For someone from Konya, rain is not merely a change in the weather; it is abundance, healing and good fortune dripping from the sky. The "kırk ikindi" rains, which begin in late May and last forty days; the April rain that falls in April by the Rumi calendar; and the famous April basin displayed at the Mevlana Museum — these three are the three dimensions of an ancient culture of rain that has shaped this city's daily life, its Sufi tradition and its agricultural cycle for centuries. Let us discover them together through a guide's eyes.
What Are the Forty Afternoon Rains?
"Kırkikindi" is the traditional name given in Anatolia to the sudden downpours seen at the end of spring and the beginning of summer, usually starting in the mid-afternoon — popular belief holds that they last forty days, though meteorologists note that the period depends on synoptic conditions rather than any fixed calendar. Meteorologically these fall into the "convective" class, formed when warmed air rises and meets a layer of cold air; they are short-lived but can break with force, accompanied by thunder and hail. Following the April rains, they affect Central Anatolia — Konya above all — between late May and mid-June. In popular belief they are held to be a symbol of abundance and health, in sayings such as "forty angels bring forty days of rain" and "whoever bathes in that rain will not fall ill".
April Rain: Abundance, Healing, Good Fortune
Rain falling in the month of April by the Rumi calendar (14 April – 14 May in the Gregorian calendar) is called "April rain"; the period is also known popularly as the "raining month". According to Anatolian belief, April rain has three powers: abundance, healing and good fortune. Sayings such as "falling into the mouth of a mussel it becomes a pearl, into the mouth of a snake it becomes venom" and "April rainwater kept for seven years counts as zamzam" express this belief; according to one tradition the Prophet Muhammad declared this water a remedy for every ill but death and recommended drinking it on an empty stomach for seven days. The collected water is therefore recited over with chapters such as the Fatiha, the Verse of the Throne and al-Ikhlas, and drunk in the morning after ablutions, on an empty stomach.
A Tradition From the Seljuks to the Mevlevis
In Konya the roots of the April rain tradition reach back to the years as the Seljuk capital; the collected water was distributed to the sick as a means of healing and added to food. The tradition reached its height at the Mevlana Lodge: the Mevlevis gathered April rain in vessels called "nisan tası" — April basins — recited prayers over it and offered it to visitors. The rainwater running off the green dome above Rumi's sarcophagus (the Kubbe-i Hadra) was collected separately, and before the Bab-ı Şerif the ends of the turban cloth wound around the dervishes' headdresses were dipped into it — which is why this water was known as "destar water" and, in Mevlevi culture, as "the zamzam of the lodge". In dry years the water was sprinkled over the fields for abundance, and farmers would place their seed wheat and barley in the April basin and mix it with the rest of the seed at sowing time. Rumi himself wrote in one quatrain that the spring rain revives both body and mind:
"Just as the spring rain revives nature, so does it revive your mind and your body."
The April Basin: A Masterpiece at the Mevlana Museum
The April basin displayed today in the Huzuru Pir hall of the Mevlana Museum was commissioned in Mosul by the Ilkhanid ruler Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan and presented to the lodge; according to the museum inventory it came to Konya in 1333. Worked in gold and silver inlay on bronze, the basin is 135 cm high and weighs about 33 kilograms. Recorded in the museum inventory in 1926 after the closure of the dervish lodges, it was used in April to collect rainwater in the lodge courtyard, and that water was then distributed as a means of healing.
The Tradition of Collecting April Rain
This is not a memory kept only in a museum; it still lives in Konya's countryside. The collecting season runs from the first week of the Rumi April to the end of the month (roughly 20 April – 13 May); the most prized is the rain of April's first days. A basin, bucket or wide clean vessel is left out on an open balcony, terrace or garden and the rain falls straight into it. Prayers such as the Fatiha, the Verse of the Throne and al-Ikhlas are recited over the collected water, and a glass is drunk each morning for seven days after ablutions and on an empty stomach — if kept for seven years it is believed to count as zamzam. This simple ritual is a habit unchanged from the Seljuks to the present: to keep what falls from the sky, to carry abundance into the house.
The Link Between the Forty Afternoon Rains and April Rain
The two traditions are interwoven in the popular mind: April rain speaks of the individual falls, the forty afternoon rains of their repeating, cyclical character. April rain is bound more to the Seljuk-Mevlevi tradition and the forty afternoon rains to the farming calendar of the Anatolian villager — but both point to the same belief, to abundance and to healing.
A Name Still Alive Today: "40 Kırkikindi"
This ancient tradition is not in Konya only as something displayed in a museum. To keep the name alive in daily life, the Konya Metropolitan Municipality has given the name "40 Kırkikindi" to the cafés and restaurants it runs — and these places, all across the city, recall this centuries-old rain tradition anew each day.
The Guide's Note
When you visit the Mevlana Museum (Aziziye Mahallesi, Müze Alanı Caddesi No:1, Karatay) to see the April basin, picture the old ritual in the courtyard: rain running down from the green Kubbe-i Hadra, gathering in the basin and being distributed as a means of healing. In the countryside around Konya there are still families who collect April rain; and if you see a "40 Kırkikindi" sign in the city centre, know that you are looking at the name of a centuries-old belief. This city, where meteorology and mysticism live side by side without ever clashing, has turned rain too into a culture — just as it has its stone, its saz and its songs.