Posted by This year Millions of Hindus across India will be going to celebrate the Bhai Dooj festival on Saturday, November 6. This festival is celebrated every year to mark the bond shared between a brother and a sister. Bhai Dooj festival is similar to Raksha Bandhan festival and on this day every brother and sister comes together and celebrates the holy festival and performs the rituals.
After Diwali, we celebrate a few festivals to mark the week of festivities and joy. Every region around the country has different rituals and customs. Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj are these two festivals that come after Diwali.
What is Bhai Dooj?
‘Bhai Dooj festival is known with different names in different regions around India. In some regions, it is known as Bhai Phonta, Bhaubeej, Bhai Tika, and many more. In South India, ‘Bhai Dooj’ is called Yama Dwitiya. Bhai Dooj is observed on the Dwitiya Tithi. This festival comes in Shukla Paksha of the Kartik month. Bhai Dooj is marked as the end of Diwali festival. On this day, siblings perform the entire ceremony and vow to protect each other from all kinds of evil. In India, all religions have their own ways and rituals to celebrate this festival. In some parts of the country, a sister prepares a special meal for her brother and in return, the brother offers Bhai dooj gifts to sisters and sweets from his brother. Sisters also do aarti of this brother and apply tika on their brother’s forehead, to ward off evil and pray for happiness and longevity. In some states of India like Haryana, the girls who do not have a brother, on this day they worship the moon and apply mehndi on their palms and pray for the brothers.
What is Raksha Bandhan?
Raksha Bandhan festival is celebrated in the Shravana month of the Hindu calendar. On this day sisters tie rakhi on the wrists of their brothers and the brother promises to protect the sister from all the evils and dangers. Also, brothers buy rakhi gifts for sisters because it is a custom and ritual also.
Difference between Bhai Dooj and RakshaBandhan
Both the festivals have the same theme, and there are some differences between these two festivals.
- The main difference between these two festivals is the months. Raksha Bandhan is celebrated in August and Bhai Dooj is celebrated in the month of October or November, which comes after two days of Diwali.
- On Bhai Dooj, sisters perform the aarti and apply tika on the brother’s forehead and on Raksha Bandhan; sisters tie a sacred thread on the brother’s wrist.
- Both the festivals have their own significance and importance. On Raksha Bandhan day, the brother vows to protect his sister from all evil. On Bhai Dooj, applying the tika on the brother’s forehead, offer sweets, and the sister vows to protect her brother from all the evils.
- The Raksha Bandhan is not celebrated only between brothers and sisters. It can be performed between sisters, only brothers, and friends as well. But the Bhai Dooj is exclusively for the brother-sister duo.
- Both festivals have their own history and meaning in the holy books. The legends of Lord Vishnu and Lord Indra’s wife, Sachi are associated with Raksha Bandhan where the latter had gone to take help from the former and Lord Vishnu had given a holy thread to be tied to her husband’s hand so that he could win a war he was in. On Bhai Dooj, legend has it that the God of Death, Yamraj, had gone to visit his twin sister, Yamuna. In return, she had done his aarti and applied a tika on his forehead.
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