Yes, it's a little sacrilegious, but I took some video of the Whirling Dervish ceremony...like EVERYONE else who was there. This performance was incredibly moving for me for a couple reasons. The first reason was because it was my last weekend in Turkey, and I was in Konya, which is where Rumi is buried, who is a great spiritual teacher for me. The other major reason was because there were two really young dervishes--one that looked about eight years old, tops. His faith and devotion at such a young age really moved me.
I included some footage here of him whirling in the first clip, and then a really lovely clip of the final set of whirling, which is the "divine marriage (with God)" set.
Finally, there is a clip of what I'll call a Sema Blooper. If you look carefully, you'll see the two younger dervishes resting near the border of the stage, and behind them, you'll see a woman in a burqua, spinning on the edge of the stage, which is definitely not supposed to happen! The guards finally came and got her--she clearly has some issues--but it was so surprising to see in the middle of a sacred sema ceremony!
I hope you can feel at least some of the beauty of the sacred dance from these clips that I felt.
No comments:
Post a Comment