Today is a wedding anniversary of sorts, Maha Shivratri celebrates the day Lord Shiva married Goddess Parvati, or in other words the day that Shiva and Shakti converged to create the universe. My husband calls today the universe's birthday. Last night we drove past Lord Shiva temples and saw them preparing for the festival, beautifully decorated with lights and marigolds. Hundreds of people will queue outside the temples tonight to adorn and pray to the Shiva Linga (we'll be visiting too).
This afternoon, whilst giving Alfonso his walk, a white bull calf fearlessly walked up to us, stopped, stared at us for a while and turned back towards his mother. An absolutely beautiful moment. After smiling about it for a while, I suddenly remembered that it was Maha Shivratri today, and the white bull is Lord Shiva's vehicle. I quickly ran back to our apartment to get some food and drop off Alfonso.
Lord Shiva can be seen accompanied by Nandi, the mystical white bull, who is Lord Shiva's protector and devotee. Luckily the bull calf and his mother were still where I left them when I returned, and they gently took the rotis and bread (I wish I had something more exciting for them) from my hand.
Such a lovely start to the new chapter of our lives in our new apartment!
(and Happy Birthday to my sister, Emma!)
