According to the English calendar, this festival comes some time in July or August, and heralds the arrival of the monsoon. Raksha Bandhan or Saluno represents one of the most sentimental festivals of India. It is based on the ties that bind a brother and sister. To symbolize this profound relationship, the sister ties a rakhi on the right wrist of all her brothers on this day, as a token assurance of guarding them against all harms, and indicating her blessings, and prays to God for their well being. Her brothers return the gesture with gifts or money.
Women dress up early in the morning in fine clothes.
All girls, whether married or not, wear clothes with a touch of zari and put a ' chhanp ' on their foreheads. If a sister is not present but has sent the rakhi and teeka to the brother's house, the woman of that house cleans and bathes the gods and the goddesses. The pooja room is swept and cleaned with a wet cloth, and a chowk is laid out on the floor. A rakhi should be tied on to or placed before the chief deity of the family. An unmarried daughter of the house can perform the ceremony in the absence of her aunts, by applying the teeka and tying the rakhis on the wrists of the men.