FÊTE DES MEVLEVI

The Mevlevi (whirling dervish) festival is held in Konya in the south of Turkey in the convents(tekke) of Istanbul and in other major cities of the country. This festival perpetuates an ancestral tradition dating back eight centuries and begins in mid-December, culminating on December 17, the anniversary of the union of Mevlâna, the great mystic philosopher of Islam and founder of the Dervish order, with God. Konya is the cradle and capital of the brotherhood of whirling dervishes, a mystical order founded by Mevlana in the ^13th century.