The Yam's Weather Magic: Mongol Barquts and Sky Reading

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the little-known role of barquts — Mongol weather shamans who served the Yam relay network. These specialists read the skies, predicted storms, and performed rituals to ensure safe passage for riders and envoys across the vast steppe. Drawing on the Secret History of the Mongols, the travelogue of William of Rubruck, and the chronicles of Rashid al-Din, they examine how Genghis Khan and Ögedei Khan integrated ancient sky-reading traditions into the empire's communication system. The barquts used cloud formations, animal behavior, and star positions to forecast weather, and their knowledge was as vital as the paiza credentials. The episode also touches on the controversy around whether these practices were genuine meteorology or superstition — and how the Yam's reliance on them shaped Mongol military strategy. Specific cases include the 1221 campaign against Jalal al-Din and the 1258 siege of Baghdad, where weather predictions influenced troop movements. Lucas and Luna discuss the decline of barqut knowledge after the Yuan dynasty fell and its echoes in later Turkic and Persian traditions. #MongolEmpire #Yam #Barqut #WeatherShamanism #GenghisKhan #OgedeiKhan #SecretHistoryOfTheMongols #WilliamOfRubruck #RashidAlDin #SteppeWeather #MongolCommunication #Paiza #JalalAlDin #SiegeOfBaghdad #YuanDynasty #MongolSuperstition #History #FexingoHistory #YamSystem #SilkRoad Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo