Palóc

Although their origins are unclear, the Palóc seem to have some sort of connections with the Khazar, Kabar, Pechenegs, Cuman and especially with the Avar tribes.

The residence of the Palócs extends to the often-mentioned Palócföld (Palócland), which used to belong to Hont and Gömör and Kishont counties, and today it covers partly Slovakian and partly Hungarian areas (Pest, Nógrád, Heves, and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén counties): Cserhát, Mátra, Bükk mountains and north of these horizontal basin and the Ipoly Valley - nearly 150 settlements.

Their own specific ancient name is "had", which is the name of all the Palócs living in the same community who bear the same surname, even if they are form a separate family.

According to Bakó Ferenc, ethnographer and museologist, the Palóc people are the direct descendants of the Pannonian Avars and some Székely and Khazar fractions.

[2] According to Magyar Adorján, historian and ethnographer, the Avars and early Palócs have identical folk symbolism with the same central elements as the “sun cross” or the circle “variga” or “vár”, which had the same meaning in both folklore.