UNESCO: Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity - 2008 The Mevleviye is an ascetic Sufi order founded in 1273 in Konya, from where it gradually spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. Today, the Mevleviye can be found in many Turkish communities throughout the world, but the most active and famous centres of the [...]
Filmed at Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi, Istanbul, Turkey.
Bismillah arRahman arRahimThe Mevlevi SemaOffered by Camille HelminskiThe PreparationBefore one begins the Sema ceremony, one makes the ritual ablution and prayer, cleansing and focusing the body and the mind, heart, and soul. Then one dons the ritual garments. First one puts on long loose fitting white cotton pants and a collarless buttonfront shirt and black [...]
Then the final fourth round, the “fourth selam,” starts. It is different from the others in that all the semazens whirl in the exterior circle. When they are all so arranged, the semazen bashi takes his place and salutes the shaykh. The shaykh returns the salute. Holding the right side of his khirqah with his [...]