December Celebrations to Crown Year of Mevlana

Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Wednesday, October 17, 2007

The growing interest in Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, the Sufi saint who advocated tolerance, reason and access to knowledge through love, continues to bring thousands together.

More than 80,000 people will attend the Remembrance of Mevlana Program on Dec.1-17, where for the first time 33 sema (whirling ceremonies) will take place.

Yaşar Sarıcan, acting director of the Konya City Culture and Tourism Directorship, speaking with the Anatolia news agency, said: “So many programs were organized as part of year-round festivities for 2007 Year of Mevlana, declared by UNESCO.

The most attractive of these was the program arranged on Sept. 10 for the 800th anniversary of the birth of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi at the Konya City Stadium. It was the greatest organized celebration ever held for Mevlana.”

He highlighted that they have also been working to hold another event marking the 734th anniversary of Mevlana’s death, which is considered in Sufism to be his reunion with God.

Sarıcan added: “As this year was declared the year of Mevlana, activities planned for this year have been of more importance. During the preparation process, we sent many pamphlets to various destinations abroad written in 17 different languages; Spanish, German, Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Italian and Urdu to name a few.

Turkish society has also been informed via many advertisements. All of this has yielded good results. More than 80,000 people will attend the sema ceremonies this year.”

Sarıcan said that the Remembrance of Mevlana Activities was first organized on Dec. 1-17 last year, where 23 sema were performed and almost 60,000 people were in attendance.

“Last year sema took place only on the weekends. However, this year shows will be performed every day between Dec. 1 and 17. Only the Dec. 17 sema will be take place in the evening, because Dec. 17 is Şeb-i Arus (the day of reunion with God).

We have been accepting reservations since January 2007. The number of reservations has surpassed 100,000, so we will have to reject thousands.”

He added: “Although the Mevlana Culture Center has a 2,500-person capacity, the demand has surpassed 6,000 for Şeb-i Arus. This intensive interest is a joyful event for our country’s tourism.”