The month of August marks the start of the festive season in many Indian homes, which often leads to people buying new festive decor to spruce up their houses, welcome deities, and bring a touch of freshness. It is considered tradition to buy new decor such as torans and banderwals during the festive season as a sign of good luck and prosperity. While this keeps the economy flowing, in today’s age of non-biodegradable decor, we aren’t adorning our doors with fresh mango leaves but with plastic and polyester, which when submerged in water cause marine pollution and when sent to landfills cause soil pollution and contribute to a waste crisis.
But that isn’t the only way. Not only can we return to tradition and start using fresh greenery again, but there are several other ways to decorate our homes for the festive without harming our Mother Earth.
- Return to tradition- Use Natural Items
Using whatever trees and flowers grow in your local area and sewing them together in decor is a fun activity but we understand it can seem like too much work at the festive time, which is already filled with work. However, there are local farms and flower sellers from farms whom you can support, especially if they are selling native plant torans and banderwals. Your local gardener probably is your best bet for getting those locally growing flowers, reminding us of the power of community!
- Upcycled Festive Decor
If you are good at sewing you can do this yourself or you can look at brands like GiftGreen India which make festive decor like torans from old clothing. A striking example here would be Ganga Sutra Foundation by Kanpur Ploggers who take old deity clothing and turn it into festive use items like potlis and wall hangings, keeping the divine out of landfills and in our hearts and homes.
- The No-Buy Solution: Use Sarees and Puja Clothes
Now, this is a solution I can say I have implemented. Social media will also show you some amazing decor ideas using items commonly found in many Indian homes, though mine was only partially inspired by that. We used the extra pieces of red cloth kept for pujas to decorate the background of where we would place our deities and it looked beautiful, as you can see in the picture below.
You can also use whatever materials you’ve at home from old wall hangings to hay from children’s projects to fairy lights (which we also added) to clean puja sarees as I saw in one Instagram post! Just ensure it is sustainable and aligns with your family’s values and viola!
We could also swap with our neighbors, support local artists and sustainable brands, or even DIY our decor with thrifted or sustainable items or even newspaper and colors! The options are numerous, ensuring we can all do our part in accordance with our beliefs. Let me know how you decorate your home for the festive season! And if you are in the market for sustainable rakhi gifts for your eco-conscious sibling, Muses_Saga’s Going low waste planner helps them tailor their sustainability journey to their needs and resources and I have also written a few short stories in their recent climate-fiction anthology Prithvi, which is slowly being uploaded to their website for free online reading.