The Whirling Dervishes are followers of an Islamic practice who engage in a form of meditation that reqires them to spin until they reach a kind of spiritual trance. The traditional Sufi ceremony is available for viewing by tourists.. In the group of six of us who attended, the reactions varied from “mesmerizing” to “not impressed.” For me, it was interesting, but not quite what I expected. The term “whirling dervishes” brought to mind a frantic trance-like spinning. This wasn’t quite like that. The first 30 minutes of the hour-long program was mostly slow music, bowing, and information about the ceremony projected onto the walls. The whirling itself lasted about 20 minutes, and consisted of small, graceful movements. On the dance spectrum, the tempo was more like a waltz rather than the feverish quickstep tempo I was expecting. It was interesting that they were able to whirl continuously with their eyes closed, except for the one person in the middle who seemed to occasionally give directions to the others. Surprisingly, they never got dizzy from the spinning, although my own head was spinning by the end of the performance!
2 responses to “Whirling Dervishes”
So happy you witnessed this “turning” . Some years ago I was in Portland OR and my friends there took me to a “turning” class. The master dervish was a member of the Mevlevi Order founded by Rumi. I didn’t not know who or where in the room he was. Everyone was quietly sitting on the floor….waiting. At some point people began getting up and starting to move. I still did not see the teacher but everyone was in sync. This went on for an hour and a half. We moved into turning gently and stayed turning for about half an hour. I loved to turn and always included it in my meditation retreats on the last evening. Though not the authentic costume, we did all wear white. And I must say at least I felt “one with the universe” in those moments. And yes no dizziness.
Thank you, Basia, that was very interesting!