733rd Rumi’s Reunion with God

Bureau report - Turkish Daily News - Ankara,Turkey

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Mevlana Jelaladdin Rumi, the 13th century Turkish philosopher and poet, will be commemorated with a series of activities this year on the 733rd anniversary of his “reunion with God,” announced Konya's Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Abdüssettar Yarar on Tuesday.

The activities will also be a kind of rehearsal prior to the comprehensive activities marking the Year of Mevlana in 2007, declared by UNESCO, which is also the 800th anniversary of his birth.
A press conference promoting the activities was held with the participation of Yarar, Konya Governor Atilla Osmançelebioğlu and Konya Mayor Tahir Akyürek.

Yarar said the activities had been organized by the Konya Governorship, Selçuk University and the Konya Municipality together with many other organizations. He added that the Year of Mevlana and the inclusion of the Mevlevi Sema Ceremony -- which includes the spinning dance that is a spiritual and religious tradition of Sufism -- on UNESCO's list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity -- aimed at preserving the world's intangible cultural heritage treasures -- highlighted the importance of this year's overall commemoration activities.

“The activities marking the733rd anniversary of Mevlana Jelaladdin Rumi's reunion with God will kick off on Dec. 1 and will end Dec. 17 with ‘Şeb-i Arus' celebrations marking Rumi's departure from the mortal world and his reunion with God. The activities will be a kind of rehearsal for the broader comprehensive activities scheduled in 2007, the Year of Mevlana. Most of them will take place at the Konya Mevlana Culture Center,” he said.

An audience of around 70,000 is expected to attend the 18-day activities, an increase of 65 percent over the previous year.

Program:
“Our aim is to promote Mevlana, his philosophy, the Sema ceremony and Konya to younger generations.

This year's activities will include 24 Sema dance performances, and Turkish classical singer Ahmet Özhan will perform examples of Sufi music as part of the program,” he said, adding: “The ceremonies will kick off with a traditional procession and a visit to the Konya Mevlana Museum on the opening day. Performances by child whirling dervishes in the museum will follow the events, together with a number of exhibitions.”

Yarar said they hoped the Mevlevi clothing, world Mevlevihanes (Mevlevi dervish lodges) photographs and reed flute exhibitions scheduled for the opening day would attract great attention from the audiences, who would also find the opportunity to enjoy activities such as the third International Mystic Music Festival, a Mevlana chess tournament, panel discussions and children's theater.

“We also prepared promotional posters in different languages, including German, French, English, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and Farsi, to increase participation at an international level. Turkish embassies in 35 countries will provide support in this sense, too,” he noted.