Interview with Harafyna Makoviy: 1993

Chernivtsi Television, 1993. The program “What I See,” hosted by Vasyl Selezinka.

The video features an interview with Harafyna Makoviy, a folklore teacher from the village of Velykyi Kuchuriv in the Storozhynets District. She discusses the books *The Golden Wreath from Grandma’s Chest* and *The Trampled Blossom*, as well as education, interaction with nature, folk healing, faith in God, and a connection with nature.

Interviewers: Halyna Tarasyuk, writer; Ivan Kholomeniuk, artist.

Background: Garafyna Makoviy was born on February 2, 1949, in the village of Velykyi Kuchuriv, Chernivtsi Oblast. She worked as a teacher of Ukrainian language, literature, and folklore in her native village. She founded the “Berehynia” Museum of Everyday Life and Ethnography at the school.

She has written over a thousand publications on local history and research about her native region, as well as literary essays, personal observations, and reflections on the topics of upbringing, pedagogy, and morality. She has published books on folklore based on her research of her native village.

Starting in the 1990s, she began holding private sessions, revealing to people the “secret of sin,” which she claimed had been revealed to her through a direct divine revelation. In 1995, she founded the “Fakel” society and the publishing house of the same name, began publishing the nationwide ethnographic newspaper “Economically Pious Herald,” and ceased holding private consultations.

In 2003, her 18-year-old daughter Maria died. Following this, Garafina Makoviy founded the “Torch in Memory of Maria” Folklore and Educational Center to replace the “Torch” Society. The publishing house also adopted the same name.

She died on March 13, 2021, and was buried in Velykyi Kuchuriv.