Tag: whirling dervishes

  • Whirlwind weekend includes Whirling Dervishes in Turkey

    Whirlwind weekend includes Whirling Dervishes in Turkey

    January 20, 2013 12:08 am

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    By Elizabeth Bloom

    KONYA, Turkey — The anniversary of the death of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi poet who died in 1273, took place on Dec. 17. Nowhere is this more evident than in this south-central Turkish city, which draws thousands of tourists each December to see the most important Whirling Dervishes ceremonies.

    You might be hard-pressed otherwise to find many parties in this religiously conservative city. The fact that Konya’s biggest festivities honor someone’s death speaks volumes. On Saturday nights, you are more likely to find people hanging out at barbershops than at bars.

    If you go

    For a trip to Turkey, Istanbul is the best entry point. Turkish Airlines flies direct from New York or Washington, D.C., although other airlines fly through Europe.

    From Istanbul, flights to Konya and cities in central Turkey are inexpensive, and a trip to Konya would be well paired with a few days spent in nearby Cappadocia, famous for its cave churches, underground cities and unusual landscape best seen from a hot air balloon.

    It is less glamorous than Turkey’s more popular tourist destinations of Istanbul, with its elaborate architecture; Bodrum, with its pristine beaches; and Cappadocia, with its caves. But as the city in Turkey where Rumi (known as Mevlana in Turkish) spent much of his life after moving from Persia, Konya gets to play host to the Mevlana Festival every year (Dec. 10-17), when the Whirling Dervishes — members of the Mevlevi Order that follow his teachings — give their most famous ceremonies at the Mevlana Cultural Center.

    My weekend trip to Konya to see the dervishes was well worth the visit — not merely for the dervish ceremonies that occur regularly throughout the year and the special December performances but also for Konya’s other offerings. The museums, featuring ancient artifacts, Mevlana’s relics and centuries-old handicrafts, are understated but rich; most important, they reveal a depth and tradition unrivaled in most places, and a window into the regular lives of people who lived thousands of years ago.

    I am in Istanbul for 10 months on a post-college traveling fellowship to study Turkish music and didn’t want to miss the festival. I had made arrangements with my friend Bekir, whom I met last summer while interning at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to stay with his extended family in his brother’s apartment in Konya.

    Bekir’s father secured a ticket to the Saturday afternoon Whirling Dervishes ceremony for me. The biggest ceremony occurs Dec. 17, but tickets to that event are especially difficult to come by.

    Besides these arrangements, I did not know what to expect. I knew that Bekir’s family spoke only Turkish, and I spoke very little. As a secular American, I was coming to stay with a family in a city known for its faith.

    Bekir’s parents met me at the airport on Dec. 14. His father was holding a sign that read “Liz.” We walked to his car, where Bekir’s head-scarfed mother eagerly welcomed me, holding my hand, and chatting quickly in Turkish. When I understood anything she said — a rare occurrence — I would excitedly respond, Evet, meaning “Yes.” I would get good practice on my Turkish throughout the weekend, especially with the word Anlamiyorum, meaning, “I don’t understand.”

    When we arrived at the apartment, Bekir’s mother and I shared Turkish tea and cornflakes. I understood the universal motherly insistence on taking food, and grabbed a few handfuls. We tried our best at conversation; she thumbed prayer beads. The other members of Bekir’s extended family — young nieces and nephew, sister-in-law, and brother — started coming home for the evening.

    I was anxious to see what the weekend would hold.

    While the festival particularly commemorates Mevlana’s death, the Whirling Dervishes (sema) ceremony also represents a mystical journey of man’s ascent through mind and love to “Perfect,” according to a website operated by Mevlana’s descendants. Whirling toward truth, he deserts his ego; and he returns from this spiritual journey having reached maturity and greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation. (The ceremony on Dec. 17 — the anniversary of Mevlana’s death — is his “wedding night” with God).

    At more than seven centuries old, the ceremony in December was a mix of old and new; advanced lighting technicians splashed blue and green and yellow hues onto the circular stage. The accompanying orchestra included traditional Turkish instruments, such as a kemenche, a Turkish violin played vertically, and a ney, a wooden flute.

