeah.

00:10:57.260 Yes.

00:10:58.660 Indeed it is. I have to say

00:11:00.660 though, this has already given me like, 0.95

00:11:02.440 I feel like I've met women like this. 1.00

00:11:05.540 I've usually 0.99

00:11:06.340 served them.

00:11:08.740 I was like, who showed up after the

00:11:10.440 devil spirit customer service capacity i'm like yeah i feel like the devil spot you art

00:11:16.640 yeah basically um but baba yaga is a witch from slavic folklore though it is debated if she could

00:11:26.260 be a representation of mother earth due to her power unpredictability and ability to control

00:11:32.020 elements or an ogress sometimes she is depicted as a heroine and other times a villain or an evil 0.58

00:11:39.060 witch in different times and different places around the world she has been known as a dead

00:11:44.300 ancestor a cannibal a night spirit who haunts the weak and unlucky an abductor who took children and 0.73

00:11:51.120 lost wanderers from the world of the living she's a threat to those who wander outside of society 0.96

00:11:57.060 if you journey too far off the beaten path in the woods there is a witch who will eat you 1.00

00:12:03.140 oh man

00:12:04.420 sounds like it's bad to be depressed around her

00:12:07.880 it's like 0.64

00:12:09.440 I come for the ones who wander outside society

00:12:12.180 and who are weak

00:12:13.080 well like weak as she perceives it

00:12:15.660 somebody's just having a bad day

00:12:18.280 they go to take a walk

00:12:19.480 your day's about to get worse

00:12:20.940 or better? I don't know

00:12:25.280 wherever you're at

00:12:26.360 true

00:12:27.620 the scholar Matthew Guthrie

00:12:30.820 compares her to the Greek goddess Persephone 0.98

00:12:33.000 and states that baba yaga is a goddess of death she is said to live in a hut that has chicken

00:12:39.920 legs made to wander the forest the hut has a mind of its own it will wander where it wants 0.95

00:12:45.280 and spin around at random there is an iron fence around her house adored with human skulls as 0.97

00:12:51.440 lanterns with their hollow eyes ablaze her fence matches her teeth which are said to also be 0.93

00:12:57.960 iron tales say that she has a gigantic oven in her house made to cook up her victims baba yaga 0.98

00:13:05.160 is said to have skeletal legs due to the fact that she is neither human nor dead she has legs 0.93

00:13:11.420 for both the human realm and the underworld because of her legs she walks with a limp 0.99

00:13:16.180 she has hollow eyes and when she lays down in her bed her nose hits the ceiling of her hut

00:13:21.920 okay because it's so big all right not because the hud is small 0.77

00:13:29.360 her interior design choices i can't fault because i too would like skulls on my fence 1.00

00:13:36.380 that light up and a big massive oven like would be not really like turning us against her here 1.00

00:13:43.340 are we like it sounds like she'd be at tk max um in august just fighting over the

00:13:49.180 the really nice the really nice halloween decorations

00:13:52.640 yeah it's so funny because like first off i'm surprised i have not covered her yet because i

00:14:00.900 love her and secondly i love her which is why i keep making designs of her yeah we're gonna have

00:14:09.560 to do like a dedicated post on instagram of all your baba yaga designs yeah i have one that i

00:14:15.720 started and I still haven't finished it which is such a bummer but hopefully soon I will be able

00:14:22.300 to finish it. Her hut is said to be modeled after northern Slavic graves. Back in ancient times there

00:14:30.080 was no way to bury the dead in the winter so they would put the bodies in the wooden huts that were

00:14:34.940 built on stilts and the stilts were to keep the wildlife from getting in or to keep the body safe

00:14:41.400 from flooding or swampy terrain the tale of baba yaga might sound familiar to those who have heard

00:14:47.500 the folk tale of hansel and gretel kids losing their way in the woods and stumbling upon a

00:14:52.900 strange house inside lives a witch who tries to eat the children yeah so i don't know is it like

00:15:00.540 you get older when you realize like maybe the kids shouldn't have trespassed maybe they should 0.99

