Festival Shiva
What's Mahashivaratri? In Hinduism, Mahashivaratri is the Great Festival of Shiva. Mahashivaratri is particularly important to Saivites, but it's celebrated by most Hindus. Mahashivaratri's day is spent on Shiva and fasting. Temples dedicated to Shiva are filled up with devotees offering prayers. The Shiva linga in the temple or in the house of one is bathed with honey, milk and water, and offerings are made In the kind of Bilva leaves together with other foods to Shiva. Offering Bilva leaves to Shiva on Mahashivaratri can be considered auspicious. Devotees sing chant mantras and hymns Om namah Shivaya. While chained into Shiva some sit around a fire and toss offerings of grain.
After meditating and fasting through the day, there is a vigil held with meditation and prayers. Legends are connected to the vacation of Mahashivaratri. One is the legend of the Churning of the Sea of Milk a poison that threatened to ruin the world was unearthed by the gods. Shiva saved the afternoon by drinking the poison, which accounts for the throat in some Hindu artwork. He'd to remain awake all night, although it is said that Shiva was powerful enough to manage the poison. The gods helped by entertaining him get him. This is commemorated on Mahashivaratri, when the followers of Shiva keep him company throughout the night.
Another legend tells the story of a hunter that climbed a Bilva tree to escape a hungry lion. The lion sat down under the tree and waited for the hunter to fall. As he waited in the tree through the night, the hunter plucked leaves from the Bilva tree to remain awake. The leaves, that Are sacred to Shiva, fell on a Shiva linga that happened to be in the base of the tree. Shiva was happy with the offering, inadvertant though it was, and saved the hunter. That event is commemorated on Mahashivaratri by staying up through the evening and supplying Bilva leaves.
References - - festivals. John Bowker, ed., Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Religions, p. 193. Hinduism. Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Premium Service. 2005. Linda Johnsen.
Another legend tells the story of a hunter that climbed a Bilva tree to escape a hungry lion. The lion sat down under the tree and waited for the hunter to fall. As he waited in the tree through the night, the hunter plucked leaves from the Bilva tree to remain awake. The leaves, that Are sacred to Shiva, fell on a Shiva linga that happened to be in the base of the tree. Shiva was happy with the offering, inadvertant though it was, and saved the hunter. That event is commemorated on Mahashivaratri by staying up through the evening and supplying Bilva leaves. 
References - - festivals. John Bowker, ed., Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Religions, p. 193. Hinduism. Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Premium Service. 2005. Linda Johnsen.
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