Weaving rosaries: purpose of rosaries, technique, necessary materials and tools, step-by-step instructions and expert advice

What is a rosary?

Rosaries are ribbons or dense threads closed in a circle with knots tied on them, various beads, or decorated with other decorative or ecclesiastical elements. Used in various religions, for example, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism. The name itself comes from the word “count” (“honor”), that is, to make some kind of calculation. Most often they are a dense cord on which beads are strung and a cross is attached.

What are they for?

Let's figure out why Orthodox rosaries are needed. First of all, it should be noted that in any religion a common practice is prayer, where some texts should be recited several times in a row, which in turn requires some order of counting.

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This is precisely the function that religious beads perform, that is, it is quite easy to track the number of prayers spoken simply by fingering the attribute in your hands. In principle, from a religious point of view, this is the only purpose of such an item.

Origin story

The most ancient mentions of rosaries go back to the 2nd millennium. India is considered the birthplace of origin. In Christianity, it is very difficult to find out the specific date of their appearance. Not a single church book of early times, especially the Bible, contains any words about rosaries. Neither what they are nor what they were used for at that time. From this we can make a presumptive conclusion that in early Christianity there was no such attribute at all.

The appearance of rosaries in Christianity is associated with Anthony of Egypt and Pachomius the Great. Their students were not always educated; many could not even write or read properly. But they studied church work. In order for Pachomius' students to remember the prayer (Address to Jesus), he forced his students to repeat these lines a certain number of times every day. But since his students thought poorly, they were given a rope. After each time the prayer was read, the students tied one knot in their rope.

In addition to this version, there are also thoughts that the appearance of the rosary is associated with Basil the Great, who lived in Caesarea. Before he passed away, he left a will in which he mentioned the sacred rope, the meaning and significance of which must be respected.

Benefits of use

Doctors confirm that nerve endings connected to the brain are concentrated at the ends of a person’s fingers. For example, in order to develop a child’s speech, it is recommended to offer them activities related to fine motor skills. The Chinese knew about this in ancient times. During stressful situations, they rolled walnuts in their fingers.

This is exactly the principle on which rosary beads work. When a person is nervous or trying to concentrate on something very important, it is useful to finger the beads with all fingers. This simple action will help improve your emotional and mental state.

According to Japanese doctors, fingering smooth beads with your thumb and forefinger can help you cope with headaches and respiratory diseases. By irritating the nerve endings on the middle finger, a person gets rid of depression. To improve the functioning of internal organs, it is necessary to use the entire palm.

Well, and, of course, rosaries are a religious attribute, with the help of which prayers or mantras are counted. The text should be said as many times as there are beads in the rosary. It is recommended to carry out the process in a secluded place so that no one interferes with concentration.

Purpose of the rosary

The main purpose is connected with the church, since the rosary is a church attribute. This meaning lies in the fact that they serve to count the prayers read. In order not to get confused during the service or ordinary daily prayer, rosaries were and are used. The number of beads or knots on them is the required number of prayers to read. Even Basil the Great pointed out that the rosary serves to pray to God himself. The monks have an unusual name - “spiritual sword”. The main prayer is the Jesus Prayer.

How to use Orthodox rosary

First of all, lay people need to receive the blessing of their confessor, since wearing a rosary is a monastic destiny. After all, not every person is guided by true humility and repentance, and not by pride. In addition, you need to know how to wear the rosary and how to pray with it.

It is necessary to hide them from prying eyes, and under no circumstances twist them, play with them, or use them as an accessory.

Peculiarities

The rosary has many interesting and important features that reflect some parts of the historical and religious part of this church attribute. Among the main features are:

1. An object that will be located at the very end of the rosary. This item will reflect the canons of religion. In Orthodoxy, a tassel and a small cross will be attached to the end. In Catholicism it will only be a cross. In Buddhism, these are also tassels alternating in a certain order with beads. In Islam, there is a stone at the end of the rosary. And among the Old Believers, on their rosary you can see a triangle, which symbolizes the Holy Trinity.
2. Symbols. If you know the purpose of each symbol, you can better understand the essence of religion. In Christianity it is the mystical garden of the Mother of God, in Buddhism it is the wheel of Samsara, in Hinduism it is the cyclical nature of time.
3. Number of beads. In Buddhism this number will reach 108, since there were 108 Brahmins. In Christianity there will be from 10 to 160 beads. In Hinduism there are 32, 64 or 108. In Islam, the number of beads will be 99: they are divided into links, a total of 3 links of 33 beads each.

The meaning of rosaries for Orthodox Christians

Modern Orthodox Christians serve rosaries in the same way as they served their spiritual ancestors:

• A cord with beads will help you turn to God at any time. A reminder of continuous prayer with a sequence of words and actions.
• Maintaining attention and concentration. The tactile sensation of the beads helps the believer maintain the direction of the text.
• The rhythmic fingering of the rosary sets a certain pace and does not allow one to deviate from the prayer.
• Carrying a rosary with you allows you to turn to God anywhere.
• By the shape and number of beads, one can determine the degree of the owner’s affiliation with the faith and his hierarchical level.
• Blessed rosaries are endowed with the ability to heal diseases.
• The configuration of the rosary is a circle, which symbolizes infinity and, with due diligence, the opportunity to touch eternal spiritual life.

