Evening star., 1933-03-12
pERNSHES HOLD
TO OLD CUSTOMS
Religious Sect Continues to
Flourish in YugosIavia After
Ban in Turkey.

SKOPLJE, Yugoslavia @.-The
Dancing Dervishes are not downhearted.
- Suppressed in modern Turkey. and
elsewhere referred to as a dying sect,
they carry on their strange worship
here as though nothing had happened.
the threshold of extinction, the Der
x.snes OF Skoplje are preparing placldly
and methodically for long future.
The sheik of the Skoplje Dervishes Is
well along in years: SO his son Is his
understudy, his grandson also practices
the ritual and his 4-year-old great
grandson is already in active training
for period of leadership hardly likely
to begin before 1878.
An observer finally managed to ma
neuver his way into a Dervish dance,
but not by asking guides. who professed
complete ignorance of what was going
on among the Dervishes.
In Darkened House.
1t was one of King Alexander's gen.
darmes who revealed the place Of the
dance.
The narrow. cobbled street was dark.
The Dervish tekke injecting house, it
sell WdS llUJ JUO VI lilldllJly ASllICo. 1uo
it was plain that what was going on In
the center of the little hall was a re-
ligious ceremony. Under the yellow light
of some old electric bulbs and a kero-
sene lamp about 40 men and boys knelt
on goatSkin rugs and bent their fore
heads to the floor IN prayer.
Before them, where the altar might
have been in church, was niche in
which hung knives and swords. and
Scourages with sharp pointed handles OF
steel. Youngest of the worshipers was
the old sheik's great-grandson, black
robed and obedient, but with the merry
look of a 4-year-old having q grand
time
The child followed the ritual closely,
watching the other Dervishes out Of the
corner of one eye, bowling when they
bowed kneeling when they knelt and
babbling after them the words of the
monotonous chants. Behind wooden
balustrades on two sides of the hall sat
or stood the spectators, including the
women.
Faster and Faster.
Gradually more muscles were brought
into play by the worshipers. Whereas
at first they had only knelt on their
rugs and meditated or chanted, bowling
their heads to the floor. they now
formed sWaying lines, circling sideways
around the hall with arms interlocked,
lunging forward and bending backward
in unison, uttering monotonous chant
which gradually became louder and
faster.
Now whirling dervishes. reverently
rotating their weird. wide skirts like
inverted lilies, came between the sway
ing lines of men and boys and whirled
around, around, around. -.
The swaying lines of bowling, lunging.
lurching men moved faster. The chant
of many voices became one compelling
voice and the tireless lunging and bend
ing of the bodies seemed the writhing
and bending of a composite creature.
Then suddenly there were individuals
again, men from the lines who came
forward toward the niche, where now
the venerable bearded sheik stood and
distributed the Scourges. Each man as
he received the scourge bowed his head
before the sheik, who smiled benevo-
lently and touched his lips to the wor-
shippers hair.
Frenz;ed Chanting.
The men still in the lines, or seated,
chanting. on the floor, shouted rhythmi-
cally their encouragement as the bearers
of the scourges danced slowly around
the hall, twirling the sharp-pointed
steel handles gainst their collar bones.
The chanting became frenzied. The
steel points glittered: the chains and
studded thongs of the scourges struck
the backs of the worshipers.
Again the pace quickened; the points
flashed One after another of the
dervishes thrust the sharp steel through
his cheeks. With the steel in his flesh
he danced on; then withdrew it and
reverently returned the scourge to the
sheik.
The little 4-year-old Dervish in the
black robe toddled across the floor to
his great-grandfather and reached en-
Enthusiastically toward a scourge. The
old man smilingly waved him away.
The ceremony was over.