*****
When:
Dec 2008 (annual)
Where:
Museum of Mevlana
The Commemorative Ceremony for Mevlana, the great Sufic saint (1207-1273), is one of the world's greatest spectacles. More than a million people descend on Konya, the ancient Seljuk capital, for the festival of the Whirling Dervishes.
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At the Mausoleum of Mevlana in Konya, mystical ceremonial dances are performed in honour of the great teacher and thinker. Mevlana (which in Arabic means "Our Lord") taught the preeminence of complete tolerance, positive thinking and awareness of God through love. He also believed that a union with God could be achieved through dance. Thus the Mevlana followers have been performing this religious "whirling" dance for centuries.
The Sufis believe dance was created when the Universe came into being. The dance, the music, the listening and the spiritual experience are fused together during the dance of the Dervishes, and during the ceremony you will see that the religious leader and the leader of the dance are one. The climax of the occasion is always the final night, known as the "Nuptial Night", which commemorates the death of Mevlana and his union with God.
The dancers are accompanied by a reed pipe known as the ney (the title of one of Mevlana's longer poems), which refers to the mythological trumpet, the sur, which will be blown on the Day of Judgement when the Seraphim will wake the dead. The attire of the dancers is also riddled with symbolism - their conical shaped hat represents a gravestone, their cloak a coffin and their white skirt a shroud. The leader represents the sun and the dancers spinning around him represent the orbits of the stars and moon. The four different dances symbolise the four seasons, the four elements and the four ages of man.
The first part of the ceremony sees the dancers march around the dancing hall three times. The first circle represents the knowledge of God, the second represents the seeing of God and the third to represent the truth of unity. At the beginning of each phase of the dance, the dervishes kiss the Sheikh's (the religious leader of the Mevlevi sect) right hand and bow, then begin to whirl. The head twists to one side, the arms are crossed and the hands are clasped. The upturned palm supposedly receives influence from Heaven which is handed down to the world below by the other. The eyes are downcast and as the dancers spin faster, their long white skirts (or shrouds) spin like open umbrellas. The dancers perform the double feat of whirling and moving forward anti-clockwise while maintaining their position with respect to the others.
A visit to check out this 700-year old dance is an awesome experience. Remember, if you're a woman to cover up appropriately for the event and not to show your head, knees or shoulders!
Sources thanks to Professor Metin, Ankhara University.
The Sufis believe dance was created when the Universe came into being. The dance, the music, the listening and the spiritual experience are fused together during the dance of the Dervishes, and during the ceremony you will see that the religious leader and the leader of the dance are one. The climax of the occasion is always the final night, known as the "Nuptial Night", which commemorates the death of Mevlana and his union with God.
The dancers are accompanied by a reed pipe known as the ney (the title of one of Mevlana's longer poems), which refers to the mythological trumpet, the sur, which will be blown on the Day of Judgement when the Seraphim will wake the dead. The attire of the dancers is also riddled with symbolism - their conical shaped hat represents a gravestone, their cloak a coffin and their white skirt a shroud. The leader represents the sun and the dancers spinning around him represent the orbits of the stars and moon. The four different dances symbolise the four seasons, the four elements and the four ages of man.
The first part of the ceremony sees the dancers march around the dancing hall three times. The first circle represents the knowledge of God, the second represents the seeing of God and the third to represent the truth of unity. At the beginning of each phase of the dance, the dervishes kiss the Sheikh's (the religious leader of the Mevlevi sect) right hand and bow, then begin to whirl. The head twists to one side, the arms are crossed and the hands are clasped. The upturned palm supposedly receives influence from Heaven which is handed down to the world below by the other. The eyes are downcast and as the dancers spin faster, their long white skirts (or shrouds) spin like open umbrellas. The dancers perform the double feat of whirling and moving forward anti-clockwise while maintaining their position with respect to the others.
A visit to check out this 700-year old dance is an awesome experience. Remember, if you're a woman to cover up appropriately for the event and not to show your head, knees or shoulders!
Sources thanks to Professor Metin, Ankhara University.
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