More News of the Weird

A few more of the truly odd modern rosaries I've seen for sale on eBay. This batch is rosaries made of various sorts of glass or plastic beads, but none of them the sort of thing you would expect a rosary-maker to use.

Ladybugs


A bracelet of ten beads, with a pendant cross, is a fairly common modern form of rosary. Some are obviously rosaries; others, like this one, are disguised. I've been tempted to make one of these for a co-worker who's an avid gardener :)

Black dice


I have no idea what prompted this. A wish for luck in gambling? A parody? Or just an instance of having fun with beads?

Sports beads


The seller of this one on eBay had one made entirely of baseballs, one of soccer balls, one of basketballs and one of footballs -- this one seems to be made of the leftovers. These were presented as appropriate for encouraging children, especially boys, to say the rosary. This also gives a whole new potential meaning to the term "Hail Mary pass!"

Cat rosary


Fifty cat-face beads, separated by little "angels" as markers. The winged cat instead of a cross kind of puts this one over the top -- I don't expect it's meant seriously as a rosary to pray with, rather more like a piece of art. Still, there are a lot of people who buy "collectible" rosaries.

Perhaps "collectible rosaries" are allowed to become as trendy and impractical as other collectibles -- thimbles, for instance: many so-called "collectible thimbles" are delightful little pieces of miniature art, but no one would ever think of putting them on a finger or sewing with them.