The festival of diwali is all about
making our premises as clean as we can and decorating it as beautifully
as we can. The main idea behind the custom of decorating the homes and
offices on diwali is to please and attract the Goddess of wealth,
Lakshmi ji. So the decoration of the entrance of a place, which is
called 'dwaar', is also no less important in this regard. The beautiful
door hangings that are also known as 'Bandanwaar' and 'Toran' have
special significance as the decorative accessories in diwali
festivities. These bandanwaars and torans are the first thing that
welcomes your guests as they step at your place. These door hangings not
only enhance the charm of the main entrance of your home but also give a
friendly welcome to those who drop in to wish you on diwali.
Bandanwaars And Torans
Floral Bandanwaars
These torans are made with colorful flowers. The flowers that are used
in making toran could be fresh or artificial. The bandanwaars made of
artificial flowers are of reusable nature while fresh flowers get dry in
few days.
Mirror Work Torans
The mirror work torans are the speciality of Rajasthani culture. These
door hangings are made on a piece of cloth and decorated by attaching
lovely mirror pieces to that cloth piece. The mirror pieces could be in
various shapes and sizes.
Embroidered Door Hangings
These torans are again made on small cloth pieces. The cloth pieces are
decorated with different color embroidery threads. Many attractive
shapes are embroidered on the toran like elephants, camels, 'kalash',
'shubh-labh', happy diwali, flowers and many more.
Dori Bandanwaars
Using the variety of threads, like wool and zari, makes these torans.
They are prepared by attaching many pieces of threads, called 'doris'
twisting together. When the doris are weaved together then some
decorative accessories are also attached to the toran to make it more
beautiful.