Sister, Plant; Brother, Tree: Nepal Catholic School Celebrates ‘Raksha Bandhan’ in Laudato Si’ Way

Students at a Catholic school in western Nepal turned a traditional Indian festival celebrating bonds of protection into an ecological prayer, tying handmade Rakhis to trees and plants as a sign of their commitment to care for creation.

Navjyoti School in Surkhet, administered by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, marked Raksha Bandhan this year with an initiative that connected the festival’s message of love, protection and responsibility with the Christian call to care for the earth.

Members of the school’s Eco Club prepared eco-friendly Rakhis for the celebration. After a prayer service, students tied the threads around trees on the school campus, treating them symbolically as members of their extended family.

The students expressed gratitude for the trees and plants and pledged to protect and care for them. The simple gesture turned the familiar festival into an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between human beings and the natural world.

Raksha Bandhan, whose name means “bond of protection,” is traditionally celebrated in India and among South Asian communities. Sisters tie a Rakhi around their brothers’ wrists as a sign of affection, trust and mutual responsibility. At Navjyoti School, the students extended that symbolism beyond human relationships to the living world around them.

The initiative was part of the school’s observance of the Season of Creation, an annual period from September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology.

The Season of Creation brings Christians from different traditions together for prayer, reflection and action on the care of the earth and its inhabitants. In 2026, the global observance is centered on the theme “Living Water,” inviting Christian communities to reflect on water as a gift essential to life and on their responsibility to protect creation.

Against this backdrop, the students’ tree-Rakhi ceremony offered a locally rooted way of expressing the Season of Creation message. Rather than introducing an unfamiliar environmental activity, the school drew on a cultural tradition already familiar to the students and gave it an ecological dimension.

The Eco Club’s initiative also turned the school campus into a place of environmental learning. By tying Rakhis to the trees, students were encouraged to see the plants not simply as part of the school landscape but as living beings deserving care and protection.

The celebration reflected the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth’s emphasis on education that forms students for responsible participation in society and care for the world around them.

For the students, the threads tied around the trees may eventually weather and disappear. The responsibility symbolized by those threads, however, can continue through everyday actions such as protecting trees, reducing waste and caring for the school environment.