The Lands of the Tamed Turk; or, the Balkan States of to-day: A narrative of travel through Servia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Dalmatia and the recently acquired Austrian provinces of Bosnia and the Herzegovina; with observations of the peoples, their races, creeds, institutions and politics, and of the geographical, historical and commercial aspects of the several countries — John Shaqi
The Lands of the Tamed Turk; or, the Balkan States of to-day: A narrative of travel through Servia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Dalmatia and the recently acquired Austrian provinces of Bosnia and the Herzegovina; with observations of the peoples, their races, creeds, institutions and politics, and of the geographical, historical and commercial aspects of the several countriesJaekel, Blair
History
The Lands of the Tamed Turk; or, the Balkan States of to-day: A narrative of travel through Servia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Dalmatia and the recently acquired Austrian provinces of Bosnia and the Herzegovina; with observations of the peoples, their races, creeds, institutions and politics, and of the geographical, historical and commercial aspects of the several countries
Jaekel, Blair
Balkan Peninsula
Shortly after nine o’clock, my guide, the pronunciation of whose real
name sounded so much like “Jim” that I shall hereafter allude to him as
such, called for me, and together we started off for the darkened
Turkish quarter. With Jim in the lead, carrying in his hand a ponderous
Turkish lantern, which resembled more an oil can than anything I can
think of, we stumbled over the cobbles, through the narrow streets,
past the latticed windows of the low-roofed Turkish houses and, after
three-quarters of an hour (during which time I am safe in saying we
climbed every hill in the town) we arrived at the door of the Dervish
mosque.
In the courtyard the bodies of several of the departed lay in state,
as is the Mohammedan custom before burial. After proceeding through
several rooms and negotiating as best we could as many flights of dark,
precipitous stairs, we finally found ourselves in a balcony overlooking
the room in which the “dance” was to take place. On the opposite side
of the balcony from us, behind closely-woven lattice-work, was seated a
group of female admirers of the dancers. On the floor below, at one end
of the room, stood a shrine, on each side of which a Dervish apostle
sat cross-legged. The pungent odour of burning incense and candles
filled the atmosphere.
Presently the worshippers, all men, arrived, removed their slippers
and squatted on the floor facing the altar, forming a semi-circle.
When all were seated, probably thirty in number, one of the patriarchs
near the shrine commenced a low, dismal chant. After many repetitions
this was memorized by the worshippers, who then chanted it together,
emphasizing the first beat of a common time rhythm, their bodies
swaying in unison from side to side. The tempo of the song and the
movement of the bodies accelerated gradually. At the end of ten or
fifteen minutes this particular chant was stopped abruptly and another
was commenced, which continued for an equal length of time.
But to worship in a sitting posture did not seem to produce the desired
effect and the men, at the beginning of the succeeding wail, arose
to their knees to continue the services. Swinging and grunting in
this position tended to heighten their emotions to a greater extent,
and some of the worshippers became so accustomed to and numbed by
the swaying movement that they hopped about the floor in a state of
semi-consciousness, their faces engraven with an almost unearthly look,
like that of sufferers from delirium tremens. At the end of each chant
several required being led back by their fellows to their original
positions in the semi-circle.
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