00:15:07.740 mind their own business maybe you should mind your own damn business maybe you shouldn't go 0.83

00:15:12.520 into a stranger's home yeah i think the the moral of the story there is like don't go out into the 0.98

00:15:18.920 woods you'll lose your way and then you're screwed yeah in the tale of vasilisa the beautiful

00:15:25.240 vasilisa is said to see three of baba yaga's servants at two different occasions one dressed

00:15:31.720 in white the second in red and the third one in black when basilisa asked baba yaga who they are

00:15:38.460 she says that they represent the day the sun and the night and that she is in control of them

00:15:44.120 similarly to how mother nature controls the seasons she's also said to fly through the 0.98

00:15:49.900 forest on a mortal and use her pestle to push her forward she's accompanied by her broom to erase

00:15:55.440 her trail left behind her so she she rides around on a on a mortar and uses her so it's 0.87

00:16:02.180 kind of like a boat i'm trying to picture this yeah sort of like she isn't using the mortar

00:16:06.780 like she's sitting in the mortar and then she's using the pestle as like almost like an oar

00:16:10.500 yeah sort of and then she uses the broom to kind of sweep behind her so nobody seals 0.98

00:16:15.540 sees her trail oh my god she's just so efficient she's efficient she's an efficient lady you can

00:16:22.000 say yeah are we supposed to not like her i don't know uh yeah i feel like it's interesting and it's

00:16:28.480 kind of like i'll get to it a little bit later in the episode because there's people who talk about

00:16:33.940 um how it's kind of like she's made in this image of the woman you don't want to be

00:16:40.800 but in the modern times it's kind of become the woman that you do want to be

00:16:46.120 yep

00:16:47.340 so yeah

00:16:50.260 I love her I think she's

00:16:52.400 great in some tales 0.97

00:16:54.300 Baba Yaga commands a flock

00:16:56.260 of black geese who serve her

00:16:58.380 by searching the woods for little lost 1.00

00:17:00.360 children metal as fuck 0.99

00:17:02.560 right I was like I want 0.99

00:17:04.520 a flock of black geese

00:17:05.720 yeah I don't think I've ever seen a black goose

00:17:08.500 let's google it 0.92

00:17:10.100 because I haven't either

00:17:11.340 yeah like Canadian geese are like

00:17:14.360 black and grey right

00:17:15.980 uh yeah and filled filled with hatred i actually love them i feel like they're misunderstood

00:17:22.840 i just know like ewan disturbed a nesting canada goose when he worked there yeah um on a rooftop

00:17:33.100 got like chased by the mother i'm like well that's a you thing like clearly you shouldn't have been

00:17:39.340 up there yeah he was like he was just annoyed because he had to call the authorities because

00:17:43.000 you're not supposed to like go near them because they're like protected and stuff oh interesting

00:17:47.180 it's like so inconvenient he had to call them just because he was near them yeah because like

00:17:56.020 she was nesting on the rooftop and i think they like have to know oh okay they just had to like

00:18:02.440 the authorities just had to know like if if it needed to be removed or something like that like

00:18:06.660 just for the goose's welfare.

00:18:08.040 Relocated.

00:18:08.600 For her goslings.

00:18:10.860 Aw.

00:18:12.200 It looks like there are black geese,

00:18:13.760 and they look pretty cool.

00:18:16.120 They have orangish-red beaks.

00:18:19.800 Rent geese?

00:18:21.860 Rent geese.

00:18:22.460 Oh, they are cool.

00:18:24.660 Okay, one of them is a swan.

00:18:26.300 That is definitely a swan.