    A vocalist began singing; his voice was guttural and throaty, and amazingly controlled, like the ney in the orchestra. His voice bent, nasal, fluttering, using notes and motions foreign to American music.

    The dervishes, all men, entered the stage wearing black robes and hats. The tall hats represent the tomb for the ego, according to the website. Early in the ceremony, the dervishes removed the black robes, revealing white robes with skirts (the shroud for the ego). The audience, meanwhile, wore no special attire — jeans, or headscarves. To music from the orchestra, they gathered in pairs; they bowed to each other; they whirled, pivoting their right foot around their left. They held up their hands, one hand pointed to heaven, the other to earth. Their heads cocked, their skirts swaying in and out, they moved counterclockwise, twirling like well-trained figure skaters.

    I wondered whether they got dizzy. The effect was simultaneously mesmerizing and calming. They moved between the whirling, the pairing, and the bowing, for about an hour.

    At the end of the two-hour ceremony, the dervishes put their black robes back on. The vocalist sang anew. Together, the audience joined in singing a prayer, lifting their hands, a community brought together by the ceremony. It was not merely a spectacle.

    Bekir’s cousins, all under the age of 15, were eager to show me their English books, “The Berenstain Bears” and “The Little Engine That Could” among them. They pelted me with basic questions in English, about my favorite color and sport and so on. Deeper questions would require a combination of my broken Turkish and Google Translate. They asked me about my religion, about whether I drank and I ate pork, before our delicious Turkish dinner of borek (cheese pastry), yogurt soup, beans, meat and bread.

    After-dinner festivities involved watching YouTube videos with the cousins, to both Turkish and non-Turkish songs, such as PSY’s “Gangnam Style.” They told me they liked President Barack Obama, but didn’t like former President Bill Clinton or President George W. Bush; they really liked Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, the head of Turkey’s ruling conservative AK Party. At 11 p.m., the children brought out an enormous picnic for us, blanket and all. We sat on the floor to eat salted and sugary chickpeas, sunflower seeds, figs, fresh fruit and pistachios.

    After being overfed (a common condition in Turkey), I went to bed, stuffed by food and warmth, humbled by my host family’s hospitality.

    Besides the Whirling Dervishes ceremony, my favorite sites in Konya were the Mevlana Museum and the Archaeology Museum.

    The crowded Mevlana Museum, which serves as a mausoleum and as a former lodge for the Whirling Dervishes, had magnificent collections illuminating both ordinary and extraordinary lives. Rumi’s massive tomb and clothes juxtaposed a collection of old Qurans stretching back to the ninth century. A clipping of Muhammad’s hair sat in a display case, which has a small hole through which museum-goers eagerly smelled the hair of the Prophet.

    At the Archaeology Museum we were the first to arrive, a few minutes after 11 a.m. It looked closed; the operator opened it up for us and turned on the lights. He let me take photographs.

    The collection was full of objects thousands of years older than anything I had seen at home in America, excavated from local archaeological sites. Tombs from Roman times, a bath from the Assyrian Colony period (1950-1750 B.C.), a human skull from 6300 B.C., cups and pots and lamps and wine vases for the thousands of years in between.

    We spent an hour in this museum. Most of the museums we visited were small, requiring fewer than 20 or 30 minutes to browse, and admission cost just a few dollars. Among them, they gave a glimmer of what life was like centuries or millennia ago.

    After attending the ceremony, I joined Bekir’s extended family for dinner at Akyokus Park, a large restaurant atop a hill, with a view of Konya. I ate firin kebabi, soft meat on top of flat bread.

    After dinner, as we had done the previous night, we stayed up late with the extended family at another sister’s apartment, talking and dancing to videos. The adults asked me about my religion, how I prayed, whether there were Muslims in America. The children (myself included) wore costumes for photographs and role-plays. Upon returning home, we stayed up until 2 a.m., discussing Turkish and American politics, with Google Translate’s help.

    I bid Bekir’s family farewell on Sunday at the airport. We connected on Facebook, and they invited me back to their home. Their hospitality far exceeded anything I could have had the audacity to expect. I will always remember their warmth and openness to a barely Turkish-speaking American — someone who was radically different from them, but who could share conversation and humanity over Turkish tea.

