Mahashivratri

The Great Night of Shiva, a festival of fasting and worship of the Lord Shiva from Hindu faith. I found a couple of stories as to why this day is the one in which Lord Shiva is worshiped. They vary from it being his favorite day to it being the day he saved the world from destruction at the request of his wife (Parvati). There is also a story I found about Lord Shiva drinking up a great poison that was created during an event known as the "churning of the ocean." This poison was so strong that it turned his throat blue from the heat of it. A snake was found and wrapped around his neck, cooling his throat off. I did not see how this connected with the celebration, but it was a pretty cool story so I thought I would mention it anyway.

The proper celebration of this is to offer Bael leaves to Lord Shiva, as well as an all day fast and an all night vigil. There is also mention of Ganja being used in spme places.

I, having no access to a lingam (let alone ganja or bael leaves) had to make do with merely mentioning the day to those I spoke with and offering Lord Shiva my devotion for the day.

A quick note here. I have not been able to properly celebrate any of the Hindu holidays very well at all. Due to a combination of lack of proper materials and lack of information on the proper activities. I would dearly like any feedback on how to remedy this situation. I feel bad not having the ability to properly celebrate any of these, and would like to fix this before the year is out.