On August 13th, we celebrated the festival of Raksha Bandhan, or Rakhi for short. The official narrative behind rakhi is that it is for sisters to tie a sacred thread, symbolizing love, around their brothers right hand and the brothers give money and gifts to their sisters with a promise to protect them. (Here in India, sisters and brothers also include cousins, but as the nuclear family concept spreads this is also changing.) The practice can be seen as quite patriarchical on one hand, and quite beautiful on the other, as there is a festival which actually honors the sacred bond between brothers and sisters.  Read More »