The Spiral Dance Trivia Quiz

Answer: Islam

Sufism is a mystical form of Islam. Followers of this practice are called Sufis. Islam has two major branches - Sunni and Shia Islam. The majority of Sufis belong to the Sunni sect. The word Sufi can be translated to 'wearer of wool'. This draws relations to the early mystics who were known to wear woolen clothes.

Answer: Rumi

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, known mostly just by the name Rūmī, was a 13th-century poet and mystic from Persia. He is one of the better known Persian philosophers in the Western world through the popular translations of many of his works. In recent times, he has also become a social media favourite. Often, quotes and verses attributed to him have no correlation with the actual writings, the meaning seemingly lost in translation.

Rūmī was born in present day Afghanistan, but his family moved to Turkey when he was a teenager in a bid to escape the invading Mongols. It was in Turkey that Rūmī developed and popularised the practice of whirling as a means of uniting with the Creator. The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya (formal name of the whirling dervishes) was founded by him in Konya, Turkey.

Answer: Mendicant

Dervish is considered the Persian equivalent of the Arabic term faqir. Both words describe a religious mendicant. A dervish may renounce all material wealth and possessions to denote his utter dependence on God for providence. Sometimes the word "dervish" is used broadly in Islam to describe all followers of Sufism.

Answer: Meditation

The practice of whirling was developed by Rūmī as a form of meditation. Practitioners aim to enter a trance-like state to become one with the Creator. Unlike some forms of meditation associated with other eastern faiths, the dervish doesn't seek to abandon all conscious thought and empty one's mind.

Instead he looks to leave aside his ego and other human emotions to unite with Allah.

Answer: Allah

Dhikr literally translates to remembrance. In Islam, it is used to describe any prayer that is repeated. Prayer beads (which can be compared to the rosary beads used by Roman Catholics or rudraksh used by Hindus) are used to keep track of the repetitions. While whirling, the dervishes chant "Allah" repeatedly to train their mind to focus on God.

Answer: White

Before the ritual starts, the dervishes are clad in long dark coloured cloaks. These are taken off as a symbol of leaving aside their worldly lives and thoughts before they start whirling. Inside they wear long white robes with full skirts. These are said to symbolise the shroud of their ego.

The attire also includes a tall conical felt hat called a sikke, usually in dark brown. The sikke represents the tombstone of the dervish's ego.

Answer: False

The whirling dervishes of present day are made up almost entirely of men. In the time of Rūmī, it was not uncommon for men and women to whirl together. This gradually fell out of practice and later the whirling dervishes were male only. Recently, women have begun taking up the practice again but they are few in number and have still not received widespread acceptance.

Answer: Planets revolving around the sun

The whirling motions of the dervishes are said to mimic the movement of the planets around the sun. The dervish abandons his ego, frees his mind of worldly thoughts and cares, and focusses only on uniting with the Creator. The right hand is raised to receive blessings from God, while the left hand points to the ground, transferring the blessings to earth.

In this trance-like state, the dervish is said to straddle both worlds.

Answer: Turkey

The whirling dervishes originated in modern-day Turkey when Rūmī founded this order in Konya. Under the Ottoman Empire, the dervishes flourished and expanded to regions as far off as the Balkans. When the Ottoman Empire ended, Sufism was outlawed in 1925 as Turkey moved towards becoming a secular republic.

In the 1950s, the dervishes were allowed to practice in public again but more as a cultural practice than a religious one. To this day, this deeply personal spiritual experience is popularized as a tourist attraction.

Answer: True

In 2001, UNESCO began recognizing intangible cultural heritage under the Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The aim was to identify languages, music, myths, culinary practices and various other intangible facets inextricably woven among the different cultures of the world.

This was considered a natural extension of UNESCO's World Heritage list which identified and promoted tangible structures and monuments. Among the first to be recognized under this list were the traditional Georgian polyphonic singing, the oral tradition of the Zápara people of Peru, and the Kun Qu form of opera of China.

In 2008, the whirling dervishes were added to this list.