Whirling Dervishes

This practice takes place in Semahane, where the sema ceremony takes place, and all other music and garments have special meanings. According to the doctrine, the dervish can hear all the facts of the universe while he is whirling and then live his life according to what those realities require. In short, the ceremony means spiritual purification. Whirling dervishes wear "tennure" and "cardigan" during the ceremony. Tennure is a sleeveless dress that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, representing "the shroud of nafs" (can be translated as "psyche,", "ego," or "soul,", the bad part of humans), and a cardigan represents nafs. At the beginning of the ceremony, the dervish taking off his cardigan signifies that he is starting a spiritual cleansing. Annually, on December 17th, Seb-i Arus (Mevlana's death anniversary), "The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony" is held in Konya. Since 2008, "The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony" has been confirmed as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Unesco.