For a true believer, the correct use of rosaries with the reading of prayers, if it is impossible to visit the temple, replaces church services.

Design

You need to know the design in order to properly learn how to weave rosaries. In this matter, three main components can be distinguished.

1. A thread, knot or cord serves as the basis for the entire product. Beads and other attributes are strung on a thread, and knots are also tied. Those who adhere to Tantric Buddhism generally create a thread from 5 different colors at once (blue, white, red, green, yellow), these colors represent five different elements (fire, water, space, air and earth).
2. Various separating elements. This is most often used to separate a certain number of beads from each other.
3. Pendants. These include religious crosses, pebbles and tassels. You can also use larger beads as pendants. Or beads that differ in color from the rest.

Necessary materials

In order to weave a rosary with your own hands, you need to prepare all the materials necessary for this.

1. A thread. It is best to use a thick thread or cord that will not break. Sometimes they even use elastic bands, thanks to which the product can stretch.
2. Beads. It’s worth looking at them in more detail, because they can be made from a variety of materials. Rosaries are made from the following types of beads: bread, glass, ebonite, polymer clay, wood. If weaving rosaries is new to you, then it is better to use the most ordinary beads. It is necessary to choose a color and size.
3. Attributes: crosses, pebbles, tassels.
4. Pins – These will help when stringing beads onto your base.
5. Scissors.

Differences in Christian and Muslim rosaries

Muslim rosary. The main feature of Christian rosaries is the presence of a cross at the ends of the threads.
Therefore, it is quite easy to distinguish Orthodox rosaries from Muslim ones. In addition, there are 11 beads in a Muslim rosary link, according to the writings of the Prophet Muhammad. Accordingly, the total number of beads can range from 11 to 99 pieces, according to the number of names of Allah.

If Orthodox rosaries are most often made of wood, then Muslim products are made of glass and semi-precious stones. They are usually strung on a silk thread. Often prayer beads for Muslims look like a work of art and amaze with their luxury. The junction of the thread is decorated with a brush, a crescent or a family talisman.

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Step-by-step instruction

How is Orthodox rosary weaving done? For production you will need:

• stone beads;
• metal beads;
• chain;
• cross;
• dense thread;
• separators (aka caps for beads);
• pins;
• water;
• scissors.

If desired, you can also use glue. It will take you from one to two hours to create such rosaries. Next you need to follow the instructions provided:

1. Take exactly 33 beads. This number is used in Christianity, as it is associated with the life span of Christ on Earth. You can take another quantity, but it must be a multiple of twelve or ten. You use 30 beads mainly in a circle, and the remaining three to create the so-called “tail”, on which you also place a cross.
2. Since the beads are made of such a difficult material as stone, you need to lower them into a bowl of water, and then use an awl to slightly widen the holes in them. Remove all sharp corners. It is desirable that these holes for all beads be equal in size.
3. The stage of assembling the rosary. Take a thick thread and place one metal bead on it. Then, after the bead, place a chain with a cross on it.
4. Thick thread needs to be threaded into a metal bead. Thus, you should get a loop, and the cross will be a separate element attached to the rosary. Tie a strong knot. You can pour glue on it to make the product stronger and not fall apart. Cut off any excess.
5. Weaving a rosary requires attention and concentration, so you need to carefully monitor the number of beads used. Next you just need to string the stone beads. They can be separated using separators of 11 beads, for example. Here, everyone’s personal desire is more important. The end result can be secured with bead caps. Also secure everything with glue.
6. The beads must have room to move freely along the cord or thread. To do this, leave 1-2 cm between each wooden bead.
7. All threaded beads need to be secured again by tying a knot, then put on another metal bead. An important point follows - the thread is threaded into the tube, after which the entire product is again secured with a knot.
8. The rosary has already acquired its final form. You just need to tie a couple more strong knots. Your Orthodox rosary is ready. Weaving did not turn out to be difficult, but it did require time and attention.

How to pray the rosary correctly

There are no strict rules or special prayers using rosaries. Each layman himself determines the order of prayer, the main thing is that the prayer comes from the heart and soul with all sincerity. If the mind of a lay person is occupied by spiritual anxiety for a loved one, prayers for the health, peace or health of the sick person will help.

However, there is a generally accepted church practice that guides the correct combination of prayer and rosary.

Each bead on a religious attribute symbolizes a prayer for Jesus Christ. Holding the first bead with his thumb and forefinger, the parishioner reads the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” or the prayer to the Mother of God: “Most Holy Theotokos, save us.”

Having reached the dividing ball, the layman says “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice” or “It is worthy to eat”, the Creed or the Fiftieth Psalm. You can add a prayer to the Guardian Angel, your saint, and do not forget to make the sign of the cross.

