A big attraction for guests from world wide is the magic of meditation carried out by the whirling dervishes, a type of dance the place these dervishes spin to let go of their ego and worldly want.
To put together for the ritual forward, Ömer Kılıç and his 14-year-old son costume in white robes, drape black cloaks over themselves and don cone-shaped hats known as “sikke.”
The tennure robes symbolize funeral shrouds, the cloaks a tomb and the hats a tombstone – outfits which can be a part of a centuries-old custom carried out by the whirling dervishes of Türkiye.
The dervishes, a Sufi order of Islam that’s rooted in mysticism, are mainly recognized for the “sama” ritual during which they spin in unison with prayers and verses from the Quran.
Kılıç has belonged to the order for 23 years. Now a tennure tailor, he’s educating his craft to his apprentice and son, Toprak Efe Kılıç.
Kılıç says the spiritual path first appeared to him in a dream. He determined to begin coaching as a dervish just a few days later.
Each 12 months, the dervishes of the Mevlevi Order carry out their unmistakable act of devotion within the Turkish metropolis of Konya, the place hundreds of individuals attend a weeklong collection of occasions and ceremonies that mark the dying of the Thirteenth-century Islamic poet, scholar and Sufi thinker Jalaluddin Rumi.
Rumi, who is named Mevlana in Türkiye, was born in 1207 in Balkh, a metropolis that now’s a part of Afghanistan. He settled in Konya in central Türkiye, the place he died on Dec. 17, 1273. He is thought to be one of the crucial vital Sufi philosophers, and members of the Mevlevi Order observe his teachings.
Instead of mourning his dying, the ceremonies in Konya have fun what his followers consider is Rumi’s union with God. The principal function of the “Şeb-i Arus,” or “night of the union,” is the ritual during which the whirling dervishes revolve with their proper fingers symbolically turned up towards God and their left fingers turned down towards the earth.
Ahmet Sami Küçük, the top of the dervishes in Konya, described the whirling as an “end” and a state one attains after years of coaching and self-discipline.
In 2005, the U.N. cultural company proclaimed the follow for instance of “the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.”
The construction internet hosting Rumi’s tomb in Konya is a museum and a pilgrimage web site. One pilgrim, Mohammad Mobeen Dervesh, a Kashmiri residing within the United Kingdom, stated all lovers of God come to the location to honor Rumi.
Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic’s strict lockdowns, tourism official Abdulsettar Yarar stated the location attracted greater than 3.1 million guests this 12 months, 10% of them from overseas.
