Shiva Ratri

Shiva Ratri is a festival celebrated as the festival of Lord Shiva’s birthday(god of hundu) and is much anticipated festival by all Hindus. Shiva's birthday falls on the new moon day of the month of Falgun. All Shiva temple are full of his devottes to attend the festivities on this day but most particularly at the great Pashupatinath temple, Pilgrims and yogis (holy men), from all over Southeast Asia come to Kathmandu weeks before the festival. Pashupatinath temple is located at the eastern part of the Kathmandu valley on the banks of the holy river Bagmati. On this holy day people fast through out the day. At dawn, worshippers take a holy bath or dip in the river and go to the temple to worship. Pashupatinath, which literally means ‘the Lord of animals’, is one of the many forms of the Lord. He is the guardian deity, protector of our Hindu Kingdom of Nepal, thus Shiva Ratri is one of the major festivals of Nepal. One of the interesting aspects of Shiva Ratri is that on this day devotees and non-devotees alike freely indulge in smoking intoxicating substances such as marijuana and bhang for it is the only day in the annual calendar when marijuana is legal. Many people take these intoxicants in the belief that it pleases Lord Shiva for he too is said to be fond of it. After dawn bonfires are set up at the junctions of different areas and then locals meet up with plenty of sugarcane sticks. First the perform a small pooja around that fire in the name of Lord Shiva. They heat the sugarcane in the bonfire until the heat builds up pressure inside the caneand  becomes red hot then, they slam it on a stone, or the road, to make a huge blast sound like that of a fire cracker. The sugarcane becomes soft and moist which is then enjoyed by everyone, chewing and enjoying the juices.