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.
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.
Boadicea's Chariot 
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