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Independent military history author and researcher. Coffee tips are appreciated! https://t.co/t1EjNrIZ2c Now also at https://t.co/4qGQ2ffHJJ

Dec 2, 2022, 15 tweets

1/ Three yurts are to be sent from the Russian republic of Buryatia to protect Buryat soldiers fighting in Ukraine from HIMARS attacks. Shamans will use them to restore the souls of shell-shocked soldiers and to obtain assistance from the spirits of ancient Hun warriors. ⬇️

2/ A Buryatian civil society organisation, the Fund for the Revival of the Historical Heritage (known as the "Hun Fund") is sponsoring the initiative to provide yurts for soldiers to undergo shamanic rites and restore their morale.

3/ Hun Fund chairman Oleg Bulutov (on the left here) says that "Only shamans can, for example, return the soul. It happens that a person is frightened, hit by an explosion or something else. Shamans have the ability to quickly restore a person.

4/ Or if you are injured, have a concussion, then baryashins ("bone-setters") can promptly help on the spot - correct the spine or do something else."

5/ According to the group's spokesman Erdem Taphaev, "If a person does not have a soul, he is lost, he is dangerous to everyone, because he has a weapon in his hands.

6/ With the help of rituals, [the soldier's] soul will be returned, and then as a fighting unit he will be fully operational. It's primarily spiritual help."

7/ The yurts are also intended to attract the spirits of ancient Hunnish warriors to help their descendants fighting in Ukraine. Bulatov says: "When a ceremony is held, the Hun warriors, they come there ...

8/ Let's say, HIMARS, we call them "Chimeras". If the Chimera is moving, the Hun warriors who were asleep wake up. They need a place, they need yurts, they see their home, all sorts of paraphernalia, and help our fighters."

9/ Bulatov sees historical echos in the war in Ukraine: "History is repeating itself. Once our ancestors – the great Huns – defeated the Goths, protecting the Slavs. As you can see, history that happened 16 centuries ago is repeating itself today."

10/ The arrival of the yurts is also intended "to make the Ukrainians a little afraid: they still have a little memory [of the Tatar-Mongol yoke]", Taphaev says.

11/ The Buryats originally intended to bring the yurts to the Russian-held Starobesheve district of Donetsk oblast, as "the closer they are to the line of contact, the faster the fighters can get there, and the rites have a different power," according to Bulatov.

12/ However, things haven't quite worked out as planned: while the yurts have already been taken on trucks to Rostov-on-Don, they are not now going to go into Ukraine. According to the "Baikal People" Telegram channel, the Buryats are worried about the Ukrainians bombing them.

13/ "Information about our yurts had leaked to the Ukrainian side, and they are already rubbing their hands about covering them with artillery fire," Taphaev says "Even the bombing of the Crimean bridge would be nothing compared to this possible [attack]."

14/ To avoid this scenario, the Buryats plan to keep the yurts in Rostov along with a rotating crew of shamans and the paraphernalia they need – rams, sacrifices, fires and so on. Buryat soldiers will be able to visit them from mid-December. /end

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