Perhaps I have just been out of the fashion scene for too long, but lately there has been a resurgence of the rosary -- as fashion jewelry!! This was a small trend back in 2005, but it never quite made it to the main stream. I have found myself wondering why that trend never really caught on, and if it will this time around. My guess is that it will not become a "must-have-item" on Style.com anytime soon.I needed a better grasp on this trend in order to come to my hypothesis, so while I was vacationing in uber-Catholic Spain, I bought myself a real rosary from Montserrat. The rosary is long, black and gold painted, complete with a mutilated, dying Jesus pendant dangling at the bottom. Satisfied with my purchase, I decided to give it a test drive in Spain and see how people reacted.
I passed a nun on Las Ramblas and she gave me a nasty, hope-you-burn-in-hell look on her face. She was the only one in Spain who even noticed my new bling! So I gave it a test drive in the states. I got a few compliments, mostly from other fashionable ladies who thought it was cool, but I did get a lot of people asking me questions. I got the "Are you wearing that to stay closer to Jesus?" question, as well as the "Are you Catholic or Evangelical?" question (which was stupid because only Catholics use rosaries, duh).
Most of the time, I just got some dirty looks or confused looks from random observers but even as an Atheist, it made me uncomfortable...like I was crossing some kind of hidden line or something and it was the equivalent of burning the American flag. Don't worry though, I got over that feeling quite quickly and now I wear just because I know it pisses people off (and because it makes totally fashion-forward!).
So to conclude, I really don't think we will be seeing cheap rosaries at Forever 21 anytime soon because it makes people, even Atheists, uncomfortable to wear them. While they are beautiful and can make any outfit daring, I doubt people enjoy answering questions all day long about their bling bling!
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4 comments:
Yay, your RSS feed works now! :)
As for Jesus bling... Actually it's kinda "pretty" in its way. But yeah, I'd totally feel fraudulent/awkward wearing it.
Hard to believe you could arrive at adulthood so uninformed. Have you never known even one Catholic? Rosaries are considered "sacramentals." They are holