Turkish people have such a passion for their religion, their families and their communities. Yesterday night in istanbul, so many people were out celebrating friday after praying at the mosque. Today, in bursa, everyone was out with their families out and about.
Our tourguide caglar (pronounced charlar) took us to a local rooftop restaurant today for dinner. We were definitely thr only tourists there. Firstly, the view was beautiful...
What was extra cool about it was that this is a special restaurant where it sells a special "breaking the fast" menu, meant to be eaten exactly at sundown, which today was at 8:14pm. All the salad, bread, olives, dates, cheese are set down on the table but no one touches it while they wait for the call to prayers. After the call (actually during the call) ..Within seconds, i saw ppl eating dates, eating olives, drinking water (this is how u are supposed to break fast) or lighting up a cigarette. It was an amazing sight and an amazing meal. Everyone was so happy - saw so many hugs, kisses, pats, it was a nice sight to see between friends and familes....
After the awesome meals with the locals, we headed to a Dervish Lounge, which is a religious centre for Sufi Muslims. We were very clearly the only non-turkish tourists there, but were welcomed by the people who run the lounge with open arms. The place was verrrry crowded since it was ramadan so they had to find seats for us outdoors. Not only did the person who ran the mosque run around finding us chairs, but the locals also happily gave up their chairs for us. For outsiders invading on their religious grounds and ceremony, i would have expected a more hostile attitude, but instead we were greeted and welcomed so warmly, words can't even describe it. We were offered hot turkish black tea and freshly fried donuts...
There was about half hour of the leader speaking ot the crowd about the teaching of love...that you cannot be a muslim without love. Although i did not understand what he was saying, i could tell it was beautiful.
After the leader was done his prayer we were ushered into the building to go sit in the guest room before the "Wheeling Dervish" ceremony. Although some of the locals did not wear headscarves, our tour guide asked thatt we respect their religion and wear one...
Being part of something so religious, i dont think i could have not worn one. We were treated like vip sitting in the large guest room, but kids roam freely everywhere and these adorable three little girls came in and just started sitting there lol...
After sitting for a bit, we were ushered into another room where there was a balcony up top. The balcony was for women and thet bottom was for men, but since it was so packed, we just sat in the corner of the bottom area.
I have always seen people dressed the way the people in the cereemony were dressed in tv shows, or mags, but to see it in person, and as a reeligious ceremony was beyond words. Photos could not do this ceremony justice. These Sufi individuals basically spun in cirlces for twenty five minutes straight, going around in circles on que and tilting their head side ways with one arm reaching to the sky and one arm down towards the earth.
It was eye opening. The music was beautiful. I can't even put into words how amazed and "wowwed" i was...
The age group ranged -the youngest seem to be around ten or eleven, to the oldest maybe in his forties. I was so happy to be fortunate enough to see this very special religious ceremony, to be one of the few who get to see this side of turkish culture. I am still in awe of how dedicated and devout turkish people are with their religion.
Thank you Bursa for one of the most culturally eye opening experiences of my life.
Location:Bursa, turkey
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