Working my new Dervish connections ; ) I was able to attend a male Sufi-Dervish ceremony while in Kurdistan. The Sufis are a mystical side of Islam, which, in a nutshell, focus on Love and God as One. Several great poets were Sufis/Dervishes, and in general, there is more interest in this in the west as it is seemingly mystical and Love-based; something many of us find attractive and useful. Persia is the birthplace of Sufism though most people now associate it with the touristy whirling Dervishes seen at big shows in Turkey. The form of Sufiism in Iran is, I would say, distinct from this and much more “pure” not being at all touristy and in fact, pretty closed to outsiders. I was told that I should dress as man-like as possible since women are not normally allowed at these ceremonies as it can inhibit men from being able to reach ecstasy. When I first heard this I wondered: can they not reach ecstasy because us “lowly” women are around?, or can they not reach ecstasy because as women we are so tantalizing that no man could possibly focus on God in our presence? I realized the second reason is why (since in fact that is why we cover here- men cannot be responsible to focus or behave around our womanliness; ) so I and my female translator friend tried to look as boyish for the ceremony. Before we arrived, I imagined us huddled in the corner, heads lowered, prayer beads in hand- sort of looking like weary old men. When we arrived they welcomed us, told us they were waiting for us, and then we were quickly shown to the kitchen where we were offered a seat on the floor. All the men entered a different door to the ceremony hall after washing their feet, hands and faces. The door between the ceremony hall and the kitchen was propped open half way for us by our friend, the master of the ceremony, who was the star singer and daft (a sort of big drum) player of the evening. We would not be allowed to enter the room. First the men said prayers which were a lot of “Allah Allah Allah”’s of various speeds and variations; my favorite being one meaning “God is One.” While seated, men rocked back and forth rhythmically, which I assume lets them reach a trance-like state. Once in a while a random man would scream out in ecstasy (but sometimes sounding like they were in pain), sometimes standing up while screaming (in terror?), moving around the room. Our master of the ceremony friend asked if I was scared, but I let him know I had seen some stuff in India and evangelical churches in America so nothing shocks me anymore. In the kitchen a man was preparing huge vats of tea for all the men in the hall (about 100?) so it was pretty hot. It forced us to come to terms with the fact that that us dressing like boys was unnecessary, but worse: HOT. A few men could see us through the propped open door. Most looked curiously and then got over it. Maybe one or two gave us dirty looks; they were the minority. After the prayer the real action happened: About 20 daft drums were brought out and men limed the parameter of the hall. Our friend being the star drummer, who we then learned had an evil co-leader, who looked more like a computer programmer than any Allah-loving long haired Dervish man. He was young, short-haired, light skinned, western geeky looking. His facial expressions showed that he was obviously disgusted by our presence. He slammed shut the door which was propped open. Within 30 seconds it became that much hotter in the kitchen. What was worse was that then the most amazing sound of drums and chanting came from the hallway but we could no longer see it : ( Our friend came back to open the door- in the minute that the door was open I could see the evil computer programmer boy whirling around, beads of sweat on his forehead, head thrust up to the heavens, eyes shut; as if he had truly reached ecstasy. His eyes cracked open a hair as he turned; his eyes turned red as he caught a glimpse of th eopen door. He then stormed towards the kitchen, slamming the door shut while screaming what I can only imagine was “effing bitches” (j/k!). Our friend then came in asking me for my video camera- he then gave it to a little boy to film the ceremony for us, which was not normally allowed but I think it was their consolation prize to us. This bit of the ceremony went on for about 45 minutes. Even though we could not see it sounded and felt incredible! Towards the end our friend again burst the door open, like he was freeing us from prison- cooling down the kitchen (relatively speaking) and letting us to have a glimpse into one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Across form the daft players was about 15 men who had their hair down, some of their hair reaching their bum, others simply shoulder length. Rythmicaly, while chanting, they bent their head and torso forwards and then back up right like a 80s head-banger would. Another man ran around the room hopping and flailing his head every which way. We still could not see much, but later on the video that was taken for us, we saw everything which was extremely fascinating. I will do my best to download what I can here, because you just have to see it to understand it. Once they were done with that bit of the ceremony we were ushered out and back onto the street- I insisted on saying goodbye to our singer friend. He came out but now would not shake my hand. I assume he was too close to God at that point to color it by some handshake with a woman. So, just a simple Khodahafez (good-bye) & we were off… My translator friend & I both agreed it was one of the most fascinating experiences we have ever had.
By Michelle May
