SARUHAN
Whirling Dervish is not a spinning top, a toy of one's youth or a festival. I mention this because I thought all of these things before I learned more about this ceremonial presentation. Their ritual and costume is deeply rooted in symbolism: the dervish head dress his ego's tombstone, the white skirt a shroud spiritually born to the truth, by removing his black cloak, he journeys and advances to spiritual maturity through the stages of Sema.
The Sema ceremony represents a mystic journey of man's spiritual ascent through love, leaving hos ego, finding the truth and arriving at the "perfect" place. From the removing of his cloak, to beginning the whirling and up stretching his arms, his right hand directed to the skyresdy to receives God's beneficence, gazing his left hand trimmed down toward the earth, he turns from right to left pivoting around the heart.
While interesting to watch, the ceremony itself is quite mesmerizing. This trance lulled me to sleep ever so peacefully.
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