MAHASHIVARATRI

during the month of feb- march(masi in tamil nadu)after poornima chaturdashi day we celebrate maha shivaratri. to cleanse ourself and surrender ourself to god on this day people fast and as the name goes, fullnight they worship lord shiva .next day morning after pooja they eat food.
throughout india this is celebrated. people get up early in the morning have, go to temple, offer milk, curd, different kinds of fruits and vegetables on shiva linga. in north people themself offer. but in south india priest does the pooja. vilva patra is one of the important item in shiva pooja. after pooja half pradhakshina is taken on that day.SHIVASYARDHAM PRADHAKSHINA.
. in the temple four times , EVENING AND NIGHT special abishekams are done four times ,( from 6PM to 6AM. this period is divided into 4 parts (jamam) one jamam is 2 muhoortha time. one muhoortha time is one and a half hour.(as we have seen marriage muhoorthams), so 2 muhoortham is 3 hours make one jamam) . so four times abhishekam is done on this day. all visit the temple to seek shiva's blessings. bhajan are held.prasadam is distributed to devotees.
on this day midnight brahma created rudra roop of lord shiva. siva took linga form . shiva got married to parvathi. so it is auspecious in many ways.
lord shiva can be seen with ashes all over body and having snake on his neck. SHAM KAROTHI ETHI SHANKARAHA. one who does good to others is called SHANKAR.. he can be pleased easily so he is called AASHUTOSH. but when he gets angry he destroys everything so he is called RUDRA. he has three eyes, sun , moon and agni, so he is able to know the past, present and the future. he is worshipped by devas and ashuras .in ramayana, mahabharatha ,puranas also we can see that he was worshiped . he took the poison came from the ocean so he is called NILAKANT. to cool himself he took moon on his forehead, so he called CHANDRASHEKAR. when ganga came to earth , shiva took her on his head to stop the powerful flow , so he is called GANGADHAR. one and only god who gave half of his body to parvathi .so he is called ARDHANAREESHWAR. it is believed that KASI is on the trishool of shiva.
there are two stories which is very popular.
1.raja dhaksha married his daughter sati to lord shiva.dhaksha did yagya and he did not invite shiva. as she could not bear her husband's insult she jumped into yagyakund and died. but she decided that in her next birth also she wants shiva to be her husband. in her next birth she became daughter of himalaya. she penanced to marry shiva .on this day she got married to lord shiva.
2.this story was told by lord siva imself to parvati according to linga purana.lord shiva said one who fasts and does pooja and does not sleep on shivaratri day, will attain shivalok.
there was a poor hunter.with great difficulty he made both ends meet. so he took some money from the lender. since he could not repay on time, lender locked him in the cell in siva mandir. pooja and bhajans were going on. throughout the day hunter was listening. night lender gave him food. hunter went home.
.early in the morning he went for hunting.through out the day he hunted but could get any prey..he was tired. it was evening.there was a tree. he decided he will sit on the tree and spend the night there. he made arrangements for that. Under the tree there was a shivalinga. with the leaves he made bowl and filled it with water for him to drink at night..whenever he moved drops of water from that bowl , fell down.the hunter did not know these.
1.this day is mahashivaratri.2.he is on vilva tree.3.there is a shiva linga beneath that tree. 4.it is 6 in the evening and the pooja is started for shiva linga.
during the early hours of night he saw a pregnant deer. he wanted to hill her . she said i will deliver the baby and will come back to you.midnight another deer came with the children . he took his bow and arrow, she said i am going to meet my husband and leave my children with him .afterwards i will come back to you. another deer came looking for her sister. hunter tried to kill her, she said wait i will go home and see if my sister is there, then i will come here. . he agreed. pre dawn husband deer came under the tree. he said i will definitely kill him. all the three deers did not come back. i do not want to miss . hearing this deer said all the three are my wives. unless i reach home how will they come to you. so u allow me to go now, all of us will definitely come back.he let him go and waited. whenever he changed position , some leaves and water fell down. like this through out night he was fasting. and took the left over water from leaf bowl .he came down the tree to go home.that time all the three deers with her husband came there. when he saw that how true these animal were to their words. he left the idea of killing them. he threw his bow and arrow and bow down to them. he was fasting throughout night, without his knowledge and seeing his kind heart of not killing the deers lord shiva and parvathi appeared before him and blessed him with prosperity in his family. lord shiva blessed the four deers who were responsible for this change in hunter, to be the shining stars in the sky .named this group of stars as MRIGASHERISHAM. innnocence and ignorance gave the hunter a blessed life.
pure and kind heart is needed to worship god and seek his blessings.