Dance of the Whirling Dervishes. Sufi dances with a skirt - where to start and how to perform them

This is a very ancient technique. She could easily have sunk into eternity along with thousands of others if not for Islam, or rather, if not for the Sufis, who made her one of the fundamental elements of their way of life.

The famous dance of the dervishes is based precisely on this technique, and therefore we will call it “Sufi whirling.” Osho spoke very highly of this technique. Both of these masters used this technique in their practice and taught it to everyone.

In a psychological sense, Sufi whirling is such a powerful practice that even a one-time experience can transform you and make you a completely different person.

What to do?

Have you ever seen children spinning around? Do exactly the same. Spin around your axis with your eyes open. Your inner being should become an axis, and your body a wheel that spins on this axis. Try to do this practice as relaxed as possible. Don't think about its mystical effect and other serious things. It's best if you spin the way children do - as joyfully and sincerely as possible.

It is advisable not to drink or eat anything at least three hours before the spin for obvious reasons. It is advisable if you wear loose clothing and be barefoot. The whole process can be divided into two stages - the whirling itself and rest. This does not have a clear duration - it can last several hours, but this is not the most important thing.

You need to spin counterclockwise. The right hand is raised up (I take from God), and the elbow is raised, the left hand is lowered down (I give to the Earth), the elbow is also lowered. However, it is not necessary to maintain the same hand position all the time. You can vary the position of your hands depending on your feelings. In general, this is a fairly flexible technique - the most important thing in it is rotation, and the rest is variable.

If you feel discomfort from turning counterclockwise, then rotate clockwise. The body should not be tense. Don't close your eyes, but don't focus either. The picture should float. Remain silent while circling

If you assume that the technique will take you an hour, then rotate slowly for the first 15 minutes. Then gradually increase the speed over 30 minutes until you feel yourself turning into a whirlpool. There should be a storm of movement around you, although you, being in the center, remain motionless. This psychological effect must be achieved.

Continue spinning until your body can no longer stay upright. The body must fall on its own. There is no need to do this intentionally and do not try to somehow soften your fall; if you were relaxed during the spinning process and completely surrendered to the process, then the body itself will fall as softly as possible, and the earth will absorb the rotation.

After you fall, the second stage of this will begin. Roll over onto your stomach so that your navel is lightly touching the ground. If you find it too uncomfortable to lie in this position, you can lie on your back. Feel how your body has merged with the earth, as if you were a small child clinging to its mother’s breast.

Lie down with your eyes closed. Remain silent and don’t think about anything for about 15 minutes. Afterwards, try to do nothing and maintain inner silence for as long as possible. Some people feel nauseous during or after spinning. While this is at a tolerable level, do not pay attention to it; if the nausea becomes too strong, interrupt it.

At a certain time, various communities began to appear in the ranks of Muslims with great speed - the so-called orders, each of which had its own set of rules, its own orders and rituals. One of the oldest Muslim groups, called the Mevlevi Order of Whirling Dervishes, still has significant popularity today.

The community was religious in nature, and its members included followers of the famous Persian writer Mevlana (Jalaleddin Rumi). The main location of the community was almost the very center of the Turkish Empire - the city of Konya. The order is still there today.

Abode of Dervishes

Dervish means “poor man” in Persian. Some members of the community live on wanderings, and some of them are grouped in monasteries - khanka or tekkiye, subordinate to the pir or sheikh. Other dervishes are allowed to live outside the walls of the monastery, but they must visit the monastery brotherhood several times a week. This rule is especially strictly observed on the eve of solemn ritual dances.

Previously, in order to become a member of the order, one had to renounce the ownership of any property - the dervish must be a beggar. To become a servant of the Lord, one must eliminate all worldly temptations from life. All things owned by the community are considered common. That is, a dervish cannot have anything personal - no home, no food, no clothes and shoes. Becoming a minion of the order, a person forever dooms himself to endless wanderings, wandering through unfamiliar cities and long roads. The Dervishes believed that asceticism was the direct path to wisdom and God.

Dervishes, Istanbul, 1890

The term "dervish" is still alive today. This word refers to eternal wanderers with a kind and broad soul. Yes, the soul is the only thing they absolutely own, but they are ready to endlessly share with others. Once upon a time there was even a sign that an unexpected meeting of a dervish on the way promised happiness and good luck in business.

Galata Mevlevihanesi in Istanbul (abode of dervishes) was created in 1491 by Iskender Pasha. Since 2011, this place has opened as a museum.

