Colors of Konya - traditions, festivals, mentality and lifestyle

Every year, Konya hosts the Whirling Dervishes Festival, thanks to which the small Turkish town became famous all over the world. Konya is the oldest religious center of the country where the most significant and beautiful historical holidays are organized. The unique festival usually starts in mid-December and lasts seven days. The organizers of this holiday are followers of philosophical teachings of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī.

The venue of the festival was not chosen by chance. Rumi, a great Islamic scholar and missionary who has a lot of followers among our contemporaries lived here in the 13th century. Followers of the missionary are called "dervishes". One of the main components of their main holiday is traditional dances. Dance rituals are performed in very beautiful fluttering white clothes, which gives them special spectacular. People dance to the traditional accompaniment of drums and flutes. Today, absolutely everyone is allowed to watch ritual dances.

The main feature of the festival is that within its framework current religious rituals are conducted by local monks. Only recently the Whirling Dervishes Festival has become available to the public. For hundreds of years, dervishes' rituals have been hidden from prying eyes. During the dance rituals, the monks are getting into a state of deep trance. Not just anybody can perform such an ancient dance. Locals believe that during the dance the monks become the real guides between God and humans. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

All the most interesting ritual activities of the festival are held in the religious center Mevlana Kültür Merkezi. In recent years, the historic religious festival has begun to attract many foreign visitors who have access to most of the festive events. These innovations had an impact on the holiday's program. Now the festival is accompanied by beautiful solemn processions, historical events, and fairs. Travelers who decide to visit this beautiful holiday should take into account some restrictions. Only a limited number of people can watch dance performances in the religious center, so it’s worth booking tickets in advance.

The most important traits of Konya residents can be called friendliness and hospitality. Despite the fact that foreign tourists began visiting the city quite recently, the townspeople have long been accustomed to them and feel absolutely comfortable in the company of foreigners. Visiting one of the local stores or souvenir shops, you should not be surprised if their friendly owners offer you a cup of tea or coffee. It is not acceptable to refuse this kind of offers, that's how one can offend the hospitable host. However, in such circumstances, visitors to the store need to buy something, at least the simplest and cheapest souvenir.

If a guest is invited to someone's home for coffee, one can be sure that such a visit will not be limited to just drinking coffee. Guests here are offered the best of everything, a rich table is always prepared for them. For local people, the house is one of the most revered and beloved parts of everyday life, so special attention is always paid to its arrangement and creation of comfort. When entering the house, it is necessary to take off your shoes, this rule is also applied to visiting local mosques.

These simple and widespread traditions go back thousands of years but remain obligatory for citizens even in the rhythm of modern life. Another interesting peculiarity of local etiquette is that here it is customary to do almost everything with the right hand only. It is used for taking and passing things, taking food from the table, giving money, and performing many other actions that modern people don't even think about. For inhabitants of Konya, such a historically established feature has long become automatic, children are taught it from early childhood. Tourists who want to comply with local traditions will have to concentrate much more when performing daily activities.

As in many other Turkish cities, Konya has special rules for everyday clothes. One won't see women wearing excessively bright or revealing dresses, and if everyday men's clothing is very close to classical European, then women wear closed dresses and cover their heads with a scarf even in hot weather. Foreign guests should give preference to closed clothes of neutral colors for walking around the city as well. This is how you can show your respect for the local culture.