Rakhi, Raksha Bandhan, Rakhi Poornima - A gift for someone you love!
Rakhi, Raksha Bandhan, Rakhi Poornima - A festival of brothers and sisters.
‘A sibling may be the keeper of one’s identity, the only person with the keys to one’s unfettered, more fundamental self’.
Marian Sandmaier
Raksha Bandhan is celebrated as a festival for brothers and sisters, meant to reveal the traditional bond that the siblings share. A brother is supposed to garner support for his sister and a sister is meant to see her brother through thick and thin. This year, Rakhi, Raksha Bandhan falls on the 5th of August, 2009.
Rakhi, Raksha bandhan falls in the traditional month of Shravan, a holy month for all devout Hindus. According to legend, the monkey king Bali, being a great devotee of Vishnu, had Laxmi come over in the guise of a Brahmin woman to meet her husband, who was guarding Bali’s empire. During a Shravan festival, Laxmi tied a sacred thread around Bali’s wrist and ultimately revealed who she was. Since then the day has been celebrated as a visiting day for sisters who anticipate the arrival of their brothers and wish them the best of both the worlds.
In the modern context, Hindu sisters send decorative pieces of thread by post or courier to their brothers, wherever they may be. Visiting sisters land up in all the finery and ornate attire at their brother’s house where there is a traditional ceremony of tying the rakhi and a lavish meal to follow.
Shravan is a month where all non vegetarian and alcoholic drinks are avoided. So all the cooking is mainly vegetarian with rich deserts in tow. Some innovative sisters even send their brothers ornate Rakhi cards symbolizing the eternal bond between a brother and a sister.
Click here for MyBandra Home page, Bandra Classifieds, Bandra Blogs and Bandra Events
