Worry Beads - Komboloi & Begleri - Tons Of New Worrybeads!!!

Worry beads first appeared in India, invented to help count prayers. They consisted of a series of fruit pits, punctured and stringed on a piece of string. By the time fruit pits were replaced by amber, ivory, coral, semiprecious stones, or other precise stones and noble metals. Then a tassel was added and a “papas” (the bead that marks the beginning and end of its cycle). They embellished them in various ways and thus created a work of art. A collectable jewel , that soon became a symbol of wealth, prestige, power and culture. they were used by Maharajahs, Sultans, Pashas, Emirs and generally those having and keeping. They were something between jewel and sceptre.

The Greek word for worry beads is kompoloi (Greek: êïìðïëüé), often spelled koboloi, komboloi, or coboloi and was first introduced by the Turks. From the Turks it became popular, as an accessory at the hands of the dignitaries and sovereigns as symbol of force, wealth and power. Soon kompolois became popular among the common people as means for meditation and companion in lounging and to calm the pain.

Because kompoloi is a accessory able to cover various human needs, it passed to the hands of antisocial elements. For them it became symbol of independence, freedom and reactive and rough behaviour. The above, in addition to the intensification of the production and the rhythms of life after the second World War, lead to the decay of kompoloi, since the new conditions and ideologies created societies of people struggling to success and survive. During that period worry beads were only popular among religious people. They used names such as Deitiko Stefani tis Panagias (Greek: äåçôéêü óôåöÜíé ôçò ÐáíáãéÜò), meaning "Praying Crown of Virgin Mary" or paterimi (Greek: ðáôåñÞìé). However the most common name for the religious worry beads is worry knots or komposkini (Greek: êïìðïóêïßíé), meaning a rope with knots, because the religious persons in each knot say a prayer. The Greek word for worry beads: kompo~loi (Greek: êïìðï~ëüé) also derived from this expression: "in each knot he says" which in Greek language is translated to "se kathe kompo leo" "Greek: óå êÜèå êüìðï ëÝù".

When tourism development in Greece occurred, kompoloi, being an important element of Greek culture and tradition, became again popular but this time as a souvenir sold to tourists. During this period kompoloi was a just kitschy festoon usually made of plastics, metals, or machine made silver platted beads and had nothing to do with the jewel of superior aesthetics and a symbol of wealth, power, freedom and prestige that used to be in the past.

In our age, when rhythms of life are exhausting and stress, shopping, drinks, smoking, depression and antidepressant drugs have become a matter of everyday life, kompoloi makes a dynamic come-back and offers many solutions to the "dead ends" of contemporary life. Because kompoloi is:

- a way of giving up bad habits, such as smoking, nervousness or comfort eating, or biting our nails;
- a jewel, when it is strung with valuable beads made of amber, semi-precious stones or precious metals;
- a remedy, when it is made of semiprecious stones, which radiate a health-enhancing energy;
- a piece of art, when it is designed with high standards of aesthetics;
- a collector’s item, as it can be rare, beautiful, and precious;
- a symbol of strength, power, when it is artistic and precious;
- an amulet, when it contains symbols of our beliefs and good luck;
- a psychotherapist, because the massage to our fingers can relax our neural system;
- a home decorative for our the furniture, table and the walls;
- a joy for our senses, with its purling beads, silken touch, vibrant colours, and the magical scent of amber and aromatic wood;
- our personal trainer, because we can use it to train our fingers' skills.
- a heirloom, redolent of our forebears’ lives and the tales they told, and bearing the story of our own lives forward to generations to come;
- a medium between man and God, because it can be used as a rosary to count prayers
- a symbol of wealth; it points out that we have plenty of free time;
- a reflection of our personality, as it reflects our ego, in the same way as our car or our house does

This is why we are not exaggerating if we say "show me your worry beads and I’ll show you who you are". Indeed, kompoloi is not just a fashion fad: it is a necessity! It is the jewel of men and the symbol of independency for women. Instead of smoking cigarettes one after the other, or yelling out angry vocals, lets keep or fingers busy with our favourite worry beads. Because of the ability of kompoloi to change shape form, content and role depending on its holder, everyone can buy or design and make the kompoloi that corresponds to his/her personality. Choices include the size, colour, number of beads, shield, tassel and priest head (papas). In order for a kompoloi to be functional as a toy, it should consist of an odd number of beads, with a sum always equal to a modulus of four, plus one. So functional kompolois are only those with (4x4)+1=17, or (5x4)+1=21 etc beads.

The rope of the kompoloi that is not covered by beads is only functional when it has length, equal to the width of the holder's palm. Muslim string of beads (sibhah) always have 33 beads, divided by spacer discs into 3 sections of 11 beads. The beads are tightened as this worry beads are only designed to count prayers and not for joy.

Open-style worry beads (Mpegleri, or Begleri)

In the decade of 1930, outcasts invented something similar to the kompoloi. Open-style worry beads consisted of a festoon of 16 beads. The rope were the beads were hold, was far bigger than the total length of the beads. They named it "Mpegleri" (Greek: ÌðåãëÝñé) and this name derived from the verb mpeglerizo (Greek: ìðåãëåñßæù) that means "I roll the dices". The teenagers of the 1990's used to hold mpegleris made of only two beads. The two edges of the rope were not tied up together, so they didn't shape a festoon. Nowadays mpegleris are designed with as many beads as desired and some times we add a tassel in each edge of the rope. Usually beads are made of semiprecious stones to take advantage of their positive energy.