Ethnic groups of Russia: Buryats

Currently, approximately 464,000 Buryats live in Russia, primarily in the Lake Baikal region. The overwhelming majority of them are Buddhists.

The name ‘Buryat’ comes from the Turkic word ‘buri’ (‘wolf’) – this animal was considered a sacred totemic ancestor by many Buryat clans. According to another version, it comes from the Mongolian ‘buraa’, which means ‘dense grove’.

The Buryat language stems from the Mongolian language group. Buryats once used the Old Mongolian writing system, then switched to the Latin alphabet and, today, they write in Cyrillic. 

The national dish of the Buryats is ‘buuz’. It’s steamed meat in dough with a small opening at the top (like a giant dumpling!).