The story of the Mevlevi order in Nicosia
Creato il: 08/05/2010
Data: 28/04/2010
Pubblicato: Si
Licenza:
Parole chiave: Semahane, tekke, Mevlevi order
"The Mevlevi Order was founded by the poet Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, who was born in 1207 at Balkh, in what is now Afghanistan. While he was still a boy, his parents immigrated in Anatolia and settled in Konya. There he studied under control of his father, and at the age of 24 became a professor of history, theology and jurisprudence. The mystical philosophy that he expressed in his poetry and bequeathed to the Mevlevi Order would spread east from Konya as far as India, and then throughout the entire Islamic world.
In Cyprus the Lefkosia Mevlevihane was the centre for Sufi tradition on the island. It is believed that the first sheick of the Mevlevihane was Saadeddin ibn Muharrem, who was also the muftu of Cyprus. He was sent from Konya in 1607.
The tekkes in the Turkish Republic were closed by decree on 25 November 1925, and at this time the centre of the Mevlevi Order moved from Konya to Aleppo, in Syria. Although the majority of Turkish Cypriots were in favour of the closure of tekkes in Cyprus as well, in accordance with Ataturk's decree, the British Colonial Administration on the island allowed the tradition to continue.
The next sheikh for the tekke in Lefkosa would be sent from Aleppo, rather than Konya. He was Selim Dede of Damascus, and his death in 1954 brought the end of an era in which the whirling dervishes had performed their sacred dance in the Mevlevihane.
When it was first built, the Mevlevihane included a complex of buildings and extensive grounds, There was a kitchen, which was an important part of the tekke as it provided food for the poor of the city. There was accomodation for eighteen dervishes and guest rooms for visitors. Beneath the domes were tombs for deceased sheicks.
There was an inner courtyard for contemplation, and an orchard in which almonds, pomegranates, and figs provided fuit.
An ancient well ands a reservoir provided water, and there was an octagonal fountain for ablutions.
In 1956, the residential section of the tekke was converted to a hostel for Turkish childtren underc care. Then in 1961, teh Federation of Turkish Organisations, on the recommensation of the director of the Konya Museum, closed the tekke entirely. After alterations, ir was open as the Cyprus Turkish Museum, exhibiting calligraphy, imperial edicts, and weapons as well as costumes of Mevlevi dervishes and tombstones.
What remains of the original tekke is the semahane, where the dervishes performed their dance, and the tombs of sheikhs. Almost everything else was demolished when a shopping centre was erected at the end of 1970.
After extensive repairs to the semahane and the tombs of the sheikhs, the Mevlevi Museum was formally opened on 17 December 2002, with dervishes whirling once again after an interval of over forty years.
A part of the Turkish Cypriot cultural heritage, this ceremony will be performed every year on 17 December, the anniversary of the "Wedding Night", when Celaleddin Rumi died and was reunited with his beloved God. One of the most famous precepts od the Mevlevi Order if that the "lovers of God have no religion but God alone"".
