Also, their palinka wasn’t the same thing you’d normally get in Hungary. In Hungary it’s normally a very strong drink, containing about 50-60% alcohol. The shepherds had the strong stuff but had mixed it with something else resulting with a drink containing perhaps 20% alcohol, and called that palinka. I’m not an expert but my guess that’s one way how the Hungarian and Romanian cultures can mix.

In general, the people of Hungarian origin in the region (and there are lots of them) have many of their own traditions and want to distinguish themselves from the Romanian culture. Even when they have been born in Romania and therefore have Romanian nationality they prefer to call themselves Hungarians. That’s a difference from the Swedish speaking minority in Finland, where they wouldn’t call themselves Swedes. (There’s a separate word ‘finlandssvensk’ which means a Swedish speaking Finn.)