Whirling About Mosques

The first thing one sees when they sail into the harbor of Istanbul is the Turkish Flag. The white crescent moon and star on a red background looks beautiful against the backdrop of a sunrise and was a great introduction to what was a very new country and culture I was about to experience.

Numerous visitors told me that Istanbul has more to offer than just the 5 days I would be spending there. To compensate for my lack of time, I tried to fit in quite a bit of “must see” spots the first day. The first must see? The Hagia Sophia mosque.

Docked near the Asian side of Istanbul (yes, it is split into two continents!) I traveled with 10 girls to the old part of the town. The temperature was much nicer than the past two countries with a light breeze, but because it Turkey is primarily a Islamic country, and we were visiting during Ramadan, we were particularly sensitive to the cultural norm of wearing covered knees and bringing scarves to cover our shoulders. You can imagine wearing a long full-length skirt added a few degrees to the fairly sunny day. Still, the few mile walk to the Hagia Sophia was so worth it. Originally St. Sophia, a Christian church and the center of Byzantium, it was converted into the chief Mosque of Istanbul when the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1565. Most of the beautiful Christian frescos were plastered over, covering the biblical stories for another Islamic tale to be told. The large architectural structure of the Hagia Sophia is now a museum showing the contrast of where the Sultan sat, with carefully excavated frescos revealed behind on the wall. It was fascinating to me that such beautiful mosaics had been covered up for centuries, though I suppose I can’t blame them.

We next headed to the Blue Mosque right across the way. This mosque is still a working mosque, so we made sure to take off our shoes and cover our heads before entering silently. Where the Hagia Sophia had hard marble floors, the Blue Mosque had plush, soft carpet that your toes sort of sunk into. I can’t lie, it sort of smelled like feet, but the impressive multicolored ceiling and high archways distracted me from the lingering scent. 5 times a day the mosque attracts numerous amounts of people from all over the city for the call to prayer. Though there are plenty of mosques all around town, the blue mosque is a favorite because is as beautiful as it is big.

In the afternoon we wandered about the Grand Bazaar and the Spice market (which I will save for a later blog), and the evening I went on a trip to see the Whirling Dervishes. The Dervishes are usually men practicing Islam following the “sufi” path of extreme poverty (similar to Buddhist sadhus). One of the ways they practice this is by whirling, a specific kind of religious dance, bringing the dancer closer to God. Each dervish wears a large thumb shaped brown hat that signifies the tomb stone, and a black cloak representing death which is taken off during the dance to reveal a white robe representing heaven and the freedom from sins. The hour show began with traditional Islamic music which led into 5 men silently spinning. Eyes closed, the dervishes glided along in a circular motion, looking more like moving fluffy pastries than spiritual men. I couldn’t help but remember how I used to twirl around when I was younger, getting dizzy and eventually falling down in a heap of giggles. But these men were neither falling, laughing, or surprisingly puking from all the spinning they were doing. Though the ceremony was certainly worth seeing, I am not sure I would want to sit through a whole hour again. I kept waiting for some more excitement, but much like watching a paint dry, only one action was apparent… spinning, spinning, and more spinning.