Little Things

Do you have those little things? The little things that you love and take whereever you go? I have a couple, and my favourite is my “tespih”. I think the word originated from Persian.  It’s the “praying chain” (?) , might not be the exact word in English.

It was not in use in the early stages of Islam.  I guess it started as a Persian/Turkish Sofi practice. The common one has 99 pcs in three parts. 33×3=99.

But the one in Turkish tradition as you see the pic in my hand, has 33 pcs and is not for praying. 🙂 It’s for playing. More like that stress balls.

The 33 pcs one has another meaning too. At the start of the 20th century, in Istanbul, it was used by “Külhanbeyi”s. It’s hard to define. A bully in a sense but with a code. They used to use large 33 pcs tespihs made of amber.

So in most of the cases (not mine 🙂 ) the 33 pcs tespih is considered a macho accesory.

My Tespih
Tespih

Mine is made of a speacial black mine which found at the east of Turkey with silver carvings on it. The tassel is also silver.

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Author: Levent

Errrm, ummm, well. Darn!

31 thoughts on “Little Things”

  1. This is rather alien to my culture Levent.
    The thought of a crowd of bully-boys stomping through the streets of Istanbul swinging heavy duty rosary beads instead of bicycle chains, is mind-boggling.

    But interesting. 😀

  2. I wore a St Christopher medallion, the patron Saint of Travelers for many years. Perhaps, because of the increased dangers of flying since 9/11, I should invest in another one. Every little helps as they say.

  4. I have a necklace with a garnet (my birth stone), an ankh that I got in Egypt and a double axe that I got in Greece, I’m still waiting to put the Jade bead that I got in China on the chain – I never take the necklace off.

  8. I corrected your code for you, Levent! Hope you don’t mind.

    OK, a single guy prowling the streets beating up old ladies with a chunky rosary. Is that better? 🙂

  10. Lovely, Levent.

    I have silver ‘worry beads’ which I bought in Athens and a pretty antique amber set (also from Athens), given to me by a friend. I used to play with them, but not these days. Perhaps I don’t worry as much … 🙂

  18. Levent, hello. In my very English youth, upper lips were very stiff and anything vaguely ornamental would have been the cause of mirth or worse! But each to his own…..

  19. Hello Janus,

    I understand. 🙂

    Now, see the traditional outfit of “efe”s of my region. They are usually outlaws, and was the backbone of the independence war. Note the hat 🙂

  21. Levent (and others)

    I no longer try to remember html code

    We all have a ‘draft facility’ on our Dashboard, write blog post (draft option)

    Write your comment as a blog, switch the view from ‘Visual’ to ‘HTML’ , copy the code and there you have it. You can use this facility to post a comment not just here but anywhere!

  23. As I once overheard at Headingley Cricket Ground:

    “Ayoop, luv. Are yer a fella or wha’?”

  29. Bravo, you may have fun reading FAQs -> Pictures, Galleries and Sizing from the menu bar – or click here – which may help you with images in posts, rather than in comments, which you have already mastered. 🙂

  30. Bravo, welcome! No comment from Paul here on your Cyprus comment. I’m surprised he hasn’t confirmed it. 😉

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