WHIRLING DERVISHES (MEVLEVI SEMA) CEREMONY)

The main ceremony in the Mevlevi order, which was established after organizing Rumi's ideas, is the Sema Ceremony. Sema was also called “Mevlevi Ayin-i Sharif” or “Mevlevi Muqābala”. The dictionary definition of Muqābala (ceremony) means confrontation, looking at each other face to face. The Mevlevi Dervishes bow each other mutually in front of the red hide, that is, they carry out " Muqābala" in Sultan Veled Circling, which consists of three circlings. For this reason, the term “Mevlevi Sema Muqābala" was considered appropriate. The actions performed in the Mevlevi Sema Ceremony, the clothes worn, and the rituals symbolize the word of Allah and the hadith in different ways. Whirling dervishes keep up chants for Allah, and they reflect and share the revelations (enlightenment, sense, inspiration) that has come to them, reflecting them like a mirror. These ideas of being born into this life and leaving it, circling, the skies, angels, death, resurrection and finding life were included in this ceremony by Mevlana Rumi and Mevlevi Dervishes. Mevlevi Sema Ceremony is a ceremony that has been performed in Mevlevi lodges for centuries. Mevlevi lodges (or Mevlevihane) are institutions that have served our civilization almost everywhere in Anatolia, in the central parts of Istanbul, in Pécs, in Cairo, in Sarajevo, in Crete, in Medina, in Jerusalem, in Plovdiv, in Thessaloniki, that is, almost everywhere on Ottoman lands. It is known that there have been more than one hundred and twenty Mevlevi lodges throughout history. The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony has been performed today by Istanbul Sufi Ceremonies Ensemble in Mevlevi lodges located and restored by the government in accordance with their originals in Galata, Yenikapi, Bahariye and Kasımpaşa and in other Mevlevi Lodges in Turkey and abroad.