Heathens, Pagans and Witches discussion

I was going to go to my friend's village in Mandi district, for the Shiv Ratri celebrations. There are a variety of festivities associated with this holiday, from ascetic penance, to bacchanalian revelry. Mandi is the district of Himachal where Lord Shiv is held in highest regard, so Shiv Ratri is particularly big in that area.

Unfortunately my friend received a call from home saying that his sister had her period, which according to local superstition, means that she cannot receive guests.

An all night meditation is also an acceptable way to observe this holiday, so I will probably follow that rout this year.

The date of this event varies according the the moon phases, and I've yet to fully understand how it works, because it's not as simple as full or new moon. The entire lunar calendar year is involved, and it's very tricksy.

Jai Bholaynath Shankar Mahadev. Happy Shiv Ratri everyone. Get blissed out!

:):):)

Some Photos of my trip to Mandi for the Shiv Ratri celebrations.



This was taken from the door to the inner sanctum of a Shiv Temple in Mandi. I always get happy whenever I go to a Shiv Temple.

Peepal Tree and Palanquin



This was the main area where the Gods celebrated their rites. The Peepal tree is considered sacred, and the palanquin to the left has special rights to sit under the tree, which the other Gods don't. That palanquin is a fairly typical design for Himachali Gods' palanquins.

This palanquin would be somewhat atypical for a Himachali palanquin. There are only about five gods who's masks are depicted with blacked out eyes like this one. This God, Dev Peshakot is responsible for rain and hail, and is considered quite fearsome.

Aaron, I can't see any pics or links to pics...

Oh they're embedded. How come I can see them?

Can you see the first picture I posted? It's strange, I used the same technique for all of them, including the picture of Shiv at the top. I used the same host website also.

I can see the first one (the god with cobras an a tiger skin), but not the others.

I'm just having a look at what I did Nell.

I've just uploaded a lower resolution picture of Dev Peshakot in his pink palanquin, and embedded it in the last post. Can you let me know if you can see it? If it works I'll do the other two the same way.

No Aaron, nothing visible at all. Can anyone else see them?

My roommate who's sitting right here can see them. (Only kidding). No-one's mentioned if they can or not, but I'll ask Gina to have a look.

Sorry about the delay. Have been harvesting vegetables for the markets. Image on post 2 exquisite! Can't see any images on post 4 or 5. Post 6 fine and visible.

Best to you both. :):)

Okay four and five were giant files. I'm guessing even though it resizes the image for the physical display, the dpi is still the same as the original giant image. I'm gonna change those two, and make them even smaller. Hope this works for Nell too.

Done. I hope that works.

All looking good. :):)

Cool. I'll just let Nell weigh in before I relax. I realise now it's a pixel issue. There shouldn't be too many of them, or some monitors won't display them, or perhaps some browsers. I'm not a computer whiz, but I can usually work out something.

All present and correct now - they look great.

Haddippa! (That means Hurray) I'm so glad. I couldn't figure out what was happening.

Love that Peepal tree - are those batons tied around the trunk or part of the trunk itself?

Oh those are part of it. When they get very big, they form like that, into folds. I think they just tie it up, so it will grow straighter, otherwise the trunks have a tendency to ramble, which is also quite lovely, but I guess if it's straight you can get more people under it.

I thought I'd post a picture of one of the Goddess Palanquins. I should explain about the palanquins, because it's quite confusing. The Palanquins themselves are representative of the deity, but the idol is also carried inside it. However the deity is believed to be looking out through the masks. On every palanquin there are several masks, but only one which is the true mask, which is ancient and unique. You can usually tell which one it is, because it isn't homogeneous like the others.

At a function like this, the palanquins are carried around by the bearers, and said to "dance". They weave and sway, and bob up and down, and chase random people all over the field. Deities who are one friendly terms will bow to one another in passing. Others may appear to "duel". It's in the eyes of the believer whether or not this is just a puppet show performed by the bearers, but the local belief is that the palanquins move by themselves like a Ouija board, and the bearers are carried along.



This is the Goddess Adi Shakti Bhagavati Yogmaya.
Adi means Primary, or Primordial.
Shakti means power and is innately female. Power is always female.
Bhagavati is a term like "God" in the big sense of the word, but in this case feminine.
Yogmaya is more complicated, I think it means like, "joined with manifestation", in this context.

Fabulous photo Aaron - thanks for all the lovely info too.

Wonderful! Thank you for posting all of this!

My pleasure Cynthia. Thank you too.