Sema and Zikr

	Mevlana
	Dervish Orders
	His Life and Poems
	Sema and Zikr
	Attire and Instruments
	The Ceremony
	Full of Symbolism

Before elucidating further the esoteric ceremony one should clarify a few concepts. The most important of all being Sema and Zikr. SEMA, in Sufism, means listening to music, singing and chanting to attain a state of religious emotion and ecstasy, it is a spiritual concert. The word for dancing was RAKS, but today sema alone is almost synonymous with dancing (semazen in this context means 'dancer') which is an essential part of the ceremony and ZIKR is the remembrance of god by the repeated enunciation of short invocations.

Both thought and will must be suspended if ecstasy is to be achieved. Zikr is in our case, collective; dance is an outcome of ecstasy caused by Sema. It is certainly a state of unconsciousness due to excessive ecstasy. Sufis claim their dancing to be the work of God manifesting itself through their bodies.

Some Orders have elaborate and complex ceremonies, consisting of different sections like a suite; usually a slow motion is followed by a faster one.

Mevlana says:

"The sema is the soul's adornment which helps it to discover love, to feel the shudder of the encounter to take off the veils and to be in the presence of God."

Even in Mevlana's time sema was a spiritual discipline intended to link the Mevlevi's mind to the Infinite, leading to an emotional relationship between man and God. During Mevlana's time the sema was not so elaborately organised. It was done at any time or any place, even without music. In one of the source books on Mevlana it is stated that, while wholly under the influence of sema and his passion for God, Mevlana chanced to be walking by a goldsmith's shop, and just from the rhythm of the pounding of the hammer, such an intense spiritual passion and ecstasy came upon him that his whole body began to whirl, and he made the goldsmith join him.

Again Mevlana wrote on dancing:

"Dancing is not getting up any time painlessly like a speck of dust blown around in the wind. Dancing is when you rise above both worlds, tearing your heart to pieces and giving up your soul."

The Mevlevi ceremony evolved and grew to perfection, an entity in which poetry, music (instrumental and vocal) and dancing were, integrated, and were all aids to the devotee in his spiritual exercise. It constitutes a real fusion of art, music and dancing. The dancing is almost like a ballet performance and has inspired many European choreographers.

It involves a large ensemble including reed pipe kettle drums, fiddle, long necked lutes, as well as the singers. It stimulates an emotional approach to reality and is intended to develop an emotional link with God. This recitation, music and dancing gives a spiritual uplift, and draws the assembly of men nearer to the almighty.

The predominant instrument is the NEY, the reed pipe, symbolising man's body and its plaintive sound represents the soul's mystical yearning for God. This is why Mevlana has a long poem inspired by the ney.

Again Mevlana says on the dancing as an outcome of ecstasy caused by SEMA:

'Dance where you can break yourself to pieces and totally abandon your worldly passion. Real men dance and whirl on the battlefield; they dance in their own blood. When they give themselves up, they clap their hands; when they leave behind the imperfections of the self, they dance. Their minstrels play music from within; and whole oceans of passion, foam on the crest of their waves.'

 

Attire and Instruments