00:18:27.380 That is not a goose. 1.00

00:18:30.180 Stop trying to fake me out with your fake black geese. 1.00

00:18:34.400 That is a swan that you colored black. 1.00

00:18:36.660 brent geese are light-bellied they're canadian geese is that just a canadian

00:18:42.720 is this just another name who's brent

00:18:44.620 also i don't know if this is true or not but i heard that canadian geese are not

00:18:52.880 canadian that it's named after somebody who discovered them who was named canada

00:19:00.040 so it's like canada shut up really i don't know if that's a fact or not

00:19:04.700 okay this has brought me to bird watch ireland and said we get canadian geese here where

00:19:11.260 oh my god it's so cute it has this has um like a phonetic spelling of what they're called sounds

00:19:18.640 like it says it's a guttural r-h-u-t so it's brought

00:19:23.180 okay

00:19:27.340 the Canada goose is named for John Canada

00:19:33.400 the ornithologist who separated the species from other geese

00:19:37.340 my life is a lie

00:19:40.440 you're welcome 1.00

00:19:41.420 holy shit 0.97

00:19:43.380 so because I heard they're not 0.99

00:19:44.940 you would never call them Canadian geese

00:19:47.480 because they're not Canadian

00:19:49.320 they're just Canada geese

00:19:51.400 whoa

00:19:52.620 that's crazy

00:19:54.580 things you thought you would not learn on this episode

00:19:57.480 for 400

00:19:58.780 I also didn't know that they migrated here 1.00

00:20:03.500 that's nuts 1.00

00:20:05.220 into my county what 0.93

00:20:07.240 literally my town what the hell

00:20:09.320 they're in my county 0.53

00:20:10.360 they're in my town

00:20:12.900 there's a little thing here I'm gonna go find them

00:20:14.880 actually no I'm not they're gonna chase me

00:20:16.620 no go find them I love geese

00:20:18.540 I'm like the goose whisperer too because every time we go to a park

00:20:21.420 they kind of creep up to me and they look at me and stuff

00:20:25.380 and Medardo's always like, I don't know what's with you.

00:20:28.220 They just are very curious about you.

00:20:30.200 I'm like, it's because I respect them.

00:20:33.840 You emit common geese energy.

00:20:39.620 I got that CGE common geese energy.

00:20:45.900 Anyway, back to Baba Yaga.

00:20:49.100 she appears in a handful of different tales and she acts in different ways sometimes she is

00:20:56.160 helpful and sometimes she's wise and sometimes she's pure evil in the tale of vasilisa the

00:21:02.880 beautiful vasilisa's mother dies and gives her a magic doll vasilisa's father remarries bringing

00:21:09.740 a horrible stepmother and two stepsisters into vasilisa's life the stepmother and her daughters

00:21:15.380 similarly to the tale of cinderella force vasilisa to do a lot of the chores while they sit back and 0.99

00:21:21.760 relax like freeloaders bitches fortunately the magic doll is helpful to vasilisa in doing all 0.98

00:21:30.540 of these chores when her father has to go away for a long trip she is put under the care of her 0.99

00:21:36.400 stepmother who sends her out into the forest to get fire from baba yaga because the fire at

00:21:41.680 Vasilisa's house had gone out. Vasilisa was scared, but her magic doll assured her that she would be

00:21:48.680 okay. Once arriving at Baba Yaga's house, Baba Yaga agrees to let Vasilisa take some fire, but

00:21:55.620 only if she can complete a few tasks first. However, these tasks are nearly impossible for

00:22:01.860 anyone to accomplish. The first night, Baba Yaga asked Vasilisa to go to the corn bin and separate

00:22:08.160 the corn seed by seed

00:22:09.820 the good ones from the mildewed ones 0.99

00:22:12.100 and then to remove all of the black 1.00

00:22:14.260 bits but to also 0.50

00:22:16.300 prepare for dinner 0.77

00:22:17.320 so she made her do

00:22:20.180 a lot 0.99

00:22:20.580 if she was unable to

00:22:24.200 finish this task Baba Yaga 0.98

00:22:26.160 threatened to eat her

00:22:27.380 panicked

00:22:28.680 I was going to make a joke about

00:22:33.600 an old serving job that I had

00:22:35.900 but I'm like yeah the worst I would have to do is stay late

00:22:37.960 nobody was eating you no i might have done it then

00:22:43.560 i might have done the dishes panicked vasilisa turned to her magic doll who assured her that

00:22:51.920 everything would be fine in the morning vasilisa found her doll finishing up the task of separating

00:22:56.940 the corn the doll instructed her to go inside and work on dinner baba yaga was upset that vasilisa

00:23:03.820 was able to finish the task because she really 1.00

00:23:05.940 wanted to eat her. 0.94

00:23:07.840 So Baba Yaga... 0.98

00:23:10.860 You hate that?

