[Somnath]

Raksha bandhan (the bond of protection in Hindi) or Rakhi is a Hindu festival which celebrates the relationship between brothers and sisters. Sisters tie a rakhi (a holy thread) around their brothers' wrists. The brother in return offers a gift to his sister and vows to look after her. This festival is typically an occasion for celebration by the whole family.
It is not necessary that the rakhi can be given only to a blood brother - any male can be "adopted" as a brother by tying a rakhi on the person. Indian history is replete with women asking for protection, through rakhi, from men who were neither their brothers, nor Hindus themselves. Rani Karnavati of Chittor sent a rakhi to the Mughal Emperor Humayun when she was threatened by Bahadur Shah of Mewar. Humayun abandoned an ongoing military campaign to ride to her rescue.
Raksha Bandhan is celebrated on the full moon of the month of Shraavana. In 2006 it falls on the 9th of August.
The rakhi may also be tied on other special occasions to show solidarity and kinship (not necessarily only among brothers and sisters), as was done during the Indian independence movement.

Origins
The origin of the festival is mostly attributed to one of following mythological incidents:
Read here…… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakhi

And to know how rakhis are made  please visit this link : http://specials.redi.../aug/07sld1.htm

But it is not a perfect day for street Romeos :    1.jpg   55.02K   27 downloads

[sadhuji]

RAKSHA BANDHAN
Raksha Bandhan festival that falls on the 9th August is a predominantly Hindu festival and it consists of the sister tying a sacred thread, called the rakhi, on the wrist of her brother who, in turn, promises to take care of his sister and save her from difficult situations. The relationship need not necessarily be that between siblings but, the sister can ‘adopt’ any male as her brother. We see such scenes quite regularly in the Hindi movies where single girls select someone in her neighborhood as her ‘adopted’ brother and who does not hesitate to thrash villains who dare insult his sister. These make for wonderful emotional twists in the Bollywood movies and are lapped up by the audiences. Till recently there used to be songs specially penned for such festivals where the brother sings about his love for the sister or vice-versa – unfortunately, with Bollywood nowadays following revolutionary concepts to draw the audiences, such songs are not penned any longer. We have to listen to the oldies, to get a feel of the occasion. In any case, the celebration today is becoming more electronic oriented with e-messages, e-cards and even e-gifts being exchanged between the brother and the sister. This is but natural when they are usually separated by large distances – with youngsters considering the whole world as their own, they migrate to distant places and come together on these occasions via the Internet.

http://www.raksha-bandhan.com/

Another similar festival is the Bhai fonta or the Bhai dooj – here the sister prays to the God Almighty for a long life for her brother. This again is one more case of rejoicing – the sister prays to ward off the Evil forces and the brother reciprocates by treating her to a sumptuous dinner in one of the posh hotels.

[Judi]

What a lovely custom .... thank you, both, for explaining it  

[jyotirmoy]

the brother reciprocates by treating her to a sumptuous dinner in one of the posh hotels.
it used to be a movie also either before or after the grub....