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‘Whirling dervishes’ mark Gallipoli campaign with ‘sema’
‘Whirling dervishes’ mark Gallipoli campaign with ‘sema’
Some 3,000 followers of the Sufi Mevlevi Order have performed a ceremony in Turkey’s northwestern province of Çanakkale to commemorate the landing of foreign troops on Turkish soil during World War I.
The Mevlevi, also known as Whirling Dervishes, gathered in the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 21 to pray and to march towards the martyrdom of the 57th Regiment of the Turkish army.
“We come to these lands on which our ancestors shed their blood once a year to commemorate them and to keep the Battle of Çanakkale [Dardanelles] on the agenda,” Mevlevi master Mustafa Özbağ told Anadolu Agency.
Many dervishes attended the march with their traditional local outfits and military costumes as a show of national unity, he said.
In the evening, dervishes performed a ceremony known as “sema,” or “sama,” in Gelibolu (Gallipoli) Mevlevi Lodge.
The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony has been confirmed as the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO since 2008.
The origin of “sema” ceremonies is credited to Rumi, the Sufi master in whose name the Mevlevi Order was founded.
“Mevlana” Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi was a 13th-century Sufi master born in present-day Afghanistan, or according to some sources in Tajikistan.
As a prominent Islamic scholar, theologian and poet, he lived most of his life under the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum.
Rumi died in 1273 in the Central Anatolian province of Konya where his descendants and followers founded the Mevlevi Order.
Thousands of people from various parts of Turkey have started visiting the martyrdoms around Çanakkale to mark the 104th anniversary of the landing of foreign troops on Turkish soil during World War I.
Several hundreds of Australians and New Zealanders also arrived in Turkey to commemorate their countries’ fallen soldiers, known as the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).
April 25 is known as ANZAC Day in Australia — a significant national holiday that honors the ANZACs who fought and died in Çanakkale in 1915.
A special dawn ceremony is held in Çanakkale every year with attendance from the two countries.
Photos: Anadolu Agency
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