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Raksha Bandhan is a widely observed Hindu festival in India celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters, during which sisters tie a sacred thread (rakhi) around their brothers' wrists as a symbol of protection and love, with brothers offering gifts and a promise of lifelong protection in return. The date follows the Hindu lunar calendar, typically falling in August. It carries no public holiday status nationally, though some states grant a local holiday.

• ✦The tying of the rakhi thread is the central ritual of the festival, often accompanied by an aarti (ritual prayer with a lamp) and the sharing of sweets between siblings, with markets across India selling elaborate decorated rakhis in the weeks before the festival.
• ✦Raksha Bandhan has expanded beyond biological siblings in modern Indian practice, with the rakhi thread also tied to cousins, close friends, and even symbolically to soldiers by women in border areas as a gesture of national solidarity and respect.