The Dervishes were cool.

The Sufi music was a little tough–not that it wasn’t lovely, which it was–I could live on reed flute some days–but it flows together seamlessly and it keeps going without any apparent breaks, and it’s very…very…soothing…and in a stiflingly warm auditorium, you’re in serious danger of being soothed right into unconsciousness.

But the Dervishes were cool. How they can spin for well over half an hour without any apparent ill-effects is incredible–I’d be projectile vomiting in the orchestra pit after two minutes. But they keep going, in these gorgeous white outfits, spinning endlessly, until you’re half-mesmerized and waiting for the hypnotist to snap his fingers and go “You…are now…enlightened!”

I did notice that they all spun counter-clockwise, pivoting on the left foot and stepping around with the right. Bein’ me, I immediately began pondering if somewhere, there’s an evil sect–the Black Dervishes–who spin clockwise and wear dark robes and presumably kill people or something equally dire, because the Sufi seem pretty mellow as religions go.

If Digger wasn’t already a brutally long epic, I’d love for her to meet the Black Dervishes sometime, but since we’re already closing in on 400 pages, I better save it for my next attack of creative lunacy. And really, I’d hate to offend the Sufi, who are on my (rather short) list of Religions I Gots No Beef With.*

*Quakers, Bahai, Unitarians, Santeria**, and a couple others.
**Partly because it’s really cool looking, but mostly because I want Santeria to have no beef with me.