It's a bit of a problem, probably second only to my coffee addition and a close tie to my recent obsession with the MTV show Catfish (seriously, how do people go years 'dating' someone without meeting them?! WHAT IF THEY HAVE UNBEARABLE HALITOSIS?!). It is not, however, a new problem. In fact, there are some reading this blog that would tell you my 6th grade teacher dubbed me Miss Molasses, but I am not at liberty to confirm or deny this accusation. The point is, it took me 10 weeks to finally attend a Whirling Dervish ceremony. That, my friends, is embarrassing for several reasons. First, it's free, and I NEVER turn down free things (especially if there's food involved, but that's another story). Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it's Konya's thing. It's akin to going to Paris and waiting to see the Eiffel tower. Going to Italy and waiting to eat pasta. Going to Newport and waiting to go to the Hatfield Marine Science Center (I'm sorry, shameless plug. I can't help myself.). So last Saturday Stephanie and I decided we could tear ourselves away from Catfish for one night and become more whirledly by attending the ceremony, also known as a Sama.
Now, before I wow you with a thrilling account of our adventure, let me drop some knowledge on you. The Dervishes, who whirl in remembrance of God, are members of a specific branch of Islam known as Sufism who follow the teachings of Rumi, a prominent Persian theologian. Still with me? According to Wikipedia, Rumi was rolling through town one day when he heard goldbeaters (who presumably have nothing to do with gold diggers...;) hammering out a rhythm that sounded like "there is no god but the God". As many of us are wont to do, Rumi heard a good beat and was so enthused he put up his hands and broke out in some epic dance moves. His followers embraced the dance, and the current Sama ceremony was born.
I should point out that this has happened to me several times, and not ONCE has it become a religious ceremony. Clearly I need new moves. And probably followers.
The ceremony has evolved over time, and now has four specific parts. To start with, a lone singer offers praise to God, and a reed flute is played.
After about 20 minutes of this, the Dervishes come out. They wear black robes (a symbol of the grave) and walk around in a circle. They all bow to each other, and then kneel together and remove their black robes to reveal the shiny white gowns most people picture when they think of the Dervishes.
After that, it's time for them to rock your whirled! The dervishes spin on their left foot, with their right palm facing up toward heaven and their left palm down toward the ground to signify the spiritual journey each believer must take to find God. They complete four sets of whirls before ending the Sama with readings from the Qu'ran and a final prayer.
It turns out that if you start a religion and millions of people connect to your writings about love and tolerance you're kind of a big deal. In the case of Rumi (or Mevlana as he is known in Turkish) they create a huge museum about your life and give you one of the coolest tombs I've ever seen. A few weeks before attending the Sama, I spent a day perusing the Mevlana museum.
After the Dervishes were no longer living together here, they converted the buildings into a museum. Each small cell (you can see the entrances in the above picture) where one of the Dervishes would have lived now houses a few artifacts, information about Rumi and his followers and, on occasion, a creepy mannequin or two.
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| This wasn't written in the information, but I'm pretty sure this is what the Dervishes did before Facebook was around for entertainment. You know you didn't want to share a wall with the symbol player. |
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| These were carried by merchants, who used the scythe on the left for (shock and surprise) protection from robbers. The middle and right objects are tongs of some sort, but I was never able to figure out what they were used for. Blogger fail! |
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| A shirt owned by Mevlana's oldest son. They say all styles repeat themselves... |
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| A creepy mannequin Dervish used to show what life in the cells would have been like. Also used to scare American tourists. |
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| The entrance to the building housing Rumi's tomb. |
But where are the awesome tomb pictures?! Alas, us mere tourists are not allowed to take photographs inside the building. Fortunately, though, my good friend Google had some stashed away that you can see here, along with a little more information about Mevlana and a few pictures of the decor around the tomb.
So there you have it. I hope you'll stayed tuned for my two final posts about my trips to Izmir and Istanbul before I head back to Corvegas next week. In the mean time, here's a little gem for you to ruminate on:
"If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished??" -Rumi
No wonder the guy has his own museum. ;)
Safe travels,
Adaline
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