Fascinating video shows hundreds of men forming a dancing whirlwind

The video you will watch next was apparently captured in Chechnya during the celebration of a religious ceremony. The video is absolutely fascinating and shows hundreds of men dancing together to the sound of rhythmic and mesmerizing music that defines the speed, the direction and the way the mass of bodies move. Check out:

But what is going on there anyway?

The sequence you saw above is called "Zikr" and consists of a ritualistic dance of Sufism, a contemplative and mystical stream of Islam. Also known as “Dikr”, it is featured in the Caucasus region, near the Islamic center of Chechnya, and like other Sufi dances - such as the Turkish dervishes, for example - it aims to create a closer and more intimate relationship. direct to God through music, dance, and song.

Due to the tensions experienced in the region after the collapse of the Soviet Union, this kind of religious demonstration did not happen very often in public, but in recent years there has been a rescue of this tradition.

In the case of the video, during the ritual, men form various human rings - which are inside each other - and bump their bare feet on the floor as they rock their bodies and make guttural noises. This sound fills the room while one voice can be heard above all others singing variations of God's name.

After a while everyone stops and starts walking in circles - clockwise and counterclockwise - until they gain more and more speed. Then they all make small leaps and stomps on the outer face of the circle in a synchronized fashion, and eventually the rings merge into a whirlpool. Interesting, isn't it?