The day began with the final 11 repetitions of Rudra Abishekam, each time with the offering of a different liquid; milk, water, sandal, honey, ghee, yogurt, turmeric, fruit mixture, etc. Here you see Seetharam's topaz lingam with milk being poured over it.
And here yogurt:
And this looks like sandal paste:
And Seetharam looking very stern. Not at all characteristic of him! But after 11 days all the priests are very focused.
After decorating the lingam it is ready for final pujas.
Then all the priests perform the homam with offerings of ghee and other items, puffed rice, coconut, herbs, seeds, leaves, special kinds of wood, etc.
At the end of the yagya, the final offering of ghee is made using a long wooden spoon whcih has a groove cut into it. Ghee is poured in at the top and it runs down into the fire in an unbroken stream while the final chanting of Chamakam takes place. Chamakam is a series of verses to Shiva asking him to bless the participants with everything a human could possibly want; material and spiritual. The wooden device is called a vasodara.
We have evolved a nice tradition of giving the priests a gift of a new dhoti...
...and a silver puja item each year. This year the item is a silver bowl.
Next it is off to the Shiva temple for the full scale abishekam!
