Cairo (AFP) – In a 500-year-old stone theatre in the Egyptian capital, young dervishes spin ceaselessly. Slowly, then all at once, they are consumed in a flurry of vivid fabrics. Born into a lineage of whirling dervishes, Mohamed Adel, 20, takes great pride in the uniquely Egyptian interpretation of the centuries old-ritual, known colloquially as “tanoura”, or skirt in Arabic. The kaleidoscopic performance is a world away from the whirling dervishes of Turkey, who trace their origins to the teachings of Sufi poet and mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi. The United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO proclaimed the ritual an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