Dance of the Whirling Dervishes

Dervish dance in Galata Mevlevihanesi

Every person who has at least once been lucky enough to witness the unique and inimitable dances of dervishes immediately asked the question: “Aren’t they really dizzy?” It’s not for nothing that the members of this order are called spinners! The dance of dervishes has existed since ancient times: no one will remember exactly when these wanderers suddenly began to spin and turn the heads of all spectators of this mesmerizing performance! And today, such dance performances lure crowds of tourists to Turkey, who come from all over the world to admire what is happening with their own eyes.

The whirling dervishes surprise and delight. Of course, wanderers don’t just dance - they put a special secret meaning into every movement. This ritual and dance art has been studied for years and even decades. But even a dancer who has perfect mastery of the skill cannot be immediately allowed to participate in the performance. First, the dervish must prove the seriousness of his faith and intentions by spending 1001 days within the walls of the monastery. Moreover, every year at the monastery has a special purpose. The first must be devoted to serving one's neighbor, the second - directly to the monastery, and the last, third - to spiritual cleansing and finding peace.

Whirling Dervishes

Before the start of the dizzying dance, it is customary to read out special poems by Rumi - a hymn to the glory of the Prophet. Then the music begins to play, and after the first bars the dancers themselves come out. They are dressed in special clothes - snow-white skirts and red cone-shaped hats. The dervishes put their hands on their chests, crossing them, and begin to slowly circle around themselves, always in one direction - from right to left. At first, the ritual participants rotate slowly, while simultaneously moving in a circle. Then the music and movements speed up, and the dancers open their hands and point their right hands up towards God and their left hands down towards the earth. In this way, the dervishes are preparing to receive heavenly energy and transfer it to the sinful Earth. Another important point: the head of a dancing ascetic must be at a certain angle of 25⁰, which is also symbolic. After all, the tilt of the earth's axis is 23⁰.

When the culminating moment of rotation comes, the pace of the dervishes begins to gradually slow down - they seem to emerge from a kind of ecstasy, returning to the human world already renewed and ready to give love and kindness to everyone, regardless of gender, age, race and religion.

Painting by French artist Jean Baptiste Van Moor (1671-1737), Dervishes

The mesmerizing ritual dance sometimes lasts for several hours. But during this time the dervishes pause four times. These stops are called greetings. The first pause is made as a sign of the undeniable existence of God, the second to express respect and admiration for the Universe, the third symbolizes love and the infinity of creation, and the last is addressed to the soul that has left the body to merge with the creator.

In the modern era, the dervish dance has ceased to be completely ritual - it is often performed simply for the entertainment of the public in nightclubs and restaurants. Skilled dancers earn good money from this.

The Order of the Whirling Dervishes became so popular and revered that they even founded a museum complex in its honor, located today in the Galata district of Istanbul. This place was not chosen by chance: it was here that the first monastery of wanderers was built in the late 90s of the 15th century.

Dervish dance is a unique spectacle

At one time, namely in the 20s of the 20th century, the order was banned by order of Ataturk, and the monastery building was converted into a primary school. But in the 21st century, everything returned to normal, and the memory of the dervishes was revived by opening a unique museum of the history of this order.

Entering the doors of the museum complex, its visitors have the opportunity to admire the famous dance and study in detail the set of rules and lifestyle of peculiar ascetic monks.

Today there is a flowering garden around the museum, a walk through which immerses you in a wonderful atmosphere of peace and serenity. The interior of the lowest floor of the monastery looks very beautiful and rich - it is in this hall that dance performances take place; on the floor above there is a museum exhibition. Here you can see all kinds of musical instruments skillfully played by the monks, personal belongings of the dervishes, a meager wardrobe, as well as a small number of samples of their writing.

To see the dance performance, you should come to the museum-monastery on Sunday. Watching this hypnotizing dance, you completely forget about time and lose the sense of space. Therefore, when in Istanbul, be sure to visit the monastery of the Mevlevi dervishes.

Opening hours of the Dervish Museum, cost of visiting and how to get there

Galata Mevlevihanesi is a dervish museum in Istanbul

The Galata Mevlevihanesi Museum is open every day except Mondays in winter from 9:00 to 17:00, in summer (from April 15 to October 1) from 9:00 to 18:00. Ticket sales to visit the museum end one hour before closing.

Professional dervish dancing can be seen on Sundays at 17:00. The cost of a ticket to the performance “Dance of the Dervishes” is 70 liras.

The entrance fee to the museum is 10 liras.

The Galata Mevlevihanesi Museum can be reached by going down Istiklal Street to. On the left there will be the Şişhane metro station, turn left and if you go past the station down the street, you will see the Beyoğlu Belediyesi Evlendirme Dairesi registry office, behind it you will see the museum.