At the end of the entire thread of the rosary, the main prayer of all Christianity, “Our Father,” is read.

Repeated prayer helps to delve deeper into the meaning and provides the opportunity to contact the Lord.

In order not to be distracted from reading the prayer, the believer needs to take a comfortable position of the body and focus attention. Only with complete dedication to prayer can one receive joy and peace from closeness with the Lord.

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Basic mistakes

Weaving rosaries, although it seems simple, is also accompanied by many mistakes. Especially for beginners.

1. Some wear a rosary bracelet on their arm. How to weave these correctly? It's simple. Weaving occurs as with ordinary rosaries, but many do not take into account the fact that difficulties may arise when putting such a bracelet on a hand. If you use regular thread, it will not stretch. Many people make the mistake that when making a bracelet in the form of a rosary, beginners use a regular thread or cord. In this case, you need a thick elastic band. This way you will get a nice rosary bracelet for your hand. How to weave? This question will no longer seem so scary.
2. Using too bright colors. We must not forget that rosary beads are a church and religious attribute. It is better to approach the making of rosaries intelligently, without using too bright color combinations.
3. The cross and tassel must correspond to the size of the future rosary. If you take them too large, the rosary will be bulky and sloppy.
4. Many beginners buy untreated stone beads. This is a mistake, since it will be quite difficult to bring them to the proper form on your own.

Where should Orthodox rosaries be kept?

• In the Orthodox faith, publicly displaying one's prayer beads is considered unacceptable behavior for a true believer. Therefore, it is advisable to store this religious item in the place where the Bible or prayer book is located. If you need to take the rosary with you, you need to put it in your pocket or wear it around your neck under your clothes.
• It is also allowed to carry rosaries in a special bag, which is taken out when necessary to perform daily prayer. But using a rosary as a beauty accessory or hanging it in a car is prohibited for a believer.

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Making Tips

After you have learned about the main mistakes when weaving rosaries, you should familiarize yourself with important tips. Some of them are presented below.

1. If you decide to use 4-strand rosary weaving, then you should choose small beads so that the final version does not look huge. The optimal size would be 5-6 millimeters.
2. Some people prefer to weave a cross from rosary threads with their own hands. To do this, professionals advise using 4 silk ribbons, each 1 m long. The type of weaving does not matter.
3. If you want to make a rosary from a material such as plexiglass, then craftsmen advise buying it whole at various construction markets. There the material is cheaper, and there is enough of it for several products at once.
4. Most often, beginners make Orthodox rosaries with their own hands. Weaving them from beads is not so difficult, since the amount of symbolism is much less than in the rosary of other religions. Here, beginners are advised to adhere to the rule: the simpler, the better. Making rosaries from complex materials takes much more effort, time and material resources than weaving the most ordinary Orthodox rosary, for example, from wooden beads.

Number of beads on Orthodox rosary

Modern rosary beads for Orthodox Christians are a closed chain of beads, most often strung on a woolen thread. How many should there be? The quantity varies, from ten to one hundred, or they contain 33 peas, according to the number of earthly years of the Savior.

Every ten beads serve as a reminder of the commandments of Christ and are separated by balls of different texture or size. This allows you to completely immerse yourself in prayer without getting lost in counting. The rosary is crowned with an Orthodox cross with the image of Christ, which reminds of humility and the call to perform spiritual deeds for good. Sometimes under the cross of Christ there is a thread tassel, which priests use to sprinkle holy water.

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Price

Making rosaries is a fairly inexpensive activity in material terms. Of course, it all depends on the materials chosen. If the price of ordinary wooden beads ranges from 50-100 rubles, depending on the quantity, the price of a plexiglass rosary will be much higher. The plexiglass itself in a hardware store will cost at least 500 rubles, not counting consumables such as tapes, threads and other paraphernalia.

Weaving rosaries from soutache will cost more than from ordinary wooden beads. Soutache is used instead of thread, and its cost will be about 60 rubles per 20 meters. But this does not count the beads that you will also use.

The rosary is a simple object in appearance, but has its own symbolic meaning.

In Orthodoxy, rosary beads are of greatest importance to monks, as they are given to them during tonsure along with the monastic vestments. They are the so-called “spiritual sword”, since they are always with the monk who performs incessant prayer.

Eternal prayer is symbolized by the closure of the rosary. The tassel, attached at the place of tying in a circle of two ends, is called a “voskril” and is reminiscent of the tassel on the clothes of Jesus Christ.

Just as a woman who was once bleeding with faith touched the edge of the Savior’s robe and was healed, so a praying Christian touches in spirit the edge of His grace and receives help.

Reviews from masters

It is very easy to understand many of the nuances in performing any job. You just need to carefully read the reviews of professional masters or similar beginners. This way you can avoid many errors. Judging by the reviews, weaving rosaries is a calming activity, and it takes relatively little money. After people try to weave rosaries from soutache, they subsequently use only it, since it is very durable and comfortable. Some people use wooden beads as their first experience in weaving rosaries. They say it turns out beautifully and is easy to use.