00:23:11.740 Don't you hate when you don't get to eat somebody?

00:23:14.940 Yeah, I hate when

00:23:15.900 my dinner actually succeeds. 1.00

00:23:17.840 Yeah, stupid. 1.00

00:23:20.680 So Baba Yaga 1.00

00:23:21.700 came up with more tasks for the upcoming

00:23:23.880 night. She instructed

00:23:25.720 Vasilisa to do the same thing that night

00:23:27.960 but also to go to the storeroom 0.69

00:23:29.800 to sort out the dirt from the poppy seeds.

00:23:31.960 baba yaga shocked again asked vasilisa how she was able to finish the tasks

00:23:38.280 vasilisa replied that it was due to her blessings from her mother baba yaga shoved her out the door

00:23:44.800 and said there will be no blessings in my house but followed her but she followed through on her

00:23:51.180 word handing vasilisa one of her skull lanterns and sending her away what just laughing at like

00:23:59.480 you totally would be like 1.00

00:24:02.160 this smug little bra 1.00

00:24:04.460 being like oh I was able to do it because of blessings 1.00

00:24:06.560 from my mother and you're like shut up 0.98

00:24:08.440 get out of my house 1.00

00:24:09.780 get out of my house 0.99

00:24:12.580 and take my skull lantern with you 1.00

00:24:13.980 yeah she was evil she don't want blessings in her 1.00

00:24:16.500 house 0.73

00:24:16.900 when she arrived back at home the skull 0.98

00:24:20.540 fixed its burning eyes upon

00:24:22.220 Vasily's step family

00:24:23.580 they tried to run but its gaze followed

00:24:26.440 them wherever they would go and burn them 0.92

00:24:28.380 alive until there was nothing 1.00

00:24:29.860 left but ash.

00:24:32.000 That seems 0.99

00:24:32.900 fucking insane. That's so metal. 0.99

00:24:36.640 So just the skull

00:24:38.440 was able to do this? Yeah.

00:24:40.060 The skull was sticking up for her. 0.90

00:24:42.500 Okay, maybe I don't want the skull. 0.99

00:24:47.820 Maybe

00:24:48.340 change my mind on the skull lantern

00:24:50.420 thing.

00:24:51.940 I can't be totally trusted with candles,

00:24:54.560 so.

00:24:58.380 It would just be worse for the skull with the burning eyes of death.

00:25:01.100 Yeah.

00:25:02.680 Able to set ablaze.

00:25:03.860 Oh no, I left my burning eyes of death going.

00:25:07.420 My cat knocked it over.

00:25:08.780 Oh my gosh.

00:25:09.560 Can you imagine?

00:25:10.480 That would be something that would happen.

00:25:13.020 Yeah. 1.00

00:25:13.540 Cats knock it over.

00:25:14.680 And then they're like, oh, what'd I do? 0.99

00:25:17.460 Ripley has set her tail on fire three times since we moved here.

00:25:20.480 Oh my gosh. 0.98

00:25:22.820 I swear she never went near candles before. 0.88

00:25:25.820 my sister-in-law our previous first and only guest that we had on the show melina

00:25:31.460 when they had their cats were still pretty young but the one cat i was like what's wrong with its

00:25:38.300 whiskers like what is they were all like like crinkled up kind of weird yeah and i was just

00:25:46.060 like what the hell's happening and then i saw her walking on like the tv stand next to all the 0.78