Even if you have never been to Turkey, we are sure that at least once in your life you have seen photos or videos of men in white robes and high hats, as if dancing in ecstasy. These are dervishes - Muslim monks with an extremely interesting history of life and rituals, which we want to tell you about.

Dervish dance

What we, as ordinary people, call the dance of the “whirling dervishes” has its own ritual name - “sema” or “Mevlevi zeal”. The participants, the Semazen, are members of the Mevlevi Sufi order, which was founded in the 13th century by the mystic poet Jalaluddin Rumi, better known as “Mevlana” (Arabic for “our lord”). This spiritual order exists to this day and not only in Turkey, but also in Europe, for example. Of course, now the concept of “dervish” is only symbolic and the members of this order are not wandering poor people. They live ordinary lives, often have a family, a job and even some wealth. Every year from December 10 to 17, these people come to the Sheb-i-Aruz festival in Turkey, in the city of Konya, to visit the Mausoleum where Mevlana is buried and take part in the seme.

Mevlana Mausoleum in Konya, Türkiye

Jalaluddin (Jalal ad-Din) Rumi was born in 1207 in the Afghan city of Balkh. His father was a court scholar and preacher - a Sufi. In Rumi's life there was a lot of wandering around Asia Minor, which eventually led him to the Turkish city of Konya. Here all the events that immortalized his name took place. The main one is the meeting with the dervish Shems Tabrizi. Rumi at this time was already 45 years old, he had already inherited from his father the title of sheikh (leader of the order, spiritual teacher), he was revered not only by his students, but by the whole city, but...

Jalaluddin Rumi and Shems Tabrizi

Rumi's meeting with Shems in 1244 became fundamental for both of them - each became a student and teacher for the other. They were inseparable. The murids (novices of the order) hated Shems because their beloved teacher Rumi spent all his time only with him. Their envy was aggravated by the fact that Mevlana married Shems to one of his adopted daughters in order to be even closer to him. All this led to the fact that in 1247 the murids, among whom was Rumi's son, killed Shems Tabrizi and threw his body into a well next to Mevlana's house. But then a real detective story begins. It is known that the novices told Rumi about the murder of Shems and even showed him the same well, but he refused to believe it and, instead of removing the body of his beloved friend, went to Damascus in search of him. Rumi spent many months there, going from house to house, mosque to mosque, in search of Shems. All these physical searches contributed to his spiritual quest on the path to enlightenment so much that researchers started talking about the fact that Mevlana himself ordered the murder of Shems Tabrizi. Subsequently, Rumi returned to Konya, continued his path as a Sufi and died there in 1273.

The body of Mevlana and other members of the Mevlevi order rests in the Mausoleum.

This place is also a museum where you can see books (including Mevlana's most famous book, the Mesnevi) and things of the dervishes. In the cells you can see how the dervishes lived, how they carried out their rituals, the main one being sema. It is believed that the creator of this ritual was Mevlana himself. One day he was walking through the market and heard the sound of hammers. This rhythm plunged him into ecstasy and he began to spin, raising his hands to the sky.

Whirling Dervishes

To take part in this ritual, the novice must go a long way - show his hard work, undergo training, and get to know himself on his travels. If a person wants to take this path, he can come to one of the schools of the Mevlevi order. Sema includes music, dance and prayer. Participants in the ritual are the semazens and the sheikh. They wear symbolic clothing consisting of a white wide skirt, a black cloak and a tall felt cap.

There is an opinion that white clothes symbolize a shroud, a cloak symbolizes a coffin, and a hat symbolizes a tombstone.

First, the semazens sit in a circle on sheep skins to pray. After which they get up and follow the sheikh in a circle, this happens three times. Returning to his place in the hall, the semazen takes off his cape and, with his arms crossed on his chest, approaches the sheikh again, this time for a blessing. Having received it, the semazen begins its circling, first lowering its hands to the waist, and then raising them and spreading them to the sides - one palm up, the other down. The circle is interrupted three times. These pauses and greetings are dedicated to the Creator, the Universe and the soul.

While spinning, semazens tilt their heads, pressing on the carotid artery. This affects blood circulation and helps you enter a trance.

Sema is not a dance, it is a process. The process of transforming some higher abstract concepts into quite tangible energy with the help of a conductor - semazen. We can say that his high felt hat is an “antenna”, the wide bottom of his clothes is a “locator”. The faster the dervish spins, the higher the bell of his skirt rises, the wider the distribution area.

