Prayer beads

Prayer beads are a form of beadwork used to count the repetitions of prayers, chants, or mantras by members of various religions such as Christian denominations (such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Eastern Orthodox Churches), Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Umbanda, Sikhism, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam. Prayer beads may also be used by some Sephardi or Mizrahi Jews. Common forms of beaded devotion include the mequteria in Oriental Orthodox Christianity, the chotki or komposkini or prayer rope in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the Wreath of Christ in Lutheran Christianity, the Dominican rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Roman Catholic Christianity, the japamala in Buddhism and Hinduism, the Jaap Sahib in Sikhism and the misbaha in Islam.

Beads are among the earliest human ornaments and ostrich eggshell beads in Africa date to 10,000 BC. Over the centuries various cultures have made beads from a variety of material from stone and shells to clay. First instance of counting strings, in form of a primitive abacus, can be traced back to Sumerian era, which was called "gu-dili-a(–e3), which occurs in Let. 3.3.17 (Letter of Lugal-ibila to Lugal-nisag) in a broken context, translating it as ‘to string together on a single thread’", a fixed bead abacus might also have been used passage from In-nin-ša3-gur4-ra (ex. 9) describes strings with beads as hanging down similar to Assyrian counting string abacus that was called "mahisatu" functioned similar to tally sticks.

The English word bead descends from the Old English noun bede 'prayer'. The oldest image of a string of beads in a religious context and resembling a string of prayer beads is found on the fresco of the "Adorants" (or "Worshipers") at the Xeste 3 building of the prehistoric settlement of Akrotiri, Santorini (Thera), Greece (Wall Paintings of Thera), dating from the 17th century BC (c. 1613 BC). It was used in Hindu prayers and meditation in India.^{[citation needed]} Buddhism later on adopted this custom.^{[citation needed]} As the Ancient Hindus migrated towards West Asia,^[when?] this practice was carried to many parts of the world and became a part of different religions. The statue of a Hindu holy man with beads dates to the third century BC.

The number of beads varies by religion or use. Islamic prayer beads, called Misbaha or Tasbih, usually have 100 beads (99 +1 = 100 beads in total or 33 beads read thrice and +1). Buddhists and Hindus use the Japa Mala, which usually has 108 beads, or 27 which are counted four times. Baháʼí prayer beads consist of either 95 beads or 19 beads, which are strung with the addition of five beads below. The Sikh Mala also has 108 beads.

The oldest set of prayer beads in Western Christianity, the Pater Noster cord, traditionally contains 150 beads for the 150 Psalms in the Bible, though Pater Noster cords of 50 beads have been made that are prayed through thrice. Roman Catholics came to use the Rosary (Latin "rosarium", meaning "rose garden") with 59 beads. The Oriental Orthodox mequteria, chiefly used by Coptic Orthodox Christians and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, contains 41 beads for praying the Kyrie Eleison said during the 41 metanoias (prostrations) in each of the Christian seven fixed prayer times (cf. Agpeya breviary). Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholic Christians use a knotted prayer rope called either a komboskini or chotki, with 100 knots, although prayer ropes with 50 or 33 knots can also be used. The Lutheran Wreath of Christ contains 18 beads. In the 1980s Rev. Lynn Bauman from the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America introduced Anglican prayer beads with 33 beads.

The Greek "komboloi" (which are worry beads and have no religious purpose) has an odd number of beads—usually one more than a multiple of four, e.g. (4×4)+1, (5×4)+1.

Since the beads are fingered in an automatic manner, they allow the user to keep track of how many prayers have been said with a minimal amount of conscious effort, which in turn allows greater attention to the prayer itself.

Although the use of prayer beads grew within other religions, it did not enter Judaism, perhaps because of its association with those religions, and to date Judaism does not normally use prayer beads. Although not used as counting device, many Jews touch the knots on the tzitzits attached to their tallit (prayer shawl) at specific points in their prayers. However, some individual Jews use prayer beads, either out of familiarity (such as in the case of converts), or because they simply like to. So long as the beads have and will not be used in prayers for a contradictory religion, such as Christianity, and do not bear symbols of such a religion, they are understood as acceptable to use. These may be an existing strand of plain beads, such as mala beads, but one design specific to Judaism has 19 beads: 6 and 13, divided by a separator, to symbolize the 613 mitzvot.