In western cultures, we may associate prayer beads to  Christianity and Middle Ages. In fact, their use is universal and pre-dates the Christian Era. Even today the religions of nearly two-thirds of the world’s population utilize some form of prayer beads:  Muslims, Buddhists and Christians. The use of prayer beads came from the early urge to count prayers. Probably, in the beginning, fingers or pebbles moved from one pile to another was the way to do it. Later on, a cord was some knots were tied was used. In fact, the ”konbolion” is a knotted rosary still employed nowadays in the Greek Orthodox Church. Also used until recently (S. XIX in Germany) was a  thong of leather with [...]