Whirling Dervishes, Istanbul, Turkey

This isn't going to be a very photograph oriented post. We want to observe a Whirling Dervish ceremony today. We were asked to not taste any or video during the ceremony, so out of respect, we did not. They did have a decent exhibit on the ceremony, so we did walk away with a better understanding of this tradition.

First off, the Whirling Dervish ceremony is not a dance, it's a religious ceremony of the Sufism sect of Islam. Specifically, a subsect of Sufism called Mevlevi Order. Sufism focuses on more mystical religious practice and is practiced by both Sunni and Shia Muslims. This also made our attendance a little awkward as we were basically paying admittance to watch people pray. But hey, tourists gonna do what they gonna do.

The Mevlevi Order is chiefly inspired by the teachings of the poet Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (Rūmī for short). His teachings "insist" that love is central to Islam and emphasised "developing courtesy and mindfulness" (according to Wikipedia). Rūmī also "complained about the fanatic ideas appended into Islam" (according to a pamphlet given to us at the Whirling Dervish Ceremony). He was born in 1207, and I'm no religious scholar, so I don't know what he was referring to way back then.

The ceremony opened with a musical portion with chanters, drums, a flute, a lute, and a horizontal plucking guitar thingy (I'm also not a music scholar). After that, the Whirling began. To over simplify it, the "performers" whirled about 5 times over the course of the 1 hour ceremony, with a break between each session. They set-up with 4 on the outside, with 1 in the center on a circular stage. Except the last time, where all 5 whirled on the outside. Each "session" signified a different "meditation," for lack of a better word. It was interesting to see.Read more