- 胡旋舞就是Whirling Dervishes.今天疯狂在找相关的资料。google真好，好google，长命百岁。
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As a young child, I remember my first memory of the Whirling Dervishes.
It was my grandmother who told me of men who spun around lifting themselves to heaven. Such a vivid picture I had of them, scraggly men with long matted hair and beards, spinning like tops and never passing out.
As children, we have all practiced this fine art called passing out or fainting and never realizing that we were imitating the ancient religion of Mevlana. Shades of our ancestors?
Journal - December 14, 1987
Since our arrival in Turkey, my husband, Leon and I had looked forward to seeing this ritual.
In 1927 when Attaturk came into power, these practices of the Dervishes were banned and are now only presented and allowed an open display of mysticism in December on the anniversary of Mevlana's death.
Mevlana was a Sufi mystic, totally dedicated to the love of God and the transcendence of the soul. He embraced all men of all religions and taught the immortality of the spirit. His teachings dating from the 11th century are those of the "New Age Thinkers."
During the week of the Dervish performances, tours are made daily to watch the dancers.
In November, Leon and I signed up for a tour with the Radar Travel Agency. For fifteen dollars a person, we were to have a luxury Pullman coach (interesting adjective), tours of Mevlana mausoleum, the Selchuk ruins, lunch and tickets for the exhibition.
As an added treat, we were to be given tea and cake service along the way and tea and fruit on the way home. It said to bring a picnic lunch so that we would have time for some shopping in the city of Konya. Sounded good to us so we paid the agency and counted the days until December 12th.
The bus picked us up a block away at the Officers Club and we immediately realized that we were also a part of the Officers Wives Club tour.
At seven in the morning, we all stood in front of the club constantly on the move to keep warm. It was a low 22 degrees outside.
It was a large group and two buses: arrived to take us on our way. The first one filled up fast as people climbed on hoping to keep warm and defrost frozen toes and noses.
We made it to the second one, a much older model with a much older driver. A distinguished gentleman who was dressed as though attending the wedding of his only son. He turned out to be an excellent driver, safe and steady and we all felt immediately at ease. Something you do not always do with Turkish drivers.
It is a three-hour drive to Konya and about one hour into the trip, we were served large slices of sponge cake individually wrapped and quite delicious.
As we started to eat them, the bus pulled into our rest stop, a service station/restaurant. Most of the group headed for the restrooms, you never know just when you will find another one that is useable.
We were ushered up the stairs into a small room with tables and chairs, it looked like a conference room but out of place in this particular setting.
Here, we were served hot tea in the usual small glasses. Some of us were wishing that we had not eaten our cake first, the tea would have made it that much more enjoyable and a whole lot easier.
Our fifteen-minute stop turned into thirty and after several glasses of tea, we boarded the bus and the remainder of the drive.
Two hours later, we arrived, now thirty minutes behind schedule.
Our first stop was a Mosque built during Mevlana's time and a place where he taught and where he grew totally in his love of God and the ecstasy of his soul. After a short tour, back on the bus and then a stop at the Mausoleum, 3aeon and I had visited it this summer while sightseeing with some friends.
We knew that the crowds in December would not permit us to see much so we took the opportunity to see it in September.
Even then, it was crowded as this is a site of pilgrimages for Moslems, both Shiites, as are the Iranians and the Sunnis as the Turkish people follow.
Standing in the extreme cold, we removed our shoes and covered our hair and wedged in amongst the rest of humanity we entered. Buried here are Mevlana, his father, his son and many other followers.
Mournful music played on the reed flute is heard and tombs covered with woven tapestries and topped with the Dervish headdress are all along the walls.
Manuscripts written by Mevlana and clothes worn by him are preserved in this shrine. There is a special feeling when you enter and one that remains with you as you leave.
Back to the bus and then lunch. Now we are even further behind schedule. We seemed to be driving to the outskirts of town.
