Hello Everyone!
Raksha Bandhan (Rakhi) also known as ‘Janai Poornima’ is around the corner. It’s a day to celebrate the beautiful brother-sister relationship and to honor our brothers. It is a Hindu celebration, where we tie a special bracelet/thread around our brother’s wrist and take the promise to protect and support when needed. This is another way to show affection to your siblings. If you don’t have a brother, like me, you can do it for your sister or a cousin or family friend that is like a brother to you. We do this every year in our family. But since I don’t have a brother, I send a rakhi bracelet to both my male cousins and send them through the postal mail. Sometimes girls get rakhis, along with money, from their brothers as a return gift. It says that they will always protect them and be there any time. We celebrate by wearing traditional clothes such as kurtas, lehengas, sarees, or wearing clean clothes. We eat sweets and other good foods while exchanging gifts to celebrate the relationship between brothers and sisters. As a Nepali American, I also celebrate the day by going to a temple where the priest or head of the family ties holy thread (Janai) on our wrists. Hence, it’s also called Janai Poornima or Raksha Bandhan (Raksha means protection, AKA thread of protection). Nepalese on this day eat ‘Kwanti,’ which is a curry made out of twelve sprouted beans.
Last year, we sent my cousin’s rakhi bracelets, and I got one too on my wrist. My dad tied holy threads on our wrists.
Well, you may be wondering how did the celebration of Rakhi begin? The celebration of Raksha Bandhan began during the Mughal empire in the 1500s when a widowed queen named Rani Karnavati sent a Rakhi to the Mughal Emperor asking for help in order to defend her city. From then on, it became a holiday that had been celebrated for centuries now.
This year Rakhi is on Sunday August 22nd. On this occasion, I would like to talk about a picture book that I recently read by Rajani Larocca, the author of an amazing book called Red, White, and Whole. However, today we will be discussing another book of hers, Bracelets for Bina’s Brothers. It’s about a little girl named Bina who looks up to her three older brothers. When she finds out Rakhi is coming up, she decides to make homemade Rakhi bracelets. She buys beads and a pendant with each of their brother’s interests or hobbies. She uses a music pendant, basketball pendant, and book pendant and makes colorful bracelets with a pattern. With the help of her awesome dog Tara, she gets creative and makes bracelets for her brothers. There are also math clues in this book that have to do with the patterns of the bracelets. If you want to learn more about this special festival, read this book. You can borrow it from the library or buy it on Amazon.
Here I end my blog with a few lines for my Rakhi Brothers.,
Although you are a brother from another mother, you will always be a sibling from my heart!
Happy RAKHI!
Credits: Google