Baba is an old Turkic term = both male and female

[Yuri Tambovtsev]

Snezhnaja baba - it is not a Snow Woman in the usual sense. Baba is an old Turkic term for a statue in the Stepp. The stepp babas were made of stone. Later, the tradition was transfered on the Snow Statue. The Stone Babas in Siberia are still sacred for the peoples of Siberia. In the Northern Uralic taiga-forests the native Mansi made this Babas of wood. These wood statues saved Mansi from the evil spirits. The modern dances around Snow Babas are the results of these believes. I met a lot of such wood dolls during my expeditions in 1973 - 1986 to the Mansi territories in the North Urals. These Mansi babas are both male and female spirits. Hope it helps to understand the phenominon of the Snow Babas. Looking forward to hearing to yutamb at mail.ru  Yours sincerely Yuri Tambovtsev
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