00:25:51.720 candles that were up there 1.00

00:25:53.060 and I was like oh my god she's like burning 1.00

00:25:55.540 her whiskers 1.00

00:25:56.640 Cas can be so smart and so dumb 1.00

00:25:59.820 at the same time 1.00

00:26:00.780 they figure it out

00:26:02.180 they figure out how to survive somehow

00:26:04.660 against all odds

00:26:06.280 but yeah so the story of Vasilisa

00:26:11.780 still has evil

00:26:13.640 themes within it but it shows that 0.90

00:26:15.420 Baba Yaga is not all bad

00:26:17.400 she kept to her word by not eating 1.00

00:26:19.460 Vasilisa and then

00:26:21.280 she also sent her home with what she promised

00:26:23.380 her so it's

00:26:25.460 kind of like

00:26:25.980 you know she's evil but she's chill

00:26:29.200 yeah she's like 0.99

00:26:31.400 the older lady at work that you're like 0.99

00:26:33.580 she's kind of mean to you 0.99

00:26:35.400 but at the same time if there is

00:26:37.360 somebody else being mean to you she stands up for you

00:26:39.620 right yeah

00:26:40.740 we need more people like that

00:26:43.100 for sure I wanted to

00:26:45.320 read this quote about

00:26:47.560 um

00:26:48.620 what the name baba yaga potentially means i was gonna try to put it in my own words but it just

00:26:54.920 feels better to read it it could be argued that whatever may have inspired the figure is irrelevant

00:27:01.100 as she became known as the personification of evil no single interpretation of her origin

00:27:07.540 is universally agreed upon and the same is true for her name in old russian in old russian the

00:27:15.440 word baba could refer to a midwife sorceress or fortune teller and the standard modern russian

00:27:21.220 word for grandmother which is babushka is derived from it baba in modern russian is also a pejorative

00:27:29.020 term for a woman the origin and meaning of yaga is far more obscure and has inspired several

00:27:35.540 different interpretations among linguistics among the many possibilities suggested are disease

00:27:41.020 illness horror chill wicked wood nymph witch evil woman rage fury anger torture pain and worry

00:27:54.120 serpent snake uncle's wife stepmother aunt and mother um john's a very list

00:28:04.160 john cites that scholar brian cooper who claims that the name suggests a personification of

00:28:09.780 suffocating oppression and

00:28:11.740 concludes that, in spite of its obscure

00:28:14.020 origins, Baba Yaga's name is

00:28:15.780 well known throughout Russia. Like

00:28:17.720 the word witch, Yaga was used

00:28:19.720 by villagers as an unflattering

00:28:21.960 designation for old, quarrelsome 1.00

00:28:24.100 and ugly woman. 1.00

00:28:25.740 The name can generally be understood then 0.99

00:28:27.720 to mean grandmother witch,

00:28:30.180 even if that is not a direct

00:28:31.600 translation. This quote

00:28:33.740 is by Joshua J. Mark

00:28:35.480 on an article on Baba Yaga.

00:28:38.620 I 1.00

00:28:39.780 love the whole like old quarrelsome woman like that's just we should all we should all aim to 0.99

00:28:46.960 be that yeah quarrelsome women yeah that's like i um i think we've talked about it before on the

00:28:55.280 show how it's kind of like that like the i forget what it's called but it's like the maiden mother

00:29:02.380 crone um keep wanting to say trifecta that's not the right word trinity trinity triad maybe

00:29:09.860 um but it's kind of like everybody aspires to be the maiden and like society tells us that that's 0.98

00:29:18.200 what you're supposed to be just like young and beautiful and virginal and all this other stupid

00:29:24.860 stuff but i'm really appreciating all the women who are starting to embrace the sort of like 1.00

00:29:31.680 crone aspect

00:29:33.460 where they're like

00:29:35.240 no I'm growing out my grey hair

00:29:37.200 I'm embracing my wrinkles

00:29:38.580 and I'm gonna scare little children

00:29:41.240 one day

00:29:42.420 yeah you want

00:29:45.500 them to like

00:29:46.460 be scared of your house when they're

00:29:49.420 trick-or-treating yeah they're like why is that house

00:29:51.440 covered in vines and spider webs

00:29:53.820 but when they actually come you're the best

00:29:55.580 house to go to right

00:29:56.780 full-size candy bars

00:29:58.940 yes and also

00:30:01.500 in costume when when we answer the door yeah although it's not a costume it's just how we

