Witches, it was believed, went unbelted.

[kleenexwoman]

Lookin' up Russian folklore and fairy tales, particularly death folklore. I love Baba Yaga stories, but I realized I haven't read that many, and I conflate Baba Yaga with the fairytale function of witches in general, which naturally has been highly informed by Grimm's fairytales. Russian folklore is amazing. I wish I still had Gail around so I could ask her stuff.

This is proving to be very useful.

Comments

[kleenexwoman.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do remember that particular story. Thank you. And yeah, the Vassilisa story is really the one Baba-Jaga story I'm familiar with--the "good witch/evil witch" dichotomy and the idea of the hut as a place of initiation is a really interesting one, and something I definitely haven't seen as much in Western fairy tales.