Cotton garland is commonly used in festivals for decorating the deities. This is a simple, hand made craft that can be used for decoration. Unlike some artificial garlands that are available the cotton garland is eco-friendly so were many of the traditional methods of decoration that were followed (and that are being followed ) - like the rangoli with rice flour.
Tradition has it that a garland of 25 cotton spheres for the festivals Varalakshmi Puja, Navaratri and Tulasi Pooja with kumkum mixed in water . For Ganesh Festival, festivals called Naga Chaturthi and Panchami it is with 21 nos with turmeric paste. So the garland used in the first case has alternate cotton ball and a cotton strand red in colour while the latter has cotton strands yellow in colour due to the turmeric paste. ( I write what I follow or practice). Tradition and customs can vary even among families.
The three images below give an idea of how this simple cotton garland (panju malai in Tamil it is also called vastra or vastram ) is made for some festivals listed above. First the seeds are removed from the cotton purchased from the market. The cotton is then made into a long (near! ) cylinder in shape . This is held at the top and gently pulled till it nearly comes apart. Stop at the stage and using the fingers roll the area of reduced diameter gently to get two small spheres of cotton with a thin but strong strand. When this process is repeated the result is alternate spheres of cotton as shown in the third image. Kumkum or turmeric powder is applied between the spheres.
Now that the mala or garland is ready, how to we fix it. The two ends of the garland are stretched so that we get thin, strong cotton strands at both ends. To these affix two pieces of cotton dipped in turmeric powder or kumkum mixed in water. They become wet and so it is easy to stick the cotton garland on to them as also on the photo or deity. We can also have two or three such cotton garland intertwined to form a simple yet more beautiful garland. In case you would like to see how this is made please view the relevant video on my YouTube Channel Rangolisansdots.
While rolling the cotton vibuthi or sacred ash is used to make rolling easy.
What is shown above is a traditional way of making a cotton garland for puja. It is natural, that we try to innovate, try something different and the result is the variation of cotton garland shown below. Follow the method shown above to get the garland as shown in the first photo. Using a pair of scissors cut the garland so that we get three pairs of cotton spheres as shown in the second image. Place the first pair of spheres on the floor or table. Apply a drop of adhesive and place the second pair on top of the first ( at right angles ). Now place the third pair of cotton spheres on the second after applying adhesive at an angle so that we get a shape similar to a six petal flower. Allow the three pairs of cotton spheres to stick well. Now on a golden or silver coloured lace apply adhesive and place the six petal cotton flower ! one by one as shown in the fourth image. We can use any other material suitable for forming this garland. This garland can be further decorated with colourful chamkis as shown. They can be of the same colour, or different colours or alternate flowers may have same colours, the choice is ours according to our imagination. This variety of cotton garland can be used for regular decoration in addition to special occasions or puja while the former type of cotton garland is used only for puja.
You may also be interested in Varalakshmi Vratham or Ganesh Festival