Whirling Dervish video

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.