Maha Shivaratri is the celebration of the Hindu God Shiva. Most Hindu festivals are during the day but this festival is a night long vigil of Shiva because he is believed to have saved the universe from Darkness and Ignorance. We went to an amazing temple that is set up to look like the Himalayas where it is believed Shiva lived. You can see in this picture the "mountains surrounding Shiva."
Inside the "mountains" there was a portion of the temple that was created as a replica of the 12 sites in the mountains where the Shiva Linga sprung up by themselves and then temples and places of worship were built around them. You can see a replica of one here
This temple is very close to our house and we had no idea that it was so extensive once you entered!
There are different rituals that are incorporated into the celebration
We placed gold coins in 108 in gold dishes while saying "Om Namah Shivaya" which is the mantra of the day.
We tied orange strings to areas near the Ganesha god and made wishes for the next year.
Sandalwood was placed on our forehead in a horizontal line in honor of Shiva.
This is a picture of the ritual of bathing the Shiva Linga with milk which represents purification of the soul
We burned incense in order to yield wealth
We lit candles which represented the attainment of knowledge
There is an element of purification and taking a holy bath which here they had us run through the water falls. We got soaked and not everyone did it but it was fun!
We finally sat and listened to the musicians sing and celebrate. It was really incredible to see and such an amazing experience. Aaron's co-worker Bijal took us all and explained everything to us and helped us understand all the rituals. She was a fantastic guide but I still probably got a lot of this wrong!! Did the best I could to understand everything :)
Inside the "mountains" there was a portion of the temple that was created as a replica of the 12 sites in the mountains where the Shiva Linga sprung up by themselves and then temples and places of worship were built around them. You can see a replica of one here
This temple is very close to our house and we had no idea that it was so extensive once you entered!
There are different rituals that are incorporated into the celebration
We placed gold coins in 108 in gold dishes while saying "Om Namah Shivaya" which is the mantra of the day.
We tied orange strings to areas near the Ganesha god and made wishes for the next year.
Sandalwood was placed on our forehead in a horizontal line in honor of Shiva.
This is a picture of the ritual of bathing the Shiva Linga with milk which represents purification of the soul
We burned incense in order to yield wealth
We lit candles which represented the attainment of knowledge
There is an element of purification and taking a holy bath which here they had us run through the water falls. We got soaked and not everyone did it but it was fun!
We finally sat and listened to the musicians sing and celebrate. It was really incredible to see and such an amazing experience. Aaron's co-worker Bijal took us all and explained everything to us and helped us understand all the rituals. She was a fantastic guide but I still probably got a lot of this wrong!! Did the best I could to understand everything :)
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