05:20Five-year-old Ahmed Anas Al-Kharrat and his brother, two-year-old Zuhair, were seen performing the whirling dervish dance, a tradition that has been passed down in their family for generations.
"I am happy to teach my brother the whirling dance," said Ahmed. "I have taught my brother all the techniques and how to rotate."
Footage filmed on Thursday in Damascus the two putting on their long robes and rehearsing ahead of their performance in a local restaurant.
"I taught them 'Mawlawiyah' (the name of the order of Sufis) because of my passion for this dance like my brothers, my father and my uncle, and we inherited it and practiced it out of love rather than as merely a normal dance," said Moayyed, the boys' father.
He added that a child is taught the dance 'not to pursue it as merely a career but cherish it out of love' so it 'penetrates deep in his heart'. "It is not just a form of physical movement but a passionate dance," he concluded.
Whirling dervish ceremonies began as a form of meditation in the 13th century, introduced by Jalaluddin Al-Rumi, the Sufi Muslim mystic and poet.
Give it a whirl, bro! Syria's youngest dervishes take the family tradition for a spin
Five-year-old Ahmed Anas Al-Kharrat and his brother, two-year-old Zuhair, were seen performing the whirling dervish dance, a tradition that has been passed down in their family for generations.
"I am happy to teach my brother the whirling dance," said Ahmed. "I have taught my brother all the techniques and how to rotate."
Footage filmed on Thursday in Damascus the two putting on their long robes and rehearsing ahead of their performance in a local restaurant.
"I taught them 'Mawlawiyah' (the name of the order of Sufis) because of my passion for this dance like my brothers, my father and my uncle, and we inherited it and practiced it out of love rather than as merely a normal dance," said Moayyed, the boys' father.
He added that a child is taught the dance 'not to pursue it as merely a career but cherish it out of love' so it 'penetrates deep in his heart'. "It is not just a form of physical movement but a passionate dance," he concluded.
Whirling dervish ceremonies began as a form of meditation in the 13th century, introduced by Jalaluddin Al-Rumi, the Sufi Muslim mystic and poet.
Five-year-old Ahmed Anas Al-Kharrat and his brother, two-year-old Zuhair, were seen performing the whirling dervish dance, a tradition that has been passed down in their family for generations.
"I am happy to teach my brother the whirling dance," said Ahmed. "I have taught my brother all the techniques and how to rotate."
Footage filmed on Thursday in Damascus the two putting on their long robes and rehearsing ahead of their performance in a local restaurant.
"I taught them 'Mawlawiyah' (the name of the order of Sufis) because of my passion for this dance like my brothers, my father and my uncle, and we inherited it and practiced it out of love rather than as merely a normal dance," said Moayyed, the boys' father.
He added that a child is taught the dance 'not to pursue it as merely a career but cherish it out of love' so it 'penetrates deep in his heart'. "It is not just a form of physical movement but a passionate dance," he concluded.
Whirling dervish ceremonies began as a form of meditation in the 13th century, introduced by Jalaluddin Al-Rumi, the Sufi Muslim mystic and poet.