00:30:06.800 regularly dress yeah yeah it's just this is this is my my lunging robes

00:30:13.880 that make me look like a rich widow slash witch yeah with the like cruella de vil cigarette

00:30:23.420 oh yes 0.75

00:30:25.140 just with incense in it

00:30:30.640 yeah

00:30:31.140 honestly that's a good idea

00:30:34.400 that's goals

00:30:36.080 yeah we need to make those

00:30:37.520 yeah

00:30:38.640 she has been a legend for a very long time

00:30:41.980 she appears in artwork dated back

00:30:44.020 as early as the 17th century

00:30:45.760 and she is written in text dating back

00:30:48.100 to 1755

00:30:49.360 she acts mainly as a warning for children

00:30:52.260 to stay close to their parents and to not wander off i love that like as a species humans have just

00:31:00.400 always known that like children will not listen if you just tell them right so you have to tell

00:31:05.720 them a scary story that will burn it into their brain right and like the that's how we pass on

00:31:13.400 our warnings through folklore yeah i will never forget hearing the little boy who cried wolf when

00:31:18.540 i was a kid oh yeah my parents telling me that story and it's like yeah it's basically like

00:31:25.120 shut up don't cry unless something's really wrong yeah true baba yaga has come to quote

00:31:35.720 embody the concept of feminine power and emancipation in the modern age end quote 0.98

00:31:41.360 because of the fact that she lives on her own on the outside of society and its norms and she 0.97

00:31:47.480 lives according to her own rules she is the opposite of society's traditional ideal woman 0.99

00:31:53.060 she is unmarried and instead of having children she has chosen to eat them instead 0.98

00:31:58.340 this is my final quote the essence of baba yaga exists in many cultures and many stories 0.97

00:32:05.540 and symbolizes the unpredictable and untamable nature of the female spirit of mother earth and

00:32:12.080 the relationship of the women to the wild she's a shamanic trickster a category and boundary 0.56

00:32:19.280 crosser a reminder that freedom lies a little beyond the border of social norms and that we

00:32:24.900 can learn as much from the dark as the light end quote that's from lindy ryan the editor of into

00:32:31.320 the forest tales of baba yaga wow i love that i love that it's um like it's it's it says a lot

00:32:42.420 that you know like as you were saying instead of having children she's chosen to eat them

00:32:47.620 it's just like especially in the times when like baba yaga stories were being you know constantly

00:32:54.000 retold that was the only options it's like there's no in between yeah either you're having

00:33:00.640 children or you hate them unlike you know there might be a middle ground there yeah that we can

00:33:08.780 explore and this goes back to like the witch episodes that we did how it's like it always 0.61

00:33:15.740 comes back to a woman and her sort of like duty to procreate yeah and there's nothing as scary

00:33:26.260 as we said there's nothing as scary as a woman who isn't like interested in that or she doesn't 0.80

00:33:32.840 see that as her function in life right a single childless woman is very scary to a lot of people

00:33:38.700 yeah and currently in u.s politics yeah and there are like there just seems to be this like cultural 0.64

00:33:46.620 is it even a cultural divide but like oh my god if you look in the comment section of any post

00:33:53.480 that's talking about like i love being child free uh or you will never know the love that you

00:33:59.040 well you will never know love until you have a child like people love like fighting against

00:34:05.520 whatever the opposite like you know they make it a lot of child free people will make it like part

00:34:10.800 of their identity right and it's just like i get it like sometimes it's fun just to just be like

00:34:16.820 i like sleeping in on the weekends and i like having a glass of wine whenever i feel like it

00:34:21.840 but it's also you're acting like you have no other responsibilities like people with our

00:34:26.180 children have lots of other responsibilities right yeah that's like you can't just leave