Dervish dance

Mevlana Mausoleum in Konya, Türkiye

Jalaluddin Rumi and Shems Tabrizi

The body of Mevlana and other members of the Mevlevi order rests in the Mausoleum.

Whirling Dervishes

There is an opinion that white clothes symbolize a shroud, a cloak symbolizes a coffin, and a hat symbolizes a tombstone.

While spinning, semazens tilt their heads, pressing on the carotid artery. This affects blood circulation and helps you enter a trance.

Even if you have never been to Turkey, we are sure that at least once in your life you have seen photos or videos of men in white robes and high hats spinning in a dance. These are dervishes - Muslim monks with an extremely interesting history of life and rituals. Now the dervish dance can be seen in many performances in Turkey. But what is this “dervish dance”? Who are the dervishes? And how did this art originate?

Let's start by telling you what we know about the dervishes. Dervish from Persian means “poor”, “beggar”. Dervishes are adherents of Sufism (a mystical movement in Islam). They had no concept of “mine.” That is, the dervish will never say: “my hat.” There is nothing in this world that belongs to the dervish, everything belongs to God. The clothes of the dervishes differed in each order in colors and materials. But, basically, they all wore so-called khirki - outerwear; on their heads they wore turbans of various shapes, made of cloth or felted from wool. An underdress was worn under the khirka. Every detail of the costume had a mystical meaning.

To become a dervish, one had to pass a series of tests. These trials lasted 1001 days, and every day the future dervish had to tell the sheikh (head of the order) about the temptations that he was able to overcome. Dervish orders existed in many Islamic countries. In Turkey until 1925, when they were banned by Ataturk. But in the 50s this culture began to revive again. Dervishes were both wandering and living in monasteries. They were free to marry, have a family, and live with their family. But once or twice a week they were obliged to gather in monasteries for joint rituals.

There were several Sufi orders. The most famous of them are the Mevlevi (whirling dervishes) and the Bektashi. In the mid-13th century, in the city of Konya in central Turkey, the eminent Sufi poet and philosopher Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi founded the Mevlevi Sufi order - the Order of the Whirling Dervishes. Sufism is an ancient tradition of spiritual improvement, now widespread everywhere. It arose in the bosom of Islam. However, some Sufi sheikh teachers say that Sufism cannot be limited to a certain religion, a certain historical period, a certain society, or a certain language.

The main practice of Mevlevi is the ritual of spinning or whirling, allowing the practitioner to connect with God, who, according to Sufis, is located in the heart of every person.

Every year a festival is held in the city of Konya to commemorate the founder of this order. Sufis from all over the world and people who practice Sufi whirling come here to join the ancient practice of unity with God through the sacred ritual dance “Sema”. The Whirling (Whirling) Dervishes Festival is dedicated to Jalaluddin Rumi.

Music and dancing play a huge role. The Dervishes believed that only through musical rituals could a person reunite with the Lord and find enlightenment. All dance movements have a certain meaning.

For a long time, the Sema dance was outlawed and performed in secret. Nowadays, along with colorful performances at grand shows, for many followers of Islam this dance remains an opportunity to concentrate as much as possible on the love of God.

The “Sema” dance is danced in the large hall of the dervish premises (tekke), called “semahane” (house of heaven). Rituals to worship the sky take place on Islamic holy nights, Fridays and December 17, the anniversary of Mevlana's death.

On such nights, prayers are performed, rituals are performed, and then the dancers, “semazen,” take their places in the hall and, after the sheikh’s permission, begin to spin. There is always a leader who leads the “semazen” dance.

On the head of the dancers, called semazens, stands a high turban, symbolizing a tombstone. Semazens are dressed in white robes, symbolizing shrouds. Starting the dance, the semazen takes off his shroud, which indicates that he, that is, the semazen, is ready for the process of spiritual cleansing. The semazen folds his hands crosswise, which symbolizes the unity of God. Then the semazen opens its arms and begins to spin. This means that he is ready to embrace the whole world.

The dance begins to music composed by Mustafa Itri. The percussion instrument symbolizes God's order to create the Universe. The song talks about the virtues of Mevlana. When spinning, the dervish directs his right hand upward, as if receiving divine energy, and his left hand downward, giving this energy to people. He tilts his head towards his right shoulder. Dervishes rotate around themselves and at the same time in a circle. The first part of the circle symbolizes the mortal world, and the second - the eternal world. Following this, the semazens make three rotations, which means readiness for a spiritual journey. At the end of the dance, all dervishes and spectators begin to feel their unity with God.” At the end of the ritual, they fall to their knees, showing that their consciousness has cleared and they have returned to people more pure and enlightened.