Over a small stone bridge with only two inches clearance on either side of the bus, we entered a park with narrow stone streets that seemed to go either straight up or straight down. Pine trees along the sides and the city of Konya far below.
After winding around the park and getting nowhere, one of the guides got out and scouted the area for the restaurant.
We soon found it and grabbed our lunches and went in. Here we were in a resturant with picnic lunches in hand.
Here we were in a big dining room with tables set for dining. We sat down and looked at each other wondering who was going to open their lunches and be the first.
One of the young lawyers from the base and his group were the daring ones. Sandwiches, chip s, cookies and water started appearing from plastic shopping bags and we followed.
We sat there feeling rather guilty when a group of people,feeling more guilty than we did, ordered. In just a few seconds, there appeared bowls of soup, salad and a main course. This they hurriedly ate while the rest of us ate our cold sandwiches.
Why they had told us to bring a picnic lunch is still open for debate. Ot»r schedule was now leaving no time for shopping, let alone serious buying.
By time we finished, we were now an hour behind schedule and the performance had already started.
We arrived at the Sports Stadium where we all ran in and tried to find our seats.
We were finally seated just as intermission was announced.
The dancers would start immediately following intermission.
This is what we had come for. For a hundred TL we had purchased little cushions to sit on, thinking this was to be a long afternoon.
During this intermission, people were running to the concession stands to buy mementoes of the performance.
We had already purchased a five-piece set of porcelain figures depicting two dancers and three musicians.
On the wall of our den is a poster of the performers and on the shelf over the typewriter is a music box with the dancers turning to the music. We did not join in this mass exit to the lobby.
After intermission, a distinguished gentleman addressed the group. He is a direct descendant of Mevlana. Of course, it was all in Turkish.
Following his speech, which I am sure was most interesting, the musicians and chanters entered and took their places on a small stage, which was covered in animal pelts of various colors.
Among the group were two blind gentlemen who were led in, one being the main chanter of the Koran. A gentleman who could barely move due to advanced age, was also in this group.
All were dressed in black robes with white dresses beneath and the dervish cylindrical headdress, one made of beige felt and at least twenty inches tall.
The musicians took seats on chairs while the drummers sat on the floor.
Reed flutes, a unique type of violin and drums made up the orchestra. With the supporting group seated the dancers entered.
They too had the black robe and headdress of the dervishes. Below their robes, you could see the hems of their full white dresses. The headdress represents their tombstone; the black robes are their shrouds.
Leading the procession is the Sheyh, the representative of Mevlana on Earth.
He is seated on a pelt of red fur, the color designating the manifest or the visible. It is the symbol of mystical union and of God manifest, as it set on the threshold to the spiritual world.
The purpose of the ritual is to induce controlled ecstasy in the individual through which he may divest himself of his physical self and attain the ultimate truth.
Each dervish moves forward and kisses the hand of the briefly asking permission to perform the ritual of the dance.
Their hands are crossed over their chest resting on their shoulders.
As permission is received, they slowly begin to whirl, opening their arms with the right hand outstretched and turned upwards, palm opened, the left hand is turned downwards.
This is to symbolize the Mevlevi principle: What we take from God and give to man.
The dancers then whirl around the room at the same time pivoting on their own axis...as if spinning around the sun, like the earth, the planets and the stars.
The graceful motions of the unfolding of the arras and the full flowing white robes are inspiring.
Men come from all over Turkey to participate in this homage.
Among them are doctors, lawyers and men whose faces with their eyes closed are truly seeking God and the return of their soul to their creator.
It was expressed in every face of the dancers and in the faces of people in the audience who appreciated the performance for the abandonment to God and the love expressed in the movement.
It was an experience to always be carried in the heart, an expression of divine love.
A glorious way to celebrate the holiday season.
Peace and love to all and the remembrance of the unity with our Source.
Connie and Leon
Sacred Geometry and the Mevlevi Sufi Round Dance
Whirling Dervishes - Trance Dance
maya