{"id":683,"date":"2022-08-10T15:36:34","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T14:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/?p=683"},"modified":"2022-08-10T15:36:37","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T14:36:37","slug":"the-hindu-festival-of-raksha-bandhan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/the-hindu-festival-of-raksha-bandhan\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hindu Festival of Raksha Bandhan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Jaya Mistry, Equity Project Officer, Equality Diversity and Inclusivity Team<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raksha Bandhan<\/a> is on 11th<\/sup> August and is centred around the tying of a thread, bracelet or talisman called a Rakhi on the wrist as a form of bond, ritual protection and love between brothers and sisters. It will start as soon as a child is born, with parents tying the Rakhi on behalf of the sister until they are old enough to tie the Rakhi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a Rakhi?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rakhis are sold in Indian shops alongside religious artefacts and household goods in Indian grocery\/sari shops, and also can be bought online. Rakhis are normally red and gold, however, you can buy them in a variety of colours with lots of different centre pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Image
Image description: eight Rakhi bracelets on a white background. The thread is red or yellow with some beads in the middle of each bracelet.
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What does Raksha Bandhan mean to me?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since I moved away from my hometown, the festival of Raksha Bandhan is very special to me. It is an opportunity to plan a visit to see my brothers and tie the Rakhi and have a lovely day together. The tradition is to take a box of mithai (Indian sweets) or chocolates\/sweets along with your Rakhi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I start by putting a little dot (tilak) of kumkum red powder along with a few grains of rice on my brother\u2019s forehead, tie the Rakhi which is usually quite a sturdy one as my brother likes to keep the Rakhi on as long as possible, then offer him a chocolate\/sweet. In return my brother will give me a small gift which is usually monetary. \u00a0I will also make a card or sometimes buy one – the message is one of love, protection, good health, and happiness always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Image
Image description: five Rakhi bracelets tied on a person\u2019s wrist.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A Rakhi can also be tied on a cousin brother or anyone you have formed a brotherly bond with. About 20 years ago I met a distant cousin visiting from Australia who asked if I could send him a Rakhi as he didn\u2019t have a sister which was such an honour and also brought us closer together \u2013 I sent my Rakhi last week and hope this will reach in time for Raksha Bandhan on the 11th<\/sup> August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jaya Mistry, Equity Project Officer, Equality Diversity and Inclusivity Team Raksha Bandhan is on 11th August and is centred around the tying of a thread, bracelet or talisman called a Rakhi on the wrist as a form of bond, ritual protection and love between brothers and sisters. It will start as soon as a … Continue reading “The Hindu Festival of Raksha Bandhan”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":701,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions\/701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/equality-and-diversity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}