00:00This is not a performance, this is prayer in motion. What you're watching is called Sema,
00:08a sacred ritual where the body moves so the soul can meet God. These are Turkey's whirling dervishes.
00:17Members of the Mevlovi Sufi order founded nearly 800 years ago by followers of the mystic poet
00:23Jalaluddin Rumi in Konya presented Turkey and every single year you see here preaches Sufism.
00:30Sema is not a dance, it is active meditation, a spiritual journey from ego to divine love.
00:38The ceremony begins quietly, Quran recitations, prayers, the haunting sound of the ne, the reed
00:44flute meant to echo the soul's separation from God. Before the spinning begins, the dervishes arrive
00:52wrapped in black cloaks. This black represents the darkness of early life. They bow to one another,
00:58they circle the hall three times, honouring God, the prophet and creation. Then the cloaks come off.
01:05A symbolic rebirth. Underneath is the white tenure, the flowing robe. It stands for purity and also for
01:12a burial shroud, the death of the ego. On their heads, a tall felt hat, the sikki, often described as the
01:18tombstone of the self. A reminder that to reach God, the ego must disappear. Then comes the whirling.
01:25They spin counter-clockwise like the planets around the sun. The right hand turned upward to receive
01:30God's grace. The left hand turned downward to pass that grace to the world. The message is simple,
01:36nothing you receive is yours alone. Before the seema there is zikir, a prayer where the name of Allah is
01:41repeated again and again. This repetition opens the door to ecstasy. Each turn is remembrance,
01:50each spin is devotion. This is the moment Sufis seek, when the self dissolves and only love remains.
01:57Some dervishes also carry staffs or wear fur skins, sacred objects linked to prophets in Islamic tradition.
02:04Every object here carries meaning, nothing is ornamental, nothing is random. Today, whirling dervishes are often
02:10seen in tourist spaces but for them the ritual never changed. They don't feel pain, they don't feel
02:15dizziness, they say their souls are simply intoxicated not by movement but by the love of God. So if you
02:21think this is just a beautiful visual, you're wrong. This is theology without words, faith without sermons,
02:28a reminder that sometimes the shortest path to God is not stillness but surrender.
02:33I am Manishya Dikari. Thank you for watching The Culture Project on Lom.
02:36Lom.
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