The last long drive from Konya to Cappadocia began with a devotion and briefing about the Cappadocia from our learned scholars. You might be thinking who named the city Cappadocia , back in times around 2500 BC Hittites saw the land with beautiful landscapes , natural chimney volcanic mountains and horses so they called the city has “Kat pa tuka” in Hittite but later when French invaded they misunderstood the name and started called Kapados and then later it shaped to Kapadokia during roman era and finally it ended to be called “ Cappadocia”. The planned itinerary had few changes due to the restoration activities at the valley of ancient churches which have beautiful frescos and history to learn from but instead our professors included cave churches in Cappadocia which have similar features.
On our way we got an opportunity to see the Agzikarahan (Caravanserai 1231-1239), a place for travelers back then to stay while they travel from place to place, and these Caravanserai are built every 20kms apart which is a day’s journey and freely fed the people. The merchants before they begin their journey have to pay taxes which are used for maintenance of these Caravanserai and help feed the passersby with an allowed stay of up to 3 days, with few exceptions on extended stay. On our way to Cappadocia, we had few pit stops for panoramic views and rock castles which were built or I should say carved by ancients and were used a homes for Christians for a thousand years. We also stopped at a carpet making factory, where we learned how rugs are made in Turkey and some in our group purchased their own Turkish rugs.
Later in the evening we signed up for a Dervish dance performance which lasted for almost an hour and was an spectacular dance one has to experience. These dancers belong to the Caravanserai which is a place of growing in Mevlana spirituality. Sema is the inspiration of Mevlana Celaleddin-I Rumi (1207-1273) and is also regarded as Turkish historical belief. Sema (Darvish enrichment and performance atonement) is an mystical journey , spiritual ascent through love the dervish overcomes his ego , finds the truth and arrives as “The Perfect” to perform.
Here are the seven advices from Mevlana.
In generosity and helping others be like river
In compassion and grace be like sun
In concealing other faults be like night.
In anger and fury be like dead
In modesty and humility be like earth
In tolerance be like a sea
Either exist as you are or be as you look.
After the mesmerizing dervish dance and a Turkish tea , drove back to hotel. Stayed tuned for the last day updates from Cappadocia as our seminary travel trip comes to closure and would share updates on our closing farewell.
-Lax
Comments