Sacred dance

The tall light brown hats worn by whirling dervishes are as intriguing as the elliptical dance performed in honor of the Sufi poet and mystic Rumi.

In Konya, a sprawling city in central Anatolian plain where Rumi spent most of his life and died 750 years ago, one of the last workshops makes these special "sikke" hats to order.

In a 500-year-old stone theatre in the Egyptian capital, two young dervishes spin ceaselessly. Slowly, then all at once, they are consumed in a flurry of vivid fabrics.

Born into a lineage of whirling dervishes, Mohamed Adel, 20, takes great pride in the uniquely Egyptian interpretation of the centuries-old ritual known colloquially as "tanoura," or skirt in Arabic.

A museum in central Turkey dedicated to the 13th-century Muslim mystic poet Mevlana Jalaluddin al-Rumi hosted a record of nearly 3.5 million visitors in 2019.

The Mevlana Museum, located in Konya, drew a total of 3,464,000 local and foreign tourists last year, becoming the country's number two museum destination after the Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul.

Vienna-based Turkish choreographer Ziya Azazi is coming to Athens with "Dervish," which combines his two solo works, "Dervish in Progress" (2004) and "Azab" (2005), and is inspired by the teachings of Sufism and the whirling dervishes of the Mevlevi Order, one of the oldest, founded in the 13th century.

The Turkish embassy of Bangladesh and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) hosted the traditional ceremony of Sufi whirling dervishes on the night of Feb. 24 at the Dhaka Shilpakala Academy.

Three police officers died after a dervish drove a van into them during a protest in the Iranian capital Tehran, Nova TV reported. The Demonstration demanded the release of several detainees of the Sufi religious group from the arrest.

The performance of a group of 12 Whirling Dervishes formed of students with autism, Down's syndrome, mental and physical disabilities has fascinated audiences with their performance at a show in Ankara. 

On the 743rd anniversary of the death of Sufi mystic poet Rumi, Istanbul's Ülker Sports Arena will host a special Şeb-i Arus ceremony, known as the "Reunion Night."
A huge team of 500 people has been working for the event, set to take place on Dec. 24 and attended by 15,000 people. 

Turkey's famous Whirling Dervishes are preparing to fly across the globe to perform "down under" to celebrate the centenary of the World War I battle of Gallipoli, marking 100 years of peace between Australia and Turkey.

Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard named 2015 the "Year of Turkey in Australia" in 2012. 

A vast collection of antique objects used in Sufi Muslim dervish convents has been launched as an exhibit at the Turkish American Cultural Center in the state of Maryland, near Washington D.C.

The "Dervishes and Their Belongings" exhibition, which runs until Oct.21, will feature 300 historical artifacts used in the daily life of dervish convents.