Whirling dervishes online in 739th Rumi anniversary

KONYA - Anatolia News Agency

The whirling dervish performances are seen by thousands of people in the world thanks to the Internet. AA photo

The Konya Metropolitan Municipality is bringing the commemoration ceremonies organized on the 739th anniversary of Rumi to the world through the Internet. The ceremonies, which are organized every year in the central Anatolian province of Konya, are seen by thousands of people all around the world.

The ceremonies began this year on Dec. 7 with the Love and Tolerance March in the city. All the tickets for the events were sold out and hotels are operating at full capacity in the city. This popularity is why many people follow the ceremonies over the Internet.

Konya Mayor Tahir Akyürek said the ceremonies could be followed on the website www.konya.bel.tr live until Dec. 17. He also said they had started an iPhone and iPad application this year and people would be able to install the translation of Rumi’s famous work “Masnavi” on their Android cell phones in 16 different languages. The work has recently been translated into 22 languages.

Masnavi is an epic poem written in Persian by Rumi, the celebrated Persian Sufi poet. It is one of the best known works of both Sufism and Persian literature. It is a series of six books of poetry that each amount to about 25,000 verses or 50,000 lines.