00:34:31.480 and go live in another country because you feel like it you know you have jobs and partners and

00:34:35.900 family and stuff like that yeah i had been talking to some people about that and i was like you can

00:34:42.080 be child free that is totally fine i'm not one of those people who if you say i don't want kids i

00:34:47.580 will ask you why i will not ask why i would just say oh well cool like that's your choice i don't

00:34:53.660 care it's your life but the like the weird smugness and the like all-encompassing sort of

00:35:04.040 identity stuff that comes with it is very strange to me and i feel the same way about people who

00:35:10.580 are just like i'm a mom that's what i do i'm a mom it's like you are more than a mom you are

00:35:15.880 more than a childless person i do internally cringe if i see somebody like introduce themselves

00:35:22.200 like say like in a bio or like whatever it is as just x's mom and you're just like who were you

00:35:30.860 before that like before like five years ago when you had your child yeah you know you were a whole

00:35:35.520 person before that and after that person that's something that yeah not to like delve into it too

00:35:40.640 much but that's something that i've struggled with is like okay this is uh kind of taking over

00:35:47.040 my life right now but that's not always going to be that way there's going to be a day where my

00:35:52.920 children have grown and they don't really need me that much of course i'll still be their mom

00:35:58.580 but it's not going to be like my full-time job yeah and you're still also allowed to this is a

00:36:05.100 side note as well because I do notice that some of my like mother friends or like people I know

00:36:12.700 who I'm related to and stuff who are mothers they're very slow about celebrating their own

00:36:19.200 accomplishments or like telling you like hey I did this or hey I've done that but like they'll

00:36:25.060 always tell you about what their kids have done and you're just like that's great obviously I'm

00:36:29.780 so happy for you but like you know you're also allowed to be like proud of yourself that you did

00:36:35.720 this yeah that you managed to do something or that like you know whether it's like you learned

00:36:41.600 something new or you like you you went somewhere new or you like are part of a new group or

00:36:47.240 something like that yeah um I think there's a lot of like people showing off their kids and

00:36:52.640 forgetting to show off themselves and what they've done yeah it can be I think that's that all ties

00:36:58.500 into that like the identity is getting absorbed in parenthood right and you sort of i think

00:37:05.800 instinctually you kind of stop centering yourself because you have a child and it is like how you

00:37:13.200 said that oh it's the the greatest love you'll ever know or whatever like that it's that's true

00:37:19.140 but um so i think you know you kind of like shift your focus to your kids

00:37:28.540 and but i think kind of like society expects that of you like you're kind of just supposed

00:37:36.460 to become like background noise yeah which i think there can be a good good balance of that

00:37:45.100 as well like this is also leading into the next episode that we're going to be doing we're going

00:37:51.920 to see a lot of that reeling against what society especially expects of mothers um in my episode

00:37:59.960 which i will not say yet what it is because you guys can just wait i love how our podcast has

00:38:07.240 just become neve and emily talk about folklore and women's issues yeah i actually i just started

00:38:15.800 like tagging all of our stuff feminist folklore because that's it's pretty much what it is yeah

00:38:21.480 yeah and then we start it's a good people start it's a really good snapshot and like yeah we're

00:38:29.200 not turfs um it's a really good snapshot into like what people thought of women especially

00:38:39.360 right like but throughout folklore throughout folk history yeah throughout oral tradition

00:38:45.600 and like up until today because it's while it seems like these things have stopped they haven't

00:38:51.660 they've just kind of like changed how they present themselves yeah and i feel like it's only in like

00:38:58.700 even fairy tale wise i feel like it's only in the last say 20 years that and a lot of it's disney

00:39:04.580 and like disney has its faults but it's sort of one good like marketing thing that they did was

00:39:09.360 started centering princesses yeah a little bit more and like giving them their own story and

00:39:14.140 their own motivations and you know friendships and that it's not not all just about like being

00:39:20.700 rescued and all that right which is it's cool to see like that's not how we grew up right like

