Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-09-05
SALT LAKER ON
STRANGE DANCE
Col. E. F. Holmes Writes About
Whirling Deryishes at
ConstantInOple
WITNESSES REAL CEREMONY.
ghe Dress. Beliefs Ideas and skin OF
Those Who Participate in
Weird Rites

Col. l.. p. Holmes. who is making
an extended trip through Europe. de-
scribes the rractiscs of "vhiriiug der-
wishes" and fas strange class Of reo-
ple In recent letter 20 friend in
this sity. Excerpts from the letter
follow
10 is seldom now that one can see
the real thing In the line OF dancing
dervishes" or "howiiug deryishes' of
the Mohammodon religion. attended by
the fanatic Intensity aud zeal of the
people OF that MIth.
To SEQ this loo cairo is only t1 witness
a put-up show for the benefit OF tour
lists. on whoever wiz pay the price.
Like the exhibitions of harem ife, the
reality Dr. not shown t1 outsiders any
more There was "a time when this
was not true. and properly undertaken
a. was possible 90 get DIS glimpse I'M
to the family life of the oriental The
privilege. however was abused lV
travelling peouie-whether English or
American German or French ! DO not
know-so that the custom has been en-
tirely Discontinued. and Ike the dane
Ing dervishcs. what is seen rs "a show
made mp FOR the occasion.
ARE RELIGIOUS FANATICS.
In Constanunople. however. this ex-
tremely interesting ceremony can stu
be seen and there ls nothing Boz lt Of a
nature at nll immoral or other than Of
seriousness These whlrling dorvishes
are religious fanatics deeply imbued
with the holiness Of the act You in
stinctlvely remove your hat In their
presence. There are no feelings OF
mirth or levty The poor. bcnighted
beings that practise this rite may be-
piiied but they do e In all seriousness
and with great elaboration They are
like an order of monks in the Chris
tian world. They dress In a peculiar
way and all nearly alike The gar
ment has n full skirt NJ wooden mater
ial reaching 10 the ankles, some shade
OF gray maroon. or other shade =
red. II has o fairly fitting body witr
sleeves, ana tall conical cap is worn
taller and OF heavier material than
the ordinary fer,
THE DANCE ITSELF.
Most Of the dancers are barefooted
and the movement consists I'm turn
ing round and round on nearly "a fixed
pivot moving only six inchea around
the circle at each revolution or about
the distance of the width OF tho hot
tom OF the mans foot Tho dancer
Whiris on tho right foot which ig not
lifted from the floor. the propellng
power being the other foot which
gains a new position nt each rev0lu.
tion, Thus the effort Is considerable
or would be 10 one not used 10 40. and
the skin required In the movement
must require a long period Of prac-
Use sixty revolutions minute or
one every second. was the fastest that
we timed. and some rather old men
only half that This motion. Of course.
causes the skirt TO gather air UNDER
meath. so that II stands out as full
as the material will allow When un-
der way they have both arms extended
the right a little the higher. with
palm IN the left a little below what
would be horizontal line across tho
body but with palm turned down
the idea being that the divine current
from heaven TO earth thus passes
through their bodies Their eyes are
closed, or nearly SO. and after about
10 minutes the music ceases. some
sort Of command Is given by the lead
der, ana they stop In their places With
out showing the least sign Of dizzi-
ness, They viii then open their ewes
and even glance surrcptitiously 20 the
gallery whore spectators stand and
where the musicians are located The
peculiar Instruments are PLAYED by
beating time with the fingers upon
some kind OF skin stretched tight over
franc. accompanied by some four
or Ave voices IN their sing-sonR drawl-
iug tones-the least like music Of any
thing one could imagine
ATTENDANT CEREMONY.
The space set aside FOR the scrvico
Is abou, 40 feet square and the noof
Of planed lumber "a an no sense what
might be called a dancing floor Be
fore tho service commence AN are
sitting around tho sides 0f THIS space
and one. an elderly patriarch. is
squattcd on the floor at ono side. The
dancers take position ou tho three
sides OF the floor and at tho proper
time each passes before the chIcf. bow
ing before ho reaches him passing tc
the other Side and bowling AGAIN
They an keep n sort OF rylhmic stop
and SO make their way around tht
circle The whole 16 dancers 40 this.
whlrl AZ FIRST tho movement o. rathol
slow and the skirts seem o. Doc ln th,
way; their arms 1ro bent. The hands
pass along up their chests and as
the motion increases the arms hrcom.
extended 1nd are apparently quit.
rigid in that position. Tho whole
Thing lasted nearly hroe-quarte 81