Raksha Bandhan – The Twins Sibling Way!

Raksha Bandhan

The bond between siblings, it is one of the closest one. I remember as a child, I was the closest to my brother. We do not have a considerable age gap, and my preferences as a child were more masculine – I loved to play cricket and football, thanks to all the passed down clothes from my brother, I was mostly dressed in boys’ clothes. I was always playing with his gang, and he was a protective big brother when we were out, no matter how much we used to fight when at home and he being the bigger one, always used to kick my butt!

And now, when I see the same bond between Milie and Buddy – my daughters, I feel so nostalgic. Raksha Bandhan is just around the corner, and I thought, why not share a few experiences of other twin mommies like me and stories of their little twins and how they celebrate this special day and what Raksha Bandhan means to them.

I personally do not believe that this festival is gender-specific, or protecting one’s sibling, being there for them or standing up for them has anything to do with the gender of the sibling. Ever since my daughters started to communicate, all three of us tie Rakhi around each other’s wrists and celebrate Raksha Bandhan each year. It is a way to remind us how important our brothers and sisters are for us!

Kavneet, mother of 5-year-old Pari & Pratham tells us –

“Childhood memories of Raksha Bandhan have been of get-together of the entire extended family, sisters excited to tie the thread and receive gifts in return, everyone excited to relish dishes and delicacies prepared by my mom. It was quite late that we started understanding what this day stands for – to celebrate the bond between brothers and sisters.

Though the bond doesn’t need any special day, this day is much awaited. With changing mindsets, its needless to say that it’s now celebrated to relish the relationship between siblings. These days I see the same excitement in my kids, my daughter ties a thread or Rakhi ( favorite designs) onto her brother’s wrist, and my son ties similar one onto his sister’s wrist. With the current situation,  this year we are going to prepare Rakhi at home, preparation for which has already started. And they have already made the band, and are now preparing the designs…

Loads of love to all brothers and sisters.”

Anindya, my childhood friend, and mother of Aayansh and Àashna shares her story –

“Indian festivals are always an example of – Love and Affection, be it, Diwali, Holi, Dusshera, Janmashtami, etc. But amongst all, one festival is just specially designed to strengthen the bond of SIBLINGS – yes!!! and that’s ‘Rakshabandhan.’ From the time my kids were 5 months, they have been celebrating this festival, and they enjoy the entire gamut of arrangements made for them to feel special in the family. Two-three days prior to the day, they have their discussions as to what gift they would love to give each other. Àashna- ” Bhai, apko gift me kya chahie? mujhe bata do. Fir mujhe jo chahie, wo tum lake doge?” Aayansh – ” Haan haan, kyu nahi launga? Pakka launga tumhare liye” These words from them stupefied all the family members last year. These two kids plan out in advance what new dress they will wear, which Rakhi they would tie to each other (they choose their favorite from a whole box of rakhis) and finally… what sweet or chocolate they will feed the other!!! Seeing small siblings pouring out love and I may say pure innocent love on each other, is what makes this festival a remarkable one. They will dress up in the morning and keep waiting to get the Aarti thali, then both will sit in front of each other and the ceremony begins. And after it, they eagerly open their gifts and hug each other seeing whatever they had promised each other to gift, that has been fulfilled. Then trying to reach each other’s forehead to put kumkum with their tiniest finger is a scene that every member of the house cherishes to see. At the age of 4, they are too small to know the real meaning of Raksha- Bandhan, but I pray to God that this innocence and pure form of love deepen in them every year and they protect and love each other with every passing year.”

Sheetal, mother of 3-year-old Riddhima and Hridhaan (well, almost 3) tells us in her words how they celebrate this day!

“We get up early and wear new clothes. I decorate pooja thali with all the sacred things like Rakhi, sweets, Diya, and haldi. I make sure to buy Ridhima’s favorite things as gifts to give her in return of the Rakhi on behalf of Hriddhan. They both sit in one place and perform the ritual. Ridhima ties the colorful sacred thread on Hriddhan’s wrist and offers him, sweets, to eat, and gets her awaited beautiful gift in return. We click a few memorable pictures so that they can relive their childhood memories when they grow up. Then they have their first cousins coming home where they get super excited and from selecting their favorite Rakhi to gift the chaos begins. The cute little fights of Hridhaan asking spiderman rakhi to Riddhima asking unicorn it all begins. We all have a great bonding time from Mamas to kids coming home and celebrating together. All their favorite food items are cooked and enjoyed lip-smackingly..They have all a gala time with all.”

Yashoda, a doting mom of boy-girl twin shares her story –

One of the favorite festivals for my 5-year-old twinnies is Raksha Bandhan. They are excited about this since their second Raksha Bandhan because by then they started understanding all about this festival. Beautiful rakhis and sweets are always their favorite. At this festival usually sister tie Rakhi on brother’s wrist but my kids do it with a twist. Not only my girl tie the Rakhi but my boy also ties the Rakhi on his sister’s hand. I always tell them to continue this because it’s not the duty of a brother to take care or protect his sister but now the sister must also take care of her brother and protect him as and when required. Every time I told them to be with each other no matter how bad the situation is. Trust each other and to be together always. They are womb companions and should not be apart.  This year they wanted to make handmade Rakhi. They love to give surprises to each other. So we made beautiful rakhis and now they are not able to wait for the festival. Every morning I have many questions.. Mumma is today Raksha Bandhan? How many days are left? I want to give a gift to didi/bhaiya please tell me what to gift? They ask each other what he or she likes to get in the gift. And they try to convince me to buy that particular thing for each other. Keeping it a secret as they want to keep it surprise which is already known to them. But this is the beauty of their bonding. They take care of each other and plan which sweet you want to eat.. Which dress you want to wear etc..  I just love to see them discussing how to make this festival memorable.

And last but not the least, this is how Khushbu celebrates her Raksha Bandhan for her twins – 

“We are closer then words can ever say; we grew to the same beat of our mumma’s heart. You by me and me by you we both make two by two.”

Being blessed with twins (a girl and a boy) this festival is more important for us..

Raksha Bandhan is one of the most important festivals of Hindus. It falls on a full moon of Shravan month according to the Hindu calendar. My 3 year old makes rakhi of course with the help of her mother .. Dhyaan, my boy loves to make Rakhi too and asks me why I can’t tie her. Their tiny hands one is tieing Rakhi and the other is getting it tied makes us feel so good.

Tiny hands, small wishes, a big smile and lots of love make this festival very special.

So, how do you celebrate Raksha Bandhan? Let us know in the comments.