00:39:26.640 it's a lot different now for little girls yeah we grew up thinking that like stockholm syndrome

00:39:31.580 is the way you're supposed to fall in love with somebody yeah sometimes i'm just like

00:39:36.880 i really need to examine myself like like what what my favorite like disney movies were i'm like

00:39:42.960 beauty and the beast does i want to be taken prisoner i i i blame beauty and the beast for

00:39:50.600 my love for like reading like enemies to lovers like romantic books because i'm just like yeah

00:39:57.280 they just need to hate each other for the first like 250 pages otherwise i'm not gonna buy it

00:40:02.640 that's like you say it's pride and prejudice maybe it's beauty and the beast there are so

00:40:07.580 many people that i've met who are married to a person who are like when i first met them i hated

00:40:12.880 them and i'm like how does that work neve no

00:40:16.820 all right let's file some divorce papers just kidding

00:40:22.480 yeah but it's i think it's maybe it's the the natural like it's the aversion to love bombing

00:40:31.220 um because love bombing would be like the 100 like that would not never work on me because i'd

00:40:37.300 like yeah you're you're coming on a bit strong i don't remember if i said it i've said it on

00:40:42.900 this podcast but madardo and i met on like a dating site and um we've been talking for

00:40:49.460 a couple weeks at this point and he asked me for my phone number and i told him no

00:40:54.660 and it's so funny that he was just like oh okay he was like it kind of hurt a little

00:41:02.880 oh but i like i explained it to him i was like i'm just like kind of uncomfortable giving people

00:41:08.200 my phone number when i like still don't really know them it's like nothing against you yeah

00:41:14.360 and yeah it's like safety

00:41:16.420 yeah that's that's a tough thing it's like how do you get past that like you're a stranger

00:41:22.720 yeah yeah it's you know like i met you in three friends so i skipped over that he was like

00:41:28.820 verified by others so

00:41:30.140 he had a little blue tick 1.00

00:41:31.660 and they were all like yeah he's an asshole 1.00

00:41:34.180 oh my gosh 1.00

00:41:35.680 oh my gosh

00:41:39.440 and now it's time for you guys to get a goat

00:41:41.240 get a goat?

00:41:44.220 yeah did you not read my message to you on the discord?

00:41:48.780 oh yes 0.73

00:41:49.560 yeah I'm pushing for a goat

00:41:51.460 for you guys

00:41:52.400 a goat? we have room for a goat across the road

00:41:54.900 see?

00:41:56.040 we probably attack people

00:41:56.760 it has to happen

00:41:58.880 it's all coming together

00:42:00.980 yes anywho thank you

00:42:03.260 all so much for listening

00:42:04.980 we hope that you

00:42:06.740 enjoy this episode's not

00:42:09.200 going to be as long the next episode

00:42:11.320 is probably not going to be as long as our

00:42:13.020 usual episodes but there are

00:42:15.200 little there are stumps

00:42:17.380 as Niamh calls them

00:42:18.580 yeah we're like they're not pine cones

00:42:21.060 and they're not rolling in pine they are stumps

00:42:23.400 yeah

00:42:23.860 maybe like a tree without its branches

00:42:27.520 is that still a stump

00:42:30.120 yeah I think so

00:42:31.920 okay

00:42:32.380 just so we stay on your feed

00:42:35.880 we don't disappear because the other option

00:42:37.760 is that we just stop posting and nobody wants that

00:42:39.820 yeah do you want content

00:42:41.680 or not

00:42:42.280 and on that note I'm Emily

00:42:47.000 and I am Niamh

00:42:49.340 thanks for listening to Rowan and Pine 0.98

00:42:51.780 fuck yeah folklore 0.96

00:42:52.800 Thanks for listening. 1.00

00:42:54.080 Fuck yeah, folklore. 1.00

00:42:55.120 Da-da-da. 1.00

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Rowan & Pine: A Feminist Folklore & Mythology Podcast - August 14, 2024

Episode Thirty-Six： Baba Yaga - C.G.E (Calming Geese Energy)

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