Rakṣā Bandhan — the thread of protection
Śrāvaṇa Pūrṇimā · July–August
On the full moon of Śrāvaṇa, sisters tie a rākhī — a protective thread — on their brothers' wrists, and brothers promise to stand by them. The older idea behind it is simply rakṣā, protection: a thread tied with a prayer, which priests, wives, friends and cousins also tie for one another. Today many sisters tie rākhī to sisters, and families include anyone who is family at heart.
To observe it at home, prepare a small thālī with a lamp, roli or kumkum, a few grains of rice, sweets and the rākhī. After bathing, the sister applies a tilaka to her brother's forehead, ties the rākhī on his right wrist, does a small āratī and feeds him a sweet; the brother gives a gift and his blessing or promise. Many families prefer to tie it outside bhadrā, a part of the day the panchang marks as unsuitable — check the timings on /today. Far-off siblings post rākhīs, and a video call works too.
The same full moon has other faces. In South India, Brahmin families keep Upākarma (Āvaṇi Aviṭṭam), renewing the sacred thread and beginning the year's Veda study. Along the Konkan and Gujarat coasts it is Nāraḷī Pūrṇimā: fishing communities offer a coconut to the sea before boats go out again after the monsoon. In Bengal and Odisha it closes Jhulan Yātrā, when Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are swung in decorated swings, and in parts of central India it is Kajarī Pūrṇimā, a farmers' festival.
Tradition says that when the gods were losing a long war against the asuras, Indra's wife Śacī prepared a thread empowered with mantras and tied it on his wrist on the full moon of Śrāvaṇa — and Indra won. Another well-loved story tells that when Kṛṣṇa cut his finger, Draupadī tore a strip from her sari to bind it; Kṛṣṇa promised to protect her, and kept his word when she was humiliated in the Kaurava court and her sari became endless. A third says Lakṣmī tied a thread on King Bali to win back Viṣṇu, who had become his doorkeeper.
Siblings · protection · all relations · Tie outside bhadrā · Upākarma · Nāraḷī Pūrṇimā same day · Bhaviṣya Purāṇa (Indra and Śacī)