Konya is welcoming tens of thousands of visitors this December as Türkiye marks the 733rd anniversary of the death of Jalal ud-din Rumi, the celebrated Sufi mystic known in Türkiye as Mevlana. Hotel accommodations across the central Anatolian city sold out weeks in advance, and authorities anticipated crowds of up to 60,000 on the final day of the commemorations.
The highlight of the festivities is the Sema ceremony on 17 December, the date Rumi died in 1273. Rumi himself called that night "Vuslat Gecesi," or the night of union with God. He was born on 30 September 1207 in Balkh, in present-day Afghanistan, and is buried in Konya alongside his father beneath an elaborate shrine that still draws pilgrims from around the world.
Rumi founded the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes and devoted his life to Sufi mysticism. His principal work, the Mathnawi-i Manawi, consists of roughly 30,000 couplets spread across six volumes, blending Sufi doctrine with fables and observations on physics and psychology.
The Sema ritual symbolizes a spiritual ascent through love and wisdom toward divine perfection, after which the practitioner returns to serve all of creation without regard to faith, race, or nationality.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in December 2006, in its own words.