IT Connects - Cultural Connection with Rakhee Mistry
Learn more about Raksha Bandhan, a Hindu tradition, and view a clip of Rakhee’s family celebrating the tradition.
Raksha Bandhan
Raksha Bandhan is Hindu tradition celebrated annually during the Hindu month of Shraavana – which typically falls sometime in August. The Hindu calendar is a lunar calendar and the dates vary from year to year. This year it was August 11th.
Raksha Bandhan means the bond of protection. On this day, sisters tie cotton thread bracelets (often adorned with beads/charms) called Rakhi around the wrists of their brothers. The Rakhi symbolizes the protection that the sister offers to her brother, in return the brother promises to take care of his sister – often in the form of a monetary gift!
Every year all the cousins get together to tie our Rakhis on our brothers – here in SoCal there are five of us sisters and three brothers. I have a few brothers in other states, in UK, Zambia, and Australia – and for them I normally have a card and send them their Rakhi via post. Normally we meet at one of our houses, but this year we decided to go out for dinner at an Indian restaurant in Artesia. We typically form a line where all the brother line up – according to age and then all the sisters – according to age go down the line to tie their Rakhis. Traditionally you apply Kumkum (red powder) on the forehead with some rice, tie the Rakhi, share a mithai (Indian sweet) and collect our red envelope from our brother!
In case you haven’t figured it out by now – my name Rakhee – is another spelling of Rakhi – which means to protect!
