The second day of Easter is called “vízbevető hétfő” (thrown-to-water Monday) in some areas of Hungary, because this is the day of sprinkling. In former times young girls were dragged out by force to the well or the water trough and poured with a bucket of water, or taken by the creek and bathed. Men used to went from house to house to sprinkle girls while singing and rhyming, for which they got red eggs in return. Sprinkling originates from the ancient rite of fertility and purgation. The cleansing power of water in Christianity is linked to the christening ceremony. Sprinkling is a widespread custom even nowadays in a gentler form, boys and men sprinkle the girls with cologne generally; but mainly in the countryside, sprinkling with cold well-water is still common. Boys tell sprinkler poems this time. One of the oldest and most traditional sprinkler poems is the following:

Szépen kérem az anyját,
Adja elő a lányát,
Hadd locsolom a haját,
Hadd nőjjön nagyra,
Mint a csikó farka,
Még annál is nagyobbra,
Mint a Duna hossza!
Szabad-e locsolni?

(I’m asking the mother nicely Give her daughter out to me Let me sprinkle her hair To make it grow longer As long as the tail of the foal As long as the length of the Danube! May I sprinkle her?