Mevlana Celadeddin-I Rumi is a Turkish Anatolian philosoper, mystic, poet and the
father of the Mevlevi Order.
Mevlana event is celebrated from 7-17 of December every year
in Konya, Turkey for Mevlana’s memorial. I had the opportunity to watch a ‘Mevlana’ event
when I was 15 years old, as my mother’s parents live in Konya. It was a long
day with a series of conferences, meetings and theatrical performances held
throughout the day. I believe these were held to promote aspects of Mevlanas
life.
The ritual dance is known as ‘Whirling Dervishes’. This
symbolises a release from earth connections, which liberates the soul. The soul
than prepares it’s union with the divine. The whirling went for probably 2
hours. The audience, including myself got a little tired from watching; however
the energy that is realised of the ritual dance was amazing.
The dance consists of three parts; reaching, seeing, and
uniting with God. In the first stage, the dancers whirl three times. During the
second part, they remove their coats. This symbolizes the release of the soul
from earthly concerns. In the first
stage they slowly begin to whirl with their right hand up and left hand down.
The performers were highly trained and seemed completely disconnected from the audience
and environment around them.
Reference of Pictures (in order):
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