Maha Shivaratri

Maha Shivaratri is one of the most auspicious Hindu Festivals in Mauritius. Lord Shiva is the main god in most temples in Mauritius and ShivaRatri literally means (the night of Shiva). There is a Shivaratri every month, but Maha Shivaratri is the most auspicious one literally translate to ‘The Great Night of Shiva’. On the night of Maha Shivaratri
of Maha Shivaratri, there’s all night long prayers and water from the Ganges is poured in the Shiva Lingums. In Mauritius, we have a sacred lake caled Grand Bassin, which is supposed to have been filled by the first Indian immigrants with holy water from the Ganges. So, for Maha Shivaratri, we all usually go on a walking pilgrimage to Grand Bassin to collect the sacred water from the lake for the prayers on the night of Maha Shivaratri.

Here’s an article that talks more about how we celebrate Maha Shivaratri in Mauritius.

http://pages.intnet.mu/fullspot/Events/Mahashiv.htm

I’ve attached some pictures of the Giant Shiva Statue we have in Mauritius. The status is 108 feet tall (sacred number in Hinduism) and is always almost covered in fog during the Maha Shivaratree festival. The first picture is actually how it looks like in fog, I’ve just added some blue light to accentuate the profile and shadows.

BTW.. on this pious occasion of Maha Shivatree, I decided to make a hindu prayer iphone application. It’s still in the proess of app store aproval, but check it out at http://ipuja.weboot.com/ for an early preview.