Merry Christmas!

Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi

Turkey is hosting the ceremony of commemoration of Mevlana 10/17 December

Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi is an Anatolian holy man who gave hope and inspiration to humanity. Mevlana, who is also known as Rumi, was a philosopher and mystic of Islam, His doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love. To him and to his disciples all religions are more or less truth. Looking with the same eye on Muslim, Jew and Christian alike, his peaceful and tolerant teaching has appealed to men of all sects and creeds. Every year during 10th and 17th of December in Konya, all the whirling dervishes perform sema which is part of the inspiration of Mevlana as well as of Turkish custom, history, beliefs and culture. It is his poems about Sufism, however, for which he is chiefly remembered, respected and admired today.

According to Mevlana, love is the only thing necessary to attain God. A plant or an animal may also love, but it is only man who has the capacity to love with his body, mind, thoughts and memory. Mevlana exalts the state of being in love with a woman because if someone loves someone else, he also loves himself, humanity, the universe and God. The most beautiful love, “Love of Truth,” begins when someone reaches this level of wisdom. Followers of Mevlana (Mevlevi) spin around and around in a ritual called “sema.” This ritual symbolizes a world united in love and keeping step with the world’s universal rotation. While one of their hands points to the sky, the other hand points to the ground meaning “Love from God spreads to the earth”. The spirit bursts forth from God and is immortal. The sound of the nay (a reed flute) tells of man’s longing to return to his initial source. He means that the universe is an endless place within the existence of God, and as a small part of the whole, man keeps that divine essence inside him by saying, “You who search for God, it’s you that you’re searching for....”

His favourite saying:

Come, no matter what you are,
Whether atheist or sun worshipper.
Whether you’ve backslid a thousand times,
Come, no matter what you are.

TARGU JIU - The city of Constantin Brancusi

Romanian traditional dance

During our visit in Targu-Jiu some students of the romanian school danced for us many folk dances.

Turkish tea

Nice video about Turkish culture and traditions.

Source of Mundo River (Spain)

Mundo is a river which starts near Riópar, in south-eastern Spain. It flows into the river Segura near Hellín. You are invited to see it...

TURKEY promotional video

Friends for life - Amigos para siempre - Amics per sempre

This video is dedicated to my Comenius friends!

The Catalan rumba is a genre of music that developed in Barcelona's Romani community. Some neighborhoods in that community are long-established and catalan-speaking. Los Manolos (as well as the Gipsy Kings) brought their musical spirit to Catalan rumba in the 1980s and 1990s. The genre is based in a fusion of Valencian-Andalusian flamenco singing and the Afro-Cuban "claves" (a structural element in Cuban music).

"Amigos Para Siempre" (Friends for Life) or "Amics per sempre" is a song written for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The music was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and the lyrics were written by Don Black. Sarah Brightman and José Carreras performed the song during the closing ceremony of the Olympic games. In Spain, however, the most famous rendition of this song was by Los Manolos with rumba arrangements and Spanish lyrics (except for the chorus).

Muchas gracias. Merci beaucoup. Thank you. Obrigado. Mulţumesc. D'akujem. Dziękuję. благодаря. Ačiū. Teşekkür ederim

IES Izpisúa Belmonte video

Aquí os dejo el vídeo de presentación de nuestro centro que no pudimos ver en el encuentro debido a problemas técnicos.

Romanian Language Translations

Aprovechando nuestra próxima visita a Targu Jiu en Rumanía he colgado este didáctico vídeo para ir entrando en ambiente.