    In all, Konya, through its museums and ceremonies showed me the stuff of ordinary life, in lives radically different from mine, from thousands of years ago — how they drank, bathed, played music, decorated, buried their dead. Many of those customs continue today.

    It was a brief window into an entirely foreign world. Indeed, it’s worthwhile to understand how others far removed from your ordinary life live their ordinary lives.

    Elizabeth Bloom, an intern with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last summer, graduated from Harvard University in May.
    First Published January 20, 2013 12:00 am
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  • Istanbul: readers’ tips, recommendations and travel advice

    Istanbul: readers’ tips, recommendations and travel advice

    Readers offer their advice for holidays in Istanbul. Send us your tips for the chance to win a break in Val d’Isere.

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    Dancing dervishes of the Sufi order Mevlevi liven up the historic Sirkeci train station

    5:27PM GMT 22 Nov 2011

    This week’s winning tip

    Head for Eyup

    One of my favourite places in Istanbul is Eyup. This is one of the holy places of Islam; the tomb of Eyup Ensari, a companion of the Prophet Mohammed, is a site of Islamic pilgrimage. Take the ferry from Eminonu up the Golden Horn, a great trip in itself. Walk up to the Eyup Camii and visit the tomb and mosque with the faithful. It is a wonderfully moving and memorable experience. You are always welcome but you must be respectful and follow strict dress codes (ladies should always carry a headscarf with them in Istanbul).

    Continue your walk up to the beautiful Eyup cemetery for wonderful views of the Golden Horn. If you really want to see Islamic Istanbul, don’t just go to the Blue Mosque. Visit other mosques around the city which are not full of visitors.
    Mary Biswell, Bedfordshire

    More advice from readers

    Five-day wonder

    Istanbul is one of the most interesting cities to visit and there is so much to see you would ideally need at least a five-day break.

    Flying in to Istanbul Atatürk Airport means a 30-minute journey into the city centre. The Mina Hotel (0090 212 458 2800; minahotel.com.tr) is very close to the major sites and will arrange transport from and to the airport.

    The big sites, such as the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Cistern and the Grand Bazaar, are all within 10 minutes’ walk of the hotel and the hotel’s rooftop terrace provides a wonderful view over the Bosporus and Marmaris Sea.

    A short tram journey takes you to the waterfront at Eminonu where a day’s ferry cruise is available up the Bosporus to the entry to the Black Sea and calling at various stops on either side for around £10.
    Antony Rouse, Herefordshire

    Terrace with a view

    Istanbul’s skyline is magical at night, and one of the best places to enjoy it is from a rooftop restaurant like the one at Adamar Hotel (511 1936; adamarhotel.com) in Sultanahmet. Just a stone’s throw from the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia, the intimate terrace has a show-stopping panoramic view.

    The Bosporus Bridge twinkles with ever-changing colours, the commercial district sparkles with modern skyscrapers, and the mosques and minarets glow with golden light. High above the rooftops, the sounds of the muezzins’ evening calls to prayer echo in the night air around you.

    And, if the weather is less than kind, there is an indoor restaurant with glass walls on the floor below.
    Mandy Huggins, address withheld

    Think like a local

    A trip on the Bosporus is one of the iconic experiences – and recommended even if you aren’t that interested in the Asian side of the city. Many companies offer hugely expensive cruises but they are a complete waste of money. Local boats and ferries are constantly criss-crossing the Bosporus and they offer the chance for visitors to get on the water, experience a slice of local life and all for less than the 10th of the price of a “cruise”.
    Steven Green, address withheld

    Go north – or south

    Stroll among the fishermen on Galata Bridge, taking in the roar of the traffic and the horns of the boats on the Bosporus. Look south to the old city, with its ancient mosques, bazaars and palaces – Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi, the Grand Bazaar…

    North of the bridge is the “newer” district of Beyoglu. Here you’ll find grand hotels, trendy bars, designer shops and swish apartment blocks.

    At Eminonu, on the south bank, catch a ferry to Uskudar for views of the city skyline and the stunning Ottoman timber villas along the shore (fabulous when floodlit at night).

