One popular belief associates Maha Shivaratri with the legend of Lord Shiva drinking poison to save the universe. During the churning of the ocean (the legendary Sagar Manthan), gods and demons discovered several objects and one of them was a pot of poison. Lord Shiva drank the poison to save the universe from its effects. Gods danced in order to protect Shiva from the harmful effect of the poison and keep him awake for a night. The poison eventually didn’t harm Shiva, but turned his neck blue. This was when he got the name Neelkantha. Since then, the night is celebrated as Maha Shivratri.