These communities do not share a calendar or a set of practices, and this page does not pretend they do. Each guide below stands alone, for one family's own tradition. The one exception is the interfaith page, written for families who genuinely keep two.
The pattern our research kept finding is the same one behind our best-selling craft: a child makes an object, and the family then uses it — a rakhi actually tied on a wrist, a flag actually carried in a parade, a dish that is actually part of the table. We noticed the pattern repeats; we are not claiming the traditions do.
Placed at the home altar, not just coloured and put away.
Decorated by the child, then actually danced with.
The actual thread tied on a wrist, not a card about one.
Made at home, carried in a real parade.
A craft built on a specific, well-documented history.
The craft is the setup — the seva is the point.
Grown for weeks, then part of the real table.
Holds the family's own Haft-Seen items, however many they keep.
One shared object. Both traditions represented, neither erased.