Caribbean Shaktas, overall Caribbean Hindus, follow a strict guideline as to what to do before temple, what to do when you go to a temple, and when you leave. This may differ among different individuals but here are the general things to know: Fasting Before you go to a Caribbean Shakta temple, most of them recommend fasting the day before, the day of, and even after leaving the temple: Fasting Guidelines:
Vegetarian diet. No meat, poultry, fish, eggs or such ingredients
No drinking alcohol or environments with such
If you have been to a funeral or went to see a new born baby that is under 21 days old, you cannot enter the temple for 21 days from that time.
No leather apparel is allowed in the temple.
On the days that you are not fasting please do not eat beef or pork, as this is the Hindu religion and we encourage you to stay away from these meats.
For women who are on their menstrual cycle please do not come to the temple until you are finished.
Abstinence (no intimate relations) For a regular devotee, fasting begins at midnight on Thursday and continues all day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We usually go to the temple on Sunday, so you should start on Thursday. If you were going to the temple on a Friday, which many do, you would start your fast on Tuesday at Midnight and continue all day on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Before going to the temple, you must bathe yourself. Then, before entering the temple itself, you must take off your shoes. Both of these customs are to keep the temple sanctified and clean. You are not allowed to touch the idols or enter the shrines; only priests can. If you are bringing prepared offerings like food, you are not allowed to eat any of it before or let any of your saliva come in contact with it, and it has to be safe for the temple. Now you may ask, "Wait but don't we sacrifice animals at a temple, how come we have to refrain from animal substances". The animals are sacrificed with a specific ritual which makes them suitable for consumption. You can't just buy meat from a supermarket, curry it, and bring it to the temple. It wasn't killed according to the guidelines of the Shakta faith, so it isn't valid. Most modern temples do not allow you to bring alcohol as offerings and many deities do love alcohol in our faith, but if the local temple does not allow it, you must abide by it. In the temple, you are not allowed to point your feet at the deity or a priest or anyone either. Some women have the custom of covering their hair before entering the temple with their saree, but this is not at all required. When you enter, go around the temple to pray to each deity, always starting with Ganesh. You may see numbers above the deities, this is just the order that the pujas are done during Sunday services, so if you want to go by that order you can do that as well. If a person with long hair next to you goes into a trance, assist them with taking out their bun if they have one or their ponytail. If they catch a vibration, you want them to have loose hair. Do not disturb them, hold them down, or do anything that could hurt them. If the vibration becomes extremely strong where they might hurt themselves, that's where you should hold them down till a pujari comes and releases them from the trance. When leaving a shrine, prostrate yourself before the deity, take three steps back, and proceed to leave the area. Before leaving a temple, do what you did in the beginning and pray to each deity, again starting with Ganesh. When leaving the temple, walk backward, touching your finger to the floor and offering namaskaram. Never immediately turn your back to the deity, out of respect. If you plan to visit a temple, I hope this is helpful for you :)
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