On the 8th of August 2017 Auxilium Girls Promotion Centre, Oros celebrated ‘Raksha Bandhan’ for the village school children of Pokran.
It is said that, “Relationships are the essence of any festivity and it holds true for any Indian festival.” Raksha Bandhan is one such celebration of strengthening the ties of relation – a brother- sister relationship, and the people of India are noted for this great gesture. We had the joy of celebrating it for the school children as a pledge of life-time practice of moral, cultural and spiritual values. For the values and the sentiments attached to the rituals of this festival are worth inculcating by the whole human race, the sentiments of harmony and peaceful co-existence. The festival of Raksha Bandhan assumes all forms of Raksha or protection, of righteousness and destroyer of all sin. We the Salesian sisters are called to guide and protect children from the social evil and this was one new step towards this, wherein the children learn the importance of safeguarding and protecting one another.
The celebration began with the introductory words given by Mr. Kalsulkar, the Vice Principal of S.S. Kudalkar High School. He extended a warm welcome to Sr. Priscilla Travasso the animator of Auxilium Girls Promotion Centre, Sr. Vandana Malya and the Novice Sr. Sangeeta Marvi and expressed his gratitude towards the institute for its timely support in the educational mission.
Sr. Vandana then briefed the entire group with the importance of this celebration. The tying of the Rakhi was done in a very creative way by providing the required material to the girls to prepare the sacred thread after which they had to run and tie it to the boy standing in front of them at a distance. The first one to prepare, tie and get her brother to the starting point was awarded a prize.
The short programme concluded with the message given by Sr. Priscilla, exhorting the students to remember the great significance of this festival and to protect one other not only today but always. Later snacks were distributed to all the students.