Shamanistic remnants in Hungarian folklore

Studies of files of witch trials reveal that some features of Hungarian folklore are remnants of shamanistic beliefs, maintained from the deep past, or possibly borrowed from Turkic peoples with whom Hungarians lived before wandering to the Pannonian Basin;[4] or maybe is an effect of Eastern influence thereafter (Cuman immigration).

The combined results of several sciences suggest that this area was north of Central Ural Mountains and on lower and middle parts of the Ob River.

This approach combined ecological, namely phytogeographical and paleobotanic (including palynological[9]) data together with linguistic (phytonymic and comparative) considerations: the distribution of various tree species in Siberia and Eastern Europe (changing over time) was matched against the distribution of the respective tree-names in various Uralic languages (filtered with comparative methods, so that only names of Proto-Uralic relevance be taken into account).

Examples can be found in several north Eurasian cultures and in some Inuit groups[17][18][19] as well as Hungarians.

Its feared nature can be seen, as it features also in curse expressions: “Vigyen el az íz!” (= “the shadow soul take you!”).