Maha Shivaratri

The great night of Shiva on the dark fourteenth of Magha or Phalguna, kept with a vigil, fasting and bilva leaves. The texts give at least five reasons: the night of his dance, of his wedding, of the poison, of the pillar of light, and of the hunter who unknowingly dropped bilva leaves on a linga. Observed as a 23-day Herath in Kashmir, as a national holiday and Army Day at Pashupatinath, with the 14 km girivalam at Tiruvannamalai and the run across twelve shrines in Kanyakumari, and as a fair of two hundred local gods at Mandi.