Chandigarh, Aug 5 - Wearing their best clothes, sisters went to meet their brothers Wednesday to tie rakhis on their wrists and in return get beautiful gifts and also a promise of lifelong care to mark the Raksha Bandhan festival.

Raksha Bandhan, celebrated in many parts of India, marks the love and affection between brothers and sisters. On this day, celebrated on the full moon of the Hindu month of Shravana, sisters pray for long life of their brothers.

Sisters tie rakhi, a thread symbolising protection with love and affection, on their brothers' wrists. Brothers in return give their sisters gifts and an assurance of lifelong care.

The festival also marks family get togethers as sisters travel to their brothers' homes to celebrate.

'We enthusiastically wait for this festival as this is the day when our whole family gathers at our ancestral house. We exchange gifts and spend the entire day together,' Mayank Sehgal, a bank executive based in Chandigarh, told IANS.