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Rosary Beads: Fashion Or Religion?
Author : Matthew McClifford
Submitted : 2011-11-28 18:41:40 Word Count : 870 Popularity: 0
Tags: Rosary Beads, Rosaries, Prayer beads, Catholic Rosaries, Rosary Beads UK, Rosary Necklace, Silver Rosary Beads
Rosary beads are worn and used by many different types of people for many different reasons. Rosaries were originally intended to aid prayer but have also sprung up recently as a popular fashion item, but what do they actually represent?
The history of rosary beads is a little uncertain although they probably stem from prayer beads which have been used in many differing religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, for millennia. The modern Catholic Christian rosary beads are a prayer aid which is thought to originate from the year 1214 when St Dominic was given the rosary by an apparition of the Virgin Mary.
Modern Catholic Christians use rosary beads to count out how many different 'Hail Mary' prayers they have done. The standard is to do a set of 10 (known as a decade) and repeat this five times. However it is also fairly common to have a 20 decade rosary or single decade rosary, which is often worn on the wrist.
Rosary beads are held in the hand during prayer and are not designed to be worn around the neck at all but this is a fashion which has become very popular recently. Many famous celebrities have been spotted sporting rosary beads around their neck. Most notably David Beckham on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine in 2004. This caused some criticism from the Catholic church with Father Allen Morris, secretary of the Catholic Church's department for Christian life and worship, remarking that whilst the rosary beads "look very nice...it is a great pity if they are only being used as a decoration and not for devotional purposes".
Despite this rosary beads remain a popular fashion item and have enjoyed a resurgence over the past year. They now come in a variety of shapes, sizes and materials and are sold in high street fashion outlets such as Topman and River Island. Although they are not always being used for the reasons originally intended it is surely a positive thing that people are wearing rosary beads, questioning them and enjoying them.
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