Russian Fairytales

There is a long tradition of Russian fairy tales, known as skazki. These stories have been an important part of Russian culture for centuries and were often shared orally, passed down from generation to generation. These stories which featured gods, spirits, and mythical creatures were used to explain natural phenomena, provide warnings about behavior, teaching societal norms and values, and for entertainment. Unlike in many western cultures where fairy tales are mainly for children, folk stories in Russia were told to all ages and were an accepted part of everyday beliefs.

When Christianity came to Russia in the 12th century, priests tried to ban fairy tales and folklore. However, the stories were so fully engrained in everyday culture that the stories wouldn’t go away. Instead, the church was forced to adapt, combining religious stories with traditional beliefs. One major change was the emphasis on female characters. Many Russian folk stories featured wise, older women who advised and guided heroes, while others featured female heroes. The church largely diminished these roles, especially of one of the most famous Russian folk characters, Baba Yaga. In the earliest stories, Baba Yaga was a goddess who lived in the forest, representing regeneration and the crossing between life and death, similar to Mother Nature, but more powerful. She served as a counselor to heroes and leaders and travelled freely throughout the country to serve Russia. However, later versions of Baba Yaga treat her as simply a witch and someone who should not be trusted.

In the 19th century, Russian authors wanted to write down and preserve this literary legacy. Sometimes, they adapted the stories to ‘improve’ them, often changing them to fit in with social norms at the time, changing the original meaning of the stories. Even with the changes, the stories were preserved and could be studied as an academic field for the first time. Stories were categorized for the first time with household stories, animal tales, and heroic stories among the most common. In the 1850s Alexander Afanasyev collected and published nearly 600 Russian fairy and folk tales, one of the largest collections of folklore in the world. In this collection, he included Russian folk tales as well as stories from Ukraine and Belarus. Many of the stories in this collection were used by Russian composers. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov used The Snow Maiden and Sadko, while Igor Stravinsky set to music The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Soldier’s Tale.

After the Communist Revolution in 1918, folk stories faced another threat. Some Soviet leaders thought that these legends didn’t align with Communist ideals and wanted to try and ban them. The author Maxim Gorky was a powerful champion of folk stories and argued that these fairy tales did fit in with the new government’s beliefs and could help foster a sense of patriotism. Throughout the 1920s collections of fairy tales and folk tales were made to preserve them. Authors also wrote new fairy tales, such as Peter and the Wolf, which helped to impart communist ideals or to extoll the current political leaders. After the Soviet Union collapsed, the original folklore and fairy tales of the country were still popular and widely known. Although these stories may be unfamiliar to us, there is a long and rich legacy of stories that are wonderful to explore.

Check out your local library or see if you can find these stories online and read a new fairy tale!