[2023] Local Whirling Dervishes performance at Yenikapı Mevlevi Lodge in Istanbul
The first time we came to Istanbul, we attended a local ceremony of Whirling Dervishes in Istanbul. In 2023, we wanted to go back to the same place, but we found out it was closed.
The “touristy” shows still take place every night, but we wanted to attend a real local performance with the Sufi community. After asking around, I found a monthly local show. Only one seat was left, which could be bought online. 50TL (barely €2). I suggest to JB that we go anyway in case someone cancels, but he refuses, because the venue is quite far (50 minutes by tram) and if he gets turned away, he would have wasted almost 2 hours.
Practical info: dates are announced one month in advance on this Facebook page You’ll get details about the date and where to buy the ticket online (I bought mine on biletinial.com and paid with my international card)
Address: Yenikapı Mevlevi Lodge Google Maps
Take tram line 1, get off at Cevızlıbağ – Aöy, then walk 7 minutes. Or you can take an Uber.
Upon arrival, I realize I’m one of the few tourists attending. Most people seem to know each other. There are seats reserved for staff or the community. JB could have come because there were plenty of empty seats.
The ceremony begins with a quick speech in Turkish.
The musicians, upstairs, get settled. It starts with a vocal melody, then an instrument plays solo. The melodies are so beautiful that it really moved me.
Then, the whirling dervishes enter one by one. It quickly becomes clear there are two masters of ceremony. Incense is lit by one of the masters, there are religious codes I don’t understand, and the dervishes spend a long time greeting each other. The music is everywhere.
Finally, they take off their black cloaks and each one passes between two masters, greets them, and starts whirling.
At first, arms are placed on the shoulders, then they lower to waist level, then rise to form a V. The head is always tilted to the right.
When all the dervishes whirl together in harmony, the second master walks among them. If he touches one’s robe, that dervish will know to move aside a bit. He does this because they all have their eyes closed and are unaware of their position in the group.
The dervishes’ robe is very important; it helps them whirl non-stop without getting dizzy. The gestures must be precise, but again, I’m absolutely not an expert and can’t explain why the arms are positioned that way or why the head is tilted.
Allow me to quote this passage from the book The Initiates (Amazon link) which I highly recommend, about RÛMÎ, Djalâl Al-Dîn, known as (Balkh, 1207-Konya, 1273), who is the origin of this ritual dance among the Sufis:
Shams will initiate his young disciple Rûmî Djalâl Al-Dîn into samâ (mystical audition), music accompanied by whirling, an ecstatic dance practiced exclusively by an elite, of which Rûmî is not the inventor – for it has been practiced in Baghdad since the 9th century –, but of which he is the most famous representative with the Meveli order of whirling dervishes that he created, and which his son, Sultân Walad, would structure and ritualize. Music and dance were not well received by Islamic scholars, nor even within many Sufi brotherhoods, who saw in these ecstatic whirlings, combined with music, an encouragement to carnal desires and also considered poetry immoral. […] Rûmî was able to practice samâ for several days in a row and, according to his son : ” He never ceased for an instant listening to music and dancing ; he rested neither day nor night. He had been a scholar, he became a poet. He had been an ascetic : he became drunk with love, not with grape wine : the enlightened soul drinks only the wine of Light. ” The spinning symbolism of this dance goes beyond divine ecstasy and the pronouncing of God’s name according to the multiple meanings of the Quran. Around the master, intermediary between Heaven and Earth, the whirling of the dervishes dressed in white and covered in black, who move from East to West, symbolizes that of planets around the Sun, or that of atoms, with the fission of which Rûmî seems to have had a premonition, as well as the plurality of worlds and solar systems, and – long before Copernicus – heliocentrism. ” O day, arise ! atoms dance / Souls, lost in ecstasy, dance / In your ear, I will tell you where the dance leads / All atoms in the air and in the desert / Know well, they are like madmen / Each atom, happy or miserable / Is in love with this Sun of which nothing can be said. ” Even today, the practice of samâ – which is the ultimate degree of Sufism allowing one to reach unity with God by awakening the five senses of the soul – remains esoteric, as Rûmî revealed in this famous saying, which hides as much as it reveals : ” In the rhythms of music is hidden a secret ; if I revealed it, it would shake the world. “
The dervishes whirl non-stop for about 5 minutes, then take a break. Then they resume, and so on many times. I don’t know if it’s for them to recover, because I don’t get the impression they need a break. They all have radiant expressions, as if nothing had happened.
Compared to the show I attended a few years ago, the whirling dervishes are older, their movements are less graceful, but the expression on their faces is like all those who seem to touch the divine. There is so much serenity, it’s truly beautiful.
The audience is ultimately the one that benefits the least. The ecstasy of the dervishes is unfortunately not contagious. I’d say this dance has a magical effect on those who dance, less so on those who watch.
However, I really enjoyed this show. It remains simple, religious, and very beautiful. The music is magnificent.
Photos are allowed, but people are really respectful and don’t use flash, and they are very discreet when filming or taking pictures. There’s a restaurant right next door if you’re hungry. It’s too late for me to take the tram alone at night, so I called an Uber, but the tram is just 7 minutes away if you’re with someone.
If you don’t have the chance to be in Istanbul when the show takes place, you can watch many tourist shows offered every night. They last longer and are more impressive, with or without dinner. You can go through our partner Civitatis or our partner Getyourguide.
