MAWALAWIJAare Egyptian followers of the Sufi sect, founded in the Turkish city of Konya in the mid-13th century and known to Europeans as the dancing dervishes. The Turkish name of this religious faction, Meveli, comes from their first master, who praised Muslim culture and dance as the ideal ways to let go of earthly ties and surrender to divine love. Orthodox Muslims often considered the Sufi idea of uniting with God as pure blasphemy. Only in the times of the Mamluks and the Ottoman state could dancing dervishes carry out their religious practices.
The few representatives of the dancing dervishes rarely appear at the ceremonial shows, but not forgetting the tourists for whom the citadel holds the famous ceremonies. If only the Mawalawija is in Cairo, performances take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Al Khurija cultural center around 7 PM: 00. It’s worth coming early to take a good seat, close to the stage. Viewers should be there at least half an hour before the show. Admission to these nearly hour-long shows is free because the Egyptian government sponsors them. Taking photos is allowed but not making videos. People who have a camera must leave their battery in a deposit before entering. Every fragment and element of the dance ceremony has a symbolic meaning. For example, the background music is supposed to evoke associations with heavenly music and the turns of dervishes in a dance with the movements of celestial bodies. The gesture of extending the right hand towards heaven and the left hand towards the ground is supposed to mean that the dervishes receive favors from God and then pass them on to humanity, keeping absolutely nothing for themselves. Their hats camel hair symbolize the tombstones, their black coats symbolize the grave, and their white skirts symbolize shrouds. At the end of the dance, the dancers put on their coats.
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