    A great place to stay is the Richmond Hotel (252 5460; richmondhotels.com.tr) in Pera, with a rooftop bar overlooking the Bosporus. The hotel is just a short walk from Çiçek Pasaji, the old flower market with a choice of busy restaurants (meze, fish, raki) in a historic covered courtyard.

    Kumkapi, near the main fishing harbour in the old city, has dozens of small seafood restaurants clustered around the square and the narrow cobbled streets.
    Jean Gardiner, Warwickshire

    Take a bath

    Don’t visit the big hammams mentioned in guidebooks, but wander through the back streets and find one that looks friendly. Ask if they will do you a deal at a quieter time. My partner and I did this and we had the whole place more or less to ourselves and were able to enjoy the experience together (most hammams have separate men or women sessions only), in a wonderful 16th-century bathhouse in one of the back streets in the old town.
    Trina Warman, Cambridgeshire

    Spice it up

    Don’t miss the spice market: you will be amazed at the variety of spices available and the wonderful smell will intoxicate you. Everything is very reasonably priced, so stock up.
    Laura Cope, West Midlands

    Ferry to Asia and Europe

    Take one of the municipal ferries on the 90-minute trip from Besiktas quay to Anadolu Kavagi, at the mouth of the Black Sea. The journey takes you criss-crossing between Europe and Asia along the length of the Bosporus, the scenery changing as you progress towards the fishing port. It provides welcome relief from pounding the city streets for an afternoon.
    Jane Jones, Lancashire

    Go underground

    Istanbul – you’ve got to go. The tram is fast and clean though you do need two lira to buy tokens from the roadside machine before you get onto the platform.

    The ambience of the city is welcoming, with very friendly people, and everywhere is spotlessly clean. The Blue Mosque is absolutely beautiful; Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar, the spice market and Aya Sofia must not be missed; the underground Basilica Cistern is fascinating, too, and not highly advertised. It has a mystical but tranquil feel to it – the ambient lighting enhances the beauty of the columns reflected in the water, where you get glimpses of fish swimming around.

    If you take a boat trip along the Bosporus, stop at Anadolu Kavagi and climb the hill for the view.
    Linda Lawless, Southampton

    Princess for a day

    Just off Istanbul’s Asian coast are the Princess Islands. You can get to four of them by ferry from both the Asian and European side of the city, though you might not want to go in high summer when they tend to get very crowded.

    The islands are all car-free; you can rent bicycles or take a horse-drawn carriage. We would recommend a day on Buyukada, the largest of the islands; take a picnic and your swimsuit.
    Helena and Piers Dobbs, Cheshire

    In Christie’s footsteps

    Agatha Christie fans should stay at the Pera Palas Hotel (377 4000; perapalace.com) in Beyoglu. The hotel was built in 1892 for Orient-Express passengers and Christie is said to have been inspired to write Murder on the Orient Express here. Greta Garbo stayed for three weeks in 1924; Hemingway loved it too. It’s not the city’s smartest hotel but it definitely has the best stories.
    Simon Burnet, Sussex

    Taxis and takeaways

    Istanbul’s public transport is quite complicated and not very efficient unless you know exactly where you need to get off. Taxis are recommended – they are quite cheap in comparison to the UK. But you need to make sure that you have asked for the price before getting on the taxi, otherwise you may be charged a lot.Try kumpir (stuffed baked potato), Istanbul’s favourite fast food.
    Shima Najdaki, address withheld

    Trams and Shanks’ pony

    My wife and I have visited Istanbul several times and initially it can be a slightly intimidating place. Use the excellent tram system whenever possible, and walk as much as you can. The locals are usually helpful and friendly but take the same precautions you would in any big city and never be persuaded to go with someone to visit a shop or bazaar. Our tip for the best place to visit: Topkapi Palace.
    Roger Bowden, Perthshire

    What to avoid

    Hold back

    When going to Topkapi Palace in Istanbul do not go as it opens – the scramble to get in is chaotic and dangerous. But they only seem to have one kiosk open – it’s madness.
    W Egginton, Staffordshire

    Look then leave

    The restaurants in the Sultanahmet area are a rip-off. See the sights, then go elsewhere for drinks or snacks. Try the Turkish coffee – but don’t drain your cup. You’re not supposed to drink the sludge at the bottom.
    Lorraine Voss, Dorset

