Raksha Bandhan
Raksha Bandhan is an annual festival centred around the tying of a thread, bracelet or talisman on the wrist as a form of bond and ritual protection. The festive Hindu and Jain ritual is one principally between brothers and sisters, observed both before and after she gets married thereby marking her continued relationship with her natal home and brothers. The rite is also found between priests and patrons, and sometimes by individuals to real or potential benefactors. Differing versions of the rite have been traditionally performed in northern India, western India, Nepal,and some Hindu, Jain and Sikh emigrants from the India subcontinent since the 19th-century. It is alternately referred to as Saluno , Silono, and Rakri. The rituals associated with these rites, however, have spread beyond their traditional regions to much of India and have been transformed through technology and migration, the movies, social interaction, and promotion by politicized Hinduism, as well as as a occasion of national solidarity and state tradition.
Among women and men who are not blood relatives, there is also a transformed tradition of voluntary kin relations, achieved through the tying of rakhi amulets, which have cut across caste and class lines, and Hindu and Muslim divisions. In some communities or contexts, other figures, such as a matriarch, or a person in authority, can be included in the ceremony in ritual acknowledgement of their benefaction
Raksha Bandhan is also celebrated by Hindu communities in other parts of the world. Although rooted in Hindu culture, the festival has no traditional prayers unambiguously associated with it. The religious myths claimed for it are disputed, and the historical stories associated with it considered apocryphal by some historians.
Raksha Bandhan is observed on the last day of the Hindu lunar calendar month of Shraavana, which typically falls in August. On this day, sisters of all ages tie a cotton bracelet or amulet, called the rakhi, around the wrists of their brothers, ritually affirming the bond and support of her brothers, receiving a gift from them in return, and traditionally investing the brothers with a share of the responsibility of their potential care. The expression "Raksha Bandhan," Sanskrit, literally, "the bond of protection, obligation, or care," is now principally applied to this ritual. It has also applied to a similar ritual in which a domestic priest ties string bracelets on the wrists of his patrons and receives gifts of money. A ritual associated with Saluno includes the sisters placing shoots of barley behind the ears of their brothers.
The typical Raksha Bandhan festival as observed between brother-sister starts with the sister(s) selecting a colorful rakhi, a form of woven bracelet, ahead of the festival. On the day of the festival, she meets her biological brother(s), cousins, or adopted brother-like friend, along with the whole family. In parts of north India, women may travel to visit their brothers, typically their natal homes. She ties the rakhi on his wrist on the raksha bandhan day. After the band is in place, the brother and the sister pray. The sister applies a tilak (tikka), a colorful mark on the forehead of the brother. After the tilak, she performs an aarti wishing him a long healthy life. In return, the brother pledges to protect her and take care of his sister under all circumstances.The brother may give his sister(s) gifts or some money, and they may also feed each other with sweets, dry fruits and other seasonal delicacies. According to Jack Goody, these traditional rituals connote "a symbol of mutual dependence and a mark of respect" between the brother and the sister.The brother, states Goody, may wear the rakhi thread for many weeks through the Diwali, or just for the day or two.
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