The countless expressions of Hinduism
Hinduism is an ancient religion, dating back more than 4,000 years, and scholars generally believe it originated in the Indus Valley between 2300 B.C. and 1500 B.C. Due to the religion’s vast collection of ancient texts and regional diversity across the Indian subcontinent, its festivals are inspired by a plethora of myths. Maha Shivaratri is no different.
“Hindu festivals are marked and celebrated in diverse ways in India’s different linguistic and cultural regions, as well as in diasporic contexts,” explains Amy Allocco, professor of religious studies at Elon University in North Carolina. The way festivals like Maha Shivaratri are celebrated also differ based on region and source material. “These variations are observable in many dimensions of festival performances, including narrative, ritual, and culinary practices.”
What these religious festivals have in common are acts of devotion directed to one or more Hindu deities. During Maha Shivaratri, participants may perform a ritual bathing or provide offerings to the gods like jujube fruit or bilwa leaves. “Devotion to the deity helps to subordinate the ego to a power greater than ourselves, and worship reinforces this, as well as creating a sense of the real presence of the deity in one’s life,” says Jeffery D. Long, a religious studies professor at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania whose research centers on the religions and philosophies of India.
No matter the origin story, the holiday of Maha Shivaratri is fundamentally linked to the creation of the universe in the Hindu culture.
