One Hundred and Seventeen, Midnight Puja!

I've been to a decent number of Catholic Masses in my life (my best friends growing up were all Catholic) and I noticed some similarities in midnight celebrations. Depending on which calendar you look at, either March 5th or 6th is Shivratri. That and Janmashtami are the big nighttime celebrations for me in my faith. Both religions have their intricate rituals. Both tend to have some aspect of explanation of the day or the hopes of the priests in how the night will change our patterns for the better. Everyone is rapt with the religious fervor that only comes about by being surrounded by hundreds (or in my case at midnight, tens) of people of like mind who are reveling in it to the same degree as yourself. I went with the intention of heading out after a couple hours. I stayed until 12:30 AM helping to clean up in the last 20 minutes. Even that was peaceful and enjoyable. To know that the work you do is benefiting your place of worship does make a difference in the quality of my work. The passion that is missing at home comes forth when there. I belt out the bhajans with the rest of them and if I happen to get off-key, I fix myself as best as I can without worrying that I'll bring apart the whole fabric that we've sewn together. Whether immigrants or natural citizens here in the US, our faith binds us in ways others might not get to experience.