 Scholarly theories note the similarities between the táltos of Hungarian folklore and Siberian shamans , but the existence of shamans among the ancient Magyars cannot be proven . Many elements of the Hungarian religious vocabulary , including boszorkány ( " witch " ) , elbűvöl ( " to charm " ) , and the ancient Hungarian word for holy ( igy or egy ) , are of Turkic origin . Many of these loanwords were adopted into their Christian vocabulary : búcsú ( indulgence ) , bűn ( sin ) , gyón ( confess ) , isten ( god ) , and ördög ( devil ) . According to Gyula László , a Hungarian children 's verse that refers to a fife , a drum , and a reed violin preserves the memory of a pagan ritual for expelling harmful spirits by raising great noise . The refrain of another children 's verse , which mentions three days of the week in reverse order , may have preserved an ancient belief in the existence of an afterlife world where everything is upside @-@ down . 
