Fasting on religion festivals

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Friends today 17th November 2010, is our another function, called ‘Tulsi Vivaha’; meaning ‘Wedding of Holy Basil’. SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsi_Vivah Tulsi vivaha is celebrated on the day of Karthik Ekadashi. Kartik is one of our Hindu months, this month is considered holy. Many give up eating non-veg food this month, visit temples daily, after bathing early morning. On this day Tulsi is married to Saaligram. Tulsi Vivaha is the ceremonial marriage of the Tulsi plant (holy basil) to the Hindu god Vishnu or his avatar Krishna. This ceremony can be performed any time between Prabodhini Ekadashi - the eleventh lunar day of the bright fortnight of the Hindu month Kartik to the full moon of the month (Kartik Poornima) but usually it is performed on the eleventh or the twelfth lunar day. The day varies from region to region. The Tulsi wedding signifies the end of the monsoon and the beginning of the Hindu wedding season. The Tulsi plant is considered as a most sacred plant by the Hindus as it is regarded to be an incarnation of Mahalaxmi who was born as Vrinda. The very name Tulsi, which which cannot be compared, the "incomparable one", has spiritually uplifting qualities. Tulsi has been found to possess extraordinary powers of healing!!!!! To celebrate this, my wife and my daughter in law are fasting since this morning. In our courtyard this symbolical marriage will be performed at about 8pm, between a Basil plant, which represents Goddess Tulsi and a stone (we call it Saaligram Sila), this represents the Hindu god Vishnu or his avatar Krishna. A platform has been constructed using flowers and sugar-cane plant with its leaves intact. The price of sugarcane plant, fruits like banana, apples and flowers have gone up by about 10 times. They will take fruit only at late night. Fasting is good for our health; we have many such functions in which we observe fasting. By attaching a religious reason, many observe fasting, at least in the name of religion. [i][b]Do you observe fasting on some religious festivals? Any plant that you treat as sacred? Does the cost of things needed in a festival go high at your place too? Comment on this story, please keep responses clean.[/b][/i] Professor