Fierce Feminine Divinities of Eurasia and Latin America ― Baba Yaga, Kal, Pombagira, and Santa Muerte

Contrary to the image of peaceful, maternal divine figures such as the Virgin Mary, there exists a gamut of fierce female divinities. Although distant geographically, these divine figures are surprisingly similar–representing concepts of liminality, outsiderhood, and structural inferiority, embodied in the divine feminine. These strong, independent, unrestrained figures are commonly and full of magical powers, including power over sexuality, transformation, and death. Malgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba offers a study of the origin and worship of four feminine deities across cultures and continents: the Slavic Baba Yaga, the Hindu goddess Ka¯li¯, the Brazilian Pombagira, and the Mexican Santa Muerte. Responding to a growing interest in fierce feminine archetypes and syncretic religions, Oleszkiewicz-Peralba examines how sacred icons have been adapted and transformed across time and place.

Malgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba is Associate Professor of Latin American Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio, USA. Her publications include The Black Madonna in Latin America and Europe: Tradition and Transformation (2007), and Teatro popular peruano: del precolombino al siglo XX (1995), as well as numerous scholarly book chapters and articles.