shivratri special

Himachal Pradesh including other states  celebrate Shivratri distributing Ghota, a concoction made with charas/bhang, almonds, fruits and milk, among the devotees as prasad in all the temples. 

Bhang (i.e., fragments of the ganja) is ground and put into milk mixed up with cardamoms, almonds, poppy seed, sugar, sweet fennel, nutmeg, black pepper and mace, and strained several times
and drunk. This is called bhang ghota.

The classes who drink bhang ghota are bairagis, gosavis, and on Shivaratra day a fewmore Hindus, mostly cooks, water-carriers, songsters, and other licentious characters. This kind of drinking prevails in the country lying north of the Narbada river. The proportion of the people who drink bhang ghota is very small.

courtesy by:mail.dailypioneer.com

Bijli Mahadev Temple in Kullu, Siyali Mahadev Temple in Manali, Anjani Mahadev Temple in Solang, Neel Kanth Mahadev Temple in Bran, Brajeshwar Mahadev Temple in Bajaura and Shiv temples of Manikaran, Lag Valley and Banjar,  thare some of the areas in Himachal were  charas-ghota is prepared at a large scale and devotees are  free to drink to their fill. Women of the district help in ghota preparation in traditional huge copper pans.

Beverages made from bhang are known under different names in different parts of India. They are called thandai, siddhi, sawi and sukhe in the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. In Bombay and central India they are generally known as bhang, ghota, or pang; in Bengal, sidhi; in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, dudhii; in south India ramras or ram rasain.

 Courtesy by:-Bhaang ka Ghota - Shivratri Fair. in: Bizzare India by: rajesh bhandari