Identification

• The term "Whirling Dervishes" is a Western naming of members of the Sunni Mevlevi Order. They live in monasteries throughout Turkey and reflect on God through art. This reflection comes in all artistic forms including calligraphy, art, classical poetry and, of course, the whirling dance.
  
  

Symbolism

• The whirling dance, also referred to as the Sema ceremony, represents the spiritual journey of man and reflects that the fundamental condition of existence involves revolution. The revolution of spirituality, reflected in the Sema ceremony represents turning to truth and to God, maturing through love of God, the transformation of self to unite with God and returning to life as a servant of God.
  
  

Prominent Figures

• Jalaluddin Rumi, a prominent Muslim scholar and poet of the 13th century, was a member of the Mevlevi Order. He inspired the sema ritual. Although born in what is today Afghanistan, Rumi spent most of his life in Konya, Turkey, after succeeding his father as a professor of religious sciences there. He participated in the Sema rituals, including the dance, in Konya, and his tomb lies there today.