The most sacred animal for the Buryats is the horse. They have such a long history with horses. They raise them as one of the main animals they care for. They have a history of riding into battle on horseback. Because they honor the horse very much, their sacrificial animal is the horse. Other natives, living in similar regions nearby, such as the Yakuts and other Turkic tribes, also honor the horse in the same way.1 There was a shift in religious focus from shamanism to Buddhism when Buddhist notions began to enter the Buryat region from Mongolia. Soviet disgust with shamanism was no secret. They invoked the shamans and tried to convert them to Christianity. However, when this failed, Buryat shamans incorporated more elements of Buddhism into their practice as a way to resist forced Enlightenment. roots. As many native religions die out, the rejuvenation of shamanism and the return to its roots is bringing the religion back from the brink. All books on Eastern shamanism tend to include the shamanism of the Buryat Mongols, as their faith is so strong and present even today. Buryat and Buryatia: Now Following the survival of the Buryat through the dangers of modern Russia, highlights their strengths as group and also reveals their warrior spirits. Withstanding hardship and persecution, the Buryats managed to cope very well compared to other native Siberians. It is with the hope that the Buryat population will continue to thrive and that this culture will receive the recognition it deserves. It was after the fall of Napoleon that the Russian Empire sought to integrate the native Siberian... middle of paper.. ....tp://www.tengerism.org/Buryat_History.html (accessed June 5, 2014). Olson, James Stuart, Lee Brigance Pappas, and Nicholas Charles Pappas. "Buriat." In An ethnohistorical dictionary of the Russian and Soviet empires. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994. 123. Plumley, Daniel R.. “Traditionally Integrated Development near Lake Baikal, Siberia.” Cultural survival. http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/traditionally-integrated-development-near-lake-baikal-siberia (accessed 5 June 2014). Tkacz, Virlana, Sayan Zhambalov and Wanda Phipps. Shanar: dedication ritual of a Buryat Shaman in Siberia conducted by Bayir Rinchinov. New York: Parabola Books, 2002. "World Directory of Minority and Indigenous Peoples." International Minority Rights Group: Russian Federation: Buryats. http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=2496 (accessed June 5, 2014).