And the dervish whirls on

He tries to whirl a whirling dervish out of whirl. And does it too. With great charm and grace and ease. In what is a highy colorful a touristy version of the whirling dervish’s deeply religious offering to god.

The dancer accompanied by the three drummers (dhafliwale) walk towards the stage and as the three clad in pure white climb on to the stage to stand in front of the mikes, the dancer stops just belowthe stage. And breaks out into a huge smile as he waves to the excited crowds in front of, and all around him. And then begins the magic, with the dancer in a heavy complicated outfit with two layers of skirts over his bright full length body-hugging costume and colorful headgear. He moves wih fluid grace to the sound of the drums behind him and the accompanying claps of the fascinated audience.

As we watch, and gape, and cheer, the first skirt is rolled round and round and round and suddenly the dancer is cuddling an infant in his arms as he continues dancing. There is an audible gasp among the audience; he smiles impishly and unravels the infant in front of our eyes, twirls it some more and throws it off.

As the dance and rhythm progress, the skirts come off one by one, gracefully and imaginatively…. Now it is a fan and then suddenly it becomes an umbrella…

Here is some information I found on the origin and meaning of the ritual, known as sema

The Sema ceremony represents the human being’s spiritual journey, an ascent by means of intelligence and love to Perfection (Kemal). Turning toward the truth, he grows through love, transcends the ego, meets the truth, and arrives at Perfection. Then he returns from this spiritual journey as one who has reached maturity and completion, able to love and serve the whole of creation and all creatures without discriminating in regard to belief, class, or race.

And so the dancer whirled on and on and on…

***
From a performance I witnessed recently in Dubai. Coming soon on Itchy Feet – my post on the long holiday weekend I spent there – Dubai or not to buy – my reflections on a city that is obsessed with size and scale, and all the mall madness revolving around the Dubai Shopping Festivl and surprise, surprise, Christmas.

But before that, I am off to Goa this evening. So, if you wish to wait with bated breath for the promised post, do so by all means. In the meanwhile, here is wishing all of you a wonderful and happy new year.

While on the subject of the year to come and that which is just on its way out, it was a good year for my Itchy Feet – lots of long and short weekend breaks. Shekhawati havelis and overnight cruises with Jain cuisine. A time to reflect very quietly celebrated its third anniversary sometime late August and my roadblog account on flickr saw my camera-eye improve by leaps and bounds (yes, even if I am sayng it myelf – you check it out too!)