The auspicious Hindu festival of Maha Shivratri will be celebrated tomorrow, Feb 21 in honour of Lord Shiva. As per the Hindu calendar, the festival falls in the Magha month on the new moon day.
This year the festival of Mahashivratri will be celebrated on Feb 21 and most of people believe that it is a dry day and sale of alcohol will be prohibited but so is not the case as the day will not be a dry day in Mumbai.
For the unversed, in order to respect the religion and sentiments of the people the government has declared some specific days as dry days. On these days, all the liquor shops are supposed to remain shut. However, Maha Shivratri is not one of those days.
Coming to the auspicious day of Maha Shivratri, according to a legend, it is the night when Shiva and Parvati got married.
According to another legend, Shivratri is the day when Lord Shiva gulped the Halahala, the deadly poison produced during Samudra Manthan, which was capable of destroying the entire world. He held it in his throat due to which his throat turned blue. Hence, he is also called Neelakantha (the blue-throated one).
Hindus observe fast on the day, chant hymns in Shiva temples and offer milk to Shivlingam.