    Traffic warning

    Don’t even think of hiring a car: the traffic in Istanbul is terrible and the standard of driving worse. We didn’t feel entirely safe in taxis either, but contrary to what we’d been told, our drivers were all charming and didn’t try to cheat us.
    L D Gates, Beds

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/your-travels/8903830/Istanbul-readers-tips-recommendations-and-travel-advice.html

  • A French interpretation of whirling dervishes by Mina Feingold

    A French interpretation of whirling dervishes by Mina Feingold

    An artistic path, a passion for sculpture, a story comprising 20 years has engendered a monumental piece that startles those who see it.

    French artist Mina Feingold says she would like to exhibit her sculpture “Derwich” in İstanbul.
    French artist Mina Feingold says she would like to exhibit her sculpture “Derwich” in İstanbul.

    French artist Mina Feingold says she would like to exhibit her sculpture “Derwich” in İstanbul.

    A gigantic monument depicting a whirling dervish made by a French sculptor gives rise to both questions and admiration among art lovers. And its sculptor now wants to surprise Turkish art lovers as well by displaying her work in Turkey.

    For the artist, Mina Feingold, working on such monumental sculptures is a real passion. “Actually I began with working small sculptures,” says Feingold in an interview with Today’s Zaman. “One day my father asked me whether I could make a sculpture for him. And that’s how all it began. This is how I found my personal way of expression.”

    Her work, titled “Derwich,” is a first in Feingold’s career. After her first work, “Coiffeur,” which she made in 1990, “Derwich” is the first male figure Feingold has created in 20 years. “When I began making sculptures, I was working in group workshops. The models were all women,” says Feingold. “After I left the workshop, I continued making female figures. I don’t work on abstract themes, I prefer making figurative sculptures. But with ‘Derwich,’ this has changed.”

    In “Derwich” — a seven-meter-tall sculpture weighing five tons — of which she made two smaller versions in 2010, Feingold says she wanted to reflect the state of being in a trance. To learn more about the Sufi dervishes more closely, Feingold went to İstanbul and watched performances of the whirling dervishes. “[Their practice] conveys a message of humanity, of love, of the connection with God, the world. [Sufism] is a philosophy that I accept.”

    A philosophy to realize

    With this latest work, Feingold has reached a point where she embodies this philosophy in her craft. “Actually I have managed to implement this philosophy through ‘Derwich’,” says Feingold. “People don’t usually ask me questions about my philosophy, they just say that the work is fine, that’s all. But for ‘Derwich,’ I have received a lot of questions and indeed this makes me better understand this culture. I think that this philosophy really fits me because I am very interested in the energy of the human being. It’s neither religious nor mystical, but it’s a philosophy on its own.”

    What startles people about the sculpture is not only its size, but also its theme. Feingold says people wonder why she chose to make a sculpture of a whirling dervish. “When I go to the Grand Bazaar [in İstanbul], there are dervish [sculptures] in every shop. It’s almost as [symbolic as] the Eiffel Tower. I put myself in the place of [Turkish] people; they must be feeling like [a Parisian who sees] someone [a foreigner] come to Paris with a huge sculpture of the Eiffel Tower. Why would one make a sculpture of something that does not belong to his or her [culture]?”

    Feingold answers her own question: “Well, why not? It’s a beautiful piece. And the idea it embodies is universal. People told me I was crazy. But I did what I believed, and I finally finished it. For me, this is a dancer who unites the energy [of the universe] and diffuses it to people, and this is a beautiful balance. My sculpture depicts the dervish in a positive way. I believe that it’s a sculpture of peace.”

    Feingold truly believes in the sculpture’s positive energy. “Every morning when I came to my workshop, I saw the sunlight was always on it. So it’s very special for me,” she said.

    Her next wish is to display her work in Turkey. “I’d like to hold an exhibition [in İstanbul], but I don’t know when. It’d take 15 days to transport the sculpture to Turkey [from France]. And it can be displayed either in a gallery in Taksim or at Santralİstanbul. I don’t know yet.”

    via A French interpretation of whirling dervishes by Mina Feingold.