This festival is held on the14th night after the new moon in the Hindu month of Falgun (Feb/Mar) in late winter, before the arrival of spring.
Ganga (marijuana) is illegal in Nepal but a authorities turn a blind eye during Shivaratri since cannabis is considered to be a blessed gift from Lord Shiva.
The plants grow in abundance where I live in the south of Nepal. Here I am with a healthy patch of ganga plants growing wild on a client's farm:
The women generally fast during the day, so the food is often prepared by the men. We started the day with a big bowl or rice pudding cooked over an open fire outside.
The women form a long line to offer gifts of rice and fruit at their local Shiva temple.
During the day, the men removed the tobacco from filtered cigarettes and refilled them with a mixture of dried ganga and tobacco to make spliffs.
We then prepared a Nepali dish called Dhindo to eat in the evening. I'm not sure if this is a typical food item for eating during Shivaratri. It may just have been something easy that the men could cook without female help! It's a bit like thick porridge and is made by slowly stirring buckwheat or corn flour into boiling water. Ghee is then mixed in and you know it's ready when the wooden spatula sticks up straight on its own in the middle of the mixture!
Yummo!
Many people stay up all night imbibing in a little tipple to keep the ganga company
... but I went to bed at the usual time ... and did not have a headache the next morning!
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