Maha Shivaratri is kept awake rather than celebrated — a night of fasting, abhisheka and chanting through four watches. Tradition holds it as the night of Shiva's tandava and of his marriage to Parvati; practitioners keep it as the year's most conducive night for meditation.
Source: Yajur Veda, Sri Rudram (Taittiriya Samhita 4.5)
namaḥ śivāya ca śivatarāya ca
Salutations to the auspicious one and to the yet more auspicious — the Vedic core of the Panchakshari mantra chanted all night.
Honoured deity: Shiva as Mahadeva
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