“Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring, quite often the hard way.” -Pamela Dugdale
When I saw this quote all I could think about was how much “practicing” my brother and I did on each other growing up. He was the first to try my cooking, my first best friend, my first ‘kid’ in many ways. I remember the first year my brother and I didn’t get to celebrate Raksha Bandhan together, I was devastated! I’m thrilled that this year we’ll be celebrating the festival together. Raksha Bandhan (also known as Rakhi/Rakhri) is the Hindu festival that celebrates the love and loyalty between brother and sister. On this day sisters tie a rakhi (blessed thread) on their brother’s wrist. This thread symbolizes the sister’s love and prayers for her brother’s well-being, and the brother’s promise to protect her. After the rakhi is tied, sweets are exchanged and the brother gifts their sister a token, as a thank you for their prayers and blessings.
This year Raksha Bandhan falls on Sunday, August 10th.
There are stories in Indian history going back to the Rajput Queens and how they would send rakhis to neighboring kingdoms, as peace offerings & binding the kings in brotherhood. In India and Indian markets around the world, weeks leading up to the festival stores are filled with an assortment of rakhis, sweets and gifts.
Last year I chose Little Mirchi’s rakhis for her cousin brothers (after all she was only 3 months old!) This year we took Little Mirchi to the local Indian market and let her choose the rakhis herself. (Mostly it was her trying to grab all the hanging rakhis out of excitement, but a fun experience none the less.)
Although she’s not old enough to make any handmade ones as of yet, I thought these DIY Rakhi crafts were too cute not to share.
Wishing you & yours a Happy Raksha Bandhan!
What a beautiful explanation of Raksha Bandhan! We’re meeting my brother and my brand new nephew on MOnday so my girls can tie their first rakhi!