Semah in Alevis: “Moving to be with God”

Описание: In this video, we talk about a religious community, Alevis living in Istanbul, Turkey.

For that, we are going to a neighborhood called Okmeydanı in Istanbul.

Alevism is a belief system that has mainly flourished in Anatolia.

Alevism follows the teachings of Caliph Ali, who is the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam.

The religious service of the Alevis is called ‘cem’.

The public houses where cems are performed is called the house of cem, ‘cemevi.’

During the Cem rituals, some body movements are performed by Alevis; and this is named as ‘semah.’

UNESCO defines semah as ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’.

According to UNESCO, semahs can be described as a set of mystical and aesthetic body movements in rhythmic harmony.

They constitute one of the twelve main services found in Cem rituals, religious practices performed by adherents of Alevi belief system.

With my friend Caner, we attended and filmed one of the Cems in Okmeydanı Cemevi.

Alevis of Okmeydanı were so friendly and so helpful to tell us about their religion.

I should definitely emphasize that Alevism is a huge culture that I find very interesting and intriguing. This video is only a snapshot of one Cem session.

This video is just a beginning to show how dance is used for spiritual and religious practices.

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