Whirling dervishes

On Sunday night we got another nice evening of turkish culture with a performance of the whirling dervishes on our terrace. The whirling dervishes are actually the mevlevi order, and this religious order was founded in konya during the 13 century. The whirling is a form of dhikr (remembrance of God). Dervish is a common term for an initiate of the Sufi (the order's) path; the whirling itself is known as the Sema and the participants are known as semazens. It takes a lot of practice to do this, though it looks fairly simple try thinking about staying in one spot the whole time you are twirling around trying to hold the same pose. They performed for about 15 minutes. Usually you would see them in a group of about 30 and they would form a circle and do this.

I unfortunately lost about 2 days of field work myself due to a bad ankle roll in the trench on sunday, but I have been trying to be more careful about how I walk and such around as I do not like being stuck at the dig house because that means I am washing the finds all day (pottery, animal bone).

Last night (thursday) there was a themed party, "invasion of the barbarians" where most everyone dressed up to the theme and partied for a good portion for the night/morning. Pictures attached!

I went into the city of Konya today and did some more shopping for gifts to bring home, next friday I am hoping to make it to the turkish bath here in the city as I have been told it is something to experience.

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Part of trip: Turkey

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