Mevlana Festival in Konya
Description:
This founder of unorthodox Islam, saw the light of day on the land of present-day Afghanistan and died in Konya, the center of the Seljuk state, but the honor of being considered the birthplace of Jalaladdin Rumi is disputed by Turkey, Pakistan and India. Rumi, whose extensive literary heritage includes poems and theological treatises, gained fame thanks to the formation of the legendary Order of Mawlawi, whose members sought to achieve unity with God through the dance of Sam, the same age as the Universe. Every year in December, followers of Jalal ad-Din Rumi hold a dance ceremony in memory of their teacher. This action gathers more than a million spectators and pilgrims, because the very atmosphere of its holding sets up a sublime mood.
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It was from here that the victorious procession of the Turkic tribes began, culminating in the capture of Constantinople. And today Konya is the guardian of traditions.
Throughout the month of Ramadan in secular Turkey, any foreigner can still have lunch without violating their schedule. The exception is Konya, where finding a restaurant or cafe in the daytime is an impossible task. In Ramadan, all entertainment establishments are opened only at nightfall.
Finally, in Konya led his sermon Jelalattin Mehmet Rumi (as his name sounds in Turkish). Hence, transformed by him into a coherent theological system, an offshoot of Sunnism, Sufism, spread to Iran and Syria. It is not surprising that it is here that the monastery where Gelalattin Rumi himself, his relatives and associates are buried (there are 99 tombstones in total). In this museum, the construction of which continued from the XIII to the XIX century, and organized a kind of memorial ceremony.
The mystery of the ancient dance, in which music, movements and spells merge, lasts three hours. Before each segment, the monks approach their master (sheikh) in order to receive his blessing. Then, under the sounds of drums and reed flutes, they indulge in dance meditation, gradually falling into ecstasy.
The first is the creation of the sun and the stars, the second the plants, the third and the last the animate creatures. In conclusion, the participants of the ritual go out into the round arena, raising their right hand to receive celestial energy, and lowering their left to recharge the physical, and proceed to the most colorful and complex part of the show - the continuous rotation counterclockwise, which has a double character.
Dancers circle around their axis and around the perimeter of the hall at the same time, like planets near their star. Now accelerating, then slowing down the pace, the artists seem to hover above the stage, and at the end of a bright performance they again lock themselves in their cells.
According to the assurances of the organizers of the ceremony, every detail means abstract concepts and the truth can be revealed to the inquiring observer. However, the house-museum of Jalal-at-Tin Mehmet Rumi is remarkable not only for its tanura, as this mystical dance is otherwise called (in addition to Konya, it can be seen in monasteries (tekka) of Istanbul), but also for its outstanding architecture.
The main entrance to the house of Jalal-at-Tin Rumi is called the “Gate of the Dervishes”. Through them you can get to the Garden of Roses, which used to belong to the palace of Sultan Alaeddin Keykubat. Here still murmur spring for ablution, built by order of Selim I in the early 16th century. The hallmark of Konya was a green tower, gracefully crowning the memorial temple.
According to experts, the Mevlana complex is one of the most flawless buildings.