How to Make your own Rakhi? Celebrating Brotherhood with Raksha Bandhan
The festival of Raksha Bandhan is celebrated to honor the bond between a brother and a sister, where the brother vows to protect his sister. A stretch of thread, called Rakhi, is tied around the brother’s wrist by the sister and she prays for his welfare. The brother presents his sister with gifts and the day is celebrated with sweets.
Raksha bandhan 2014
Raksha Bandhan, in Sanskrit, literally means the “The Knot of Protection”. This sacred festival is celebrated on Shrava Purnima every year, and this year that date falls on the 10th of August 2014.
History and mythology
Indian history and mythology state various stories as to why this festival is being celebrated. During the medieval ages, when the Rajput kings were at the height of their power, Rajput queen and princesses used to send Rakhi over to their neighboring rulers of states as a symbol of brotherhood. In the epic Mahabharat, Draupadi tied a Rakhi to Krishna from the strand of her sari and in return during draupadi vastraharan, Lord Krishna gave Draupadi an endless, infinite sari and saved her.
Today Raksha Bandhan is a popular festival celebrated all over India by youngsters, irrespective of cast, and the tying of rakhi is made between friends, cousins and even with anyone, who share a brother-sister bonding.
Girls today start shopping for the rakhi days before the festival. Rakhi of different shapes and sizes are available in the market during that time. But if you want to personalize the festival with your handiwork, then here are a couple of ideas you can try out. A Rakhi is generally a simple silk thread that may or may not be decorated with beads or other materials.
How to make your own rakhi or Raksha Bandhan?
Making Rakhi from multi-colored silk threads
The materials you need:
- Silk threads (multi-colored around 30-inches length)
- Cotton thread
- Beads, sequins
- Scissors
- Glue
Take the multi-colored silk threads and fold the length of the bunch into half. At one-fourth of the length, tie a tight knot using the cotton thread. Cut the loops of the folded thread and using the brush, fluff the open ends so that they rise up in a bunch.
You can plait the longer part of the thread in any way you choose. After that, tie the open ends with cotton thread and fluff their ends too. These two ends will be used to tie around the wrist. You can use the beads and sequins to decorate the upper part.
Making Rakhi from kalava or moli
Another trend these days is to make the Rakhi from kalava or moli, which is the thread that is worn on the wrist for a religious occasion. These materials would last longer than other threads so if you plan on using one for a few more days, then making the Rakhi with moli is a good idea.
The materials required for this are:
- Moli or Kalava of 50-inches long
- Cotton Thread
- Scissors
- Glue
- Religious Symbol/ Rudraksh
- Tulsi/ Sandalwood Beads or Tiny Shells
The 50-inch long thread is folded in the middle and the thread is plaited as you desire. Leave some space at the ends and tie the cotton thread. Remove the loops from the ends as was done in the previous method. You can stick the Rudraksh or religious symbol in the middle and if you want, you can decorate the thread further by sticking the length of the thread with tiny beads or shells. You can even stich them or glue them in a fancy way in the middle, around the symbol.
The sister, after tying the Rakhi, is gifted presents in the form of cards, clothes, money or something meaningful. They feed each other bites of sweets and the family gets together for a joyous day of love and brotherhood.
