Karwachauth is a daylong festival which is celebrated by Hindu women, basically from North India for the long and prosperous life of their husband and the well-being of their families. Women wake up before the sunrise and eat Sargi (basically 7 different type of food items) which is given by their mother-in-law. The fast begins at dawn. Fasting women do not eat or drink anything during the day. They dress up like brides and perform prayers and then eat at moon rise after offering prayers to the moon.
I generally like to wear really bright outfit for Karachauth. This time I wore a simple but elegant red and green lengha (Lengha is an outfit which has a long skirt, a top and a stole).
One thing that I really wanted to buy during the trip to Rajasthan was Lac Bangles and I bought a few!!! Wanted to share with all of you of what I learnt about Lac bangles!
Rajasthan is known for Lac bangles. The word bangle is derived from a hindi word ‘bungri’ which means glass. Traditionally bangles were made of sea shell, copper, bronze, gold etc.
Use of Lac in bangle making started in Utter Pradesh (a Northern Indian state). When the king of Amer instituted the capital he moved these Lac bangle craftsmen who were known as ‘Manihar’ to Amer.
Lac is a resinous secretion of Lac-producing insects such as Laccifer lacca, Carteria lacca and Tachardia lacca. These pant sucking insects colonize on the branches of host trees to produce scarlet resinous pigment. Later the coated branches of the host trees are cut and harvested as sticklac. These sticklac are crushed, sieved and washed several times to remove impurities. The process of obtaining lac is carried out in mud ovens. Semisolid lac is then placed is large placed coated with oil. The semisolid lac dough is then rolled into poles and is then distributed to women across the state. Women use stoves, metal plates, tweezers and wooden batons to turn lac into bangles.
Lac is originally brick red in color, wax is added to increase cohesiveness, titanium is added to increase volume and various other coloring agents are added.
Lac & tools used to make bangles
Different colored lac is used to create bangles. Wooden batons are used to create bangles of various dimensions. The beauty of these bangles is that you can use various things to enhance the beauty; like use crystals, mirrors, semi-precious stones etc.
Various customs of Rajasthan require women to dress in specific ways. Each celebration can be identified easily by the type of bangles and dress/saree women wear; for example, “Gulali Chooda and Hara Chooda”or red bangle is worn by brides during the weddings, pink bangles are worn during holi or festival of colors.
Set of bangles which has red on one side and green on the other side.Green sideRed side
This Karwachauth I decided to wear traditional Punjabi Patiala salwar kameez with a heavy dupatta and tradition Dogri jewellery.
For all those who do not know about Karwachauth, here is a description for all of you!
Karwachauth is a daylong festival which is celebrated by Hindu women, basically from North India for the long and prosperous life of their husband. Women wakeup before the sunrise and eat Sargi (basically 7 different type of food items) which is given by their mother-in-law. The fast begins at dawn. Fasting women do not eat or drink anything during the day. They dress up like brides and perform pooja and then eat at moon rise after offering prayers to the moon.
Women buy cosmetics, jewellery and loads of bangles. They also decorate their palms with traditional henna.
Dogri Namma NecklaceDogri Namma Necklace
I wore traditional Dogri necklace which is called ‘Namma’ and earings called ‘Jhumka’; also I wore lot of bangles. Bangles are a must!
I feel that sometimes it is best to go traditional.
Dogri JhumkaDogri Jhumka
Dogri Jhumka
Dogri JhumkaBangles
Had a great karwachauth! Hope all my friends who celebrated this festival also had a great day!
I’m not a girl who likes to wear a lot of accessories, but I like to buy loads of stuff. I might wear a few on a special occasion or once in a while.
But as they say, change is inevitable. I also changed with regards to accessories and that happened when my mom gave me her silver bangles. She used to wear these bangles when she was in college, so, it does have a lot of emotional value for me!
The bangles are very wearable; they look nice with all kind of outfits (casual/formal). I have been wearing these very frequently and I’m loving it!
Blushes & Sparkle 