While i was busy praying with naga panchami fragrant incense sticks my daughter exclaimed, "mom, why have you turned so religious"? She is always the first one to spot change in me, whether it is mental or physical. I explained her praying and thanking god is one of the good habits, she must learn. And this change in me she noticed when she saw me fasting on Maha Shivratri.

My mother always said if I fast during Maha Shivratri there are chances that I will get married to a decent husband like Lord Shiva (and she is right!). Following her instructions i continued fasting every year up till i got married. 
My mother shared the rituals she used to follow when she fasted for Shivratri before her marriage. She followed nirjala (no water and no food for the day) fasting and worshiped Lord Shiva for all 4 prahars (times) during the day and stayed awake till dawn.
This year is my come-back to Maha Shivratri. Dressed up in a new saree my husband took me to a temple. Its been less than a year that we have moved to a new locality and spotting temple is not easy for two reasons, one we are not daily worshipers and two because the whole locality is work in progress there are few temples and had queue longer than a kilo meter. We decided to go to a temple in a village near by and guess what it was not only us that thought of this. It's first time that me, my daughter and my husband worshiped together on the auspicious Maha Shivratri but this is not the only reason that it is special.

I came across Sadhguru stating Maha Shivratri is not a religious festival. There are cosmic changes in the universe that happen on Maha Shivratri and one should stay up all night as the human body spine should be vertically straight while these cosmic changes are happening. I did not dig deep on what the changes are and signed up the #dontyawntilldawn challenge and celebrated my rest of the night with @ishafoundation.
It truly was a night of awakening with meditations and chants. While meditations I prayed, I cried and I am grateful to god for this experience.
I am once again reassured that there is science involved in all the rituals followed by our mothers and grandmothers, like fasting during ekadashi or how some festivals are rightly placed during the season change. 
This is to the new beginning and to my new spiritual self.