Anniversary of Rumi with posters in 10 languages

Bureau Report - Turkish Daily News - Ankara, Turkey
Monday, September 11, 2006

More than 100,000 people are expected to buy tickets for this year's ceremonies to commemorate Mevlana Jalaladdin Rumi, the father of Sufism.

A senior official from the Konya Culture and Tourism Directorate told the Anatolia news agency that 60,000 prospective ticket buyers had applied to attend the International Commemoration Ceremonies for the 733rd Reunion Anniversary of Mevlana, which will feature 23 sema dance performances this year. The number of ticket seekers was expected to reach at least 100,000 by the end of September.

The ceremonies this year were expanded by a week and will last from Dec. 1-17.

The same official said the Konya Municipality and Selçuk University were working hard to make this year's ceremonies colorful.

The directorate has prepared 10,000 posters announcing the ceremonies in 10 languages. Requests for tickets will be accepted until the end of September.
Meanwhile, hotels in Konya have already accepted reservations, bringing them to approximately 70 percent occupancy three months before the start of the ceremonies.

Last November UNESCO included the Mevlevi Sema Ceremony, a spiritual and religious tradition of Sufism, on its list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. UNESCO's decision, which highlighted the whirling dervish dances both in Turkey and on the international platform, is expected to increase tourists to Konya as well as promote the Sufi tradition

Experts say the sema indicates “listening, singing beautifully” in Sufism as well as signifying an act of feeling God and a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love to "Perfection" or “God.”

In this journey the whirling dervishes symbolically turn towards the truth, grow through love, abandon the ego and all materialistic values of the world, find the truth and arrive at the "Perfect" then return from this spiritual journey with greater maturity, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation without discrimination against beliefs, races, classes and nations.