CHAPTER V.
THE CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY.
The Hungarians, when entering their present homes, were heathens, and professed what is called Shamanism, the faith common to all the branches of the vast Uralo-Altaic race, and which has survived to this day amongst the populations of Southern Siberia and Western Mongolia. The doctrines and principles of Shamanism being generally but little known, it is proper to sketch here its outlines, in order to make clear the character of the Hungarian religious rites and customs.
The believers in Shamanism adored one Supreme Being called Isten, a word borrowed from the Persians, who attach to it to this day the meaning of God. Besides the supreme being, they adored sundry spirits or protecting deities, such as the gods of the mountains, woods, springs, rivers, fire, thunder, etc. These divinities were adored either by prayers or through sacrifices offered to them in the recesses of woods, or near springs. What these prayers of the Hungarians were we do not know; we can form, however, some idea of their character on reading the prayers of the present Shaman worshippers, a specimen of which is here subjoined:
“O, thou God living above, Abiash!
Who hast clad the earth with grass,
Who hast given leaves to the tree,
Who hast provided the calves with flesh,