Bhai Phonta, Bengal's Bhai Dooj: sisters put a phonta of sandal paste, kajal and curd on brothers, the famous chant, the meal, gifts and the Yama-Yamuna story.
A sister puts the phonta on her brother's forehead for Bhai Phonta. Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Phonta (ফোঁটা) means a drop or dot, here the small mark a sister puts on her brother's forehead.
A sister puts the phonta on her brother's forehead for Bhai Phonta. Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Customs vary from home to home, but a typical Bhai Phonta looks like this:
A sister puts the phonta on her brother's forehead for Bhai Phonta. Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The best-known part of the rhyme recited while giving the phonta is a couplet almost every Bengali knows:
A sister puts the phonta on her brother's forehead for Bhai Phonta. Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The traditional story behind the day concerns Yama, the god of death, and his sister Yamuna, the river goddess.
Sovabazar Rajbari's Durga is readied on boats at Baghbazar Ghat for immersion in the Hooghly. Photo: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
After the ritual comes the real event for many: a big lunch cooked by the sister or the household.
A sister puts the phonta on her brother's forehead for Bhai Phonta. Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Brothers traditionally give their sisters clothes, jewellery or money, and sisters often give gifts in return, such as a shirt or kurta.
A woman in a red-bordered white sari walks past a giant Durga face in Kolkata. Photo: Surajits photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Bhai Phonta closes the cluster of festivals around the Kartik new moon: Bhoot Chaturdashi, then Kali Puja and Diwali, then Bhai Phonta.
A Kali Puja pandal in Kolkata. Photo: Tarunsamanta, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Bhai Phonta, Bengal's Bhai Dooj: sisters put a phonta of sandal paste, kajal and curd on brothers, the famous chant, the meal, gifts and the Yama-Yamuna story.
Bhai Phonta → Next story: Jagaddhatri Puja: Chandannagar, Krishnanagar and the goddess who holds the world All photo storiesMusic: Tomay hriday majhe rakhbo chere debo na - Baul Song Performance - Tarun Khyapa and Ananda Khyapa with Group - Saturday Haat - Sonajhuri - Birbhum 2014-06-28 5315, Gangulybiswarup, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.