Molfar

Molfar (Ukrainian: мольфар) is a traditional Hutsul magician and healer in the Ukrainian Carpathians who is believed to possess supernatural abilities. The image of the molfar was formed within the folk culture of Hutsulshchyna and is associated with a syncretic combination of pagan beliefs and Christian practices. In folk tradition, molfars are also referred to as soothsayers, seers, healers, and sorcerers. Widespread interest in molfars arose in the early 20th century after the publication of Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky’s novella Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1911) and its film adaptation by Sergei Parajanov (1964).