Happy Friday! Hope you had a good week and are ready for the weekend. Today I’d like to share pics of the cheerful, fragrant, and auspicious marigold flower.

Marigold Pics from My daughter Sridevi’s Garden

Marigolds are beautiful flowers with the added bonus of keeping pests away in a veggie garden. My daughter Sri planted a wonderful selection of marigolds that she grew from seed and planted around her veggie plants. These marigolds grew to 3 feet tall! Today I’m sharing with you pics of marigolds in all shades and sizes courtesy of my daughter Sri.

Sri’s Veggie Patch Bounty

All I can say is that those marigolds must have worked, because Sri got a fabulous bonanza of veggies this summer 🍅🥕.Tomatoes, peppers and flowers overflowing in Sri’s August garden.

The significance of marigolds in Mexican Culture

In Mexico marigolds are used extensively during the Dia de los Muertos Festival – The Day of the Dead festival. Prized for their bright coloring and strong fragrance, marigolds are thought to attract the souls of the dead to the offerings prepared for them.

Families will scatter marigold petals forming a path from their front doors to the offerings waiting inside the home. In smaller towns, families even lay a floral path from the cemetery to their front doors to lead the dead home. Source: Soultfuss Library, Mexico

The significance of marigolds in Indian culture

Among Indian Hindus the marigold flowers are especially auspicious as they are used in religious ceremonies and festivals such as Diwali. The marigold colors are said to signify the sun and positive energy thus making it a preferred flower for many celebrations like weddings and festivals. The strong fragrance also helps to keeping pests away in warm climates like in India.

A Farmer’s Market Find 🪴

And now onto a cool find at the Farmer’s Market. Hitesh came home from the Farmer’s Market last week with the cutest little potted plant 🪴! It was 2 little marigold seedlings with a little note.

Marigolds for a good cause sold by a little girl

It seems this little girl from our local elementary school had set up a stall to raise money for her school. In her stall she was selling little potted plants with marigold seedlings. She had painted the pots and planted the seedlings. Then included a little note with the significance of the marigold in her Nepalese culture.

Why are marigolds special to my Nepalese family by Samana. P

Samana explains in her note that in Nepalese culture the marigold is a big part of a Nepalese festival called Tihar. “Tihar celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters and is usually observed in the October/November timeframe.

The Tihar festival is celebrated for 5 days and the last day is called Bhai Thika. Bhai Thika is all about brothers and sisters and on this day my brother and I promise to protect each other and look out for each other all our lives. We love to decorate the house with lots of marigolds during Tihar. “

Made my Day 💕

Honestly the sweet marigold seedlings in the little hand painted pot and note all made by a little girl raising money for her school – this positively made my Sunday just perfect!

Speaking of celebrating sibling love Happy Rakhi to all the Indians who celebrated the sibling festival of Rakshabandan this week ❤️💙

This past Wednesday was the Indian festival of Rakshabandan celebrating the sibling bond between brothers and sisters. During the festival siblings tie a bracelet on each other and pledge to always take care of each other.

Rakshabandan is celebrated with sweets and a special family gathering. Here are pics from our little Rakshabandan celebration at home.

On the Menu
Tomato soup made from garden fresh tomatoes with toasted baguette – Pranav
Heirloom tomatoes with salt and pepper
Decadent Mac n Cheese
Apple Ginger Cupcakes

Happy Weekend Everyone!
Happy Rakhi to all the Brothers and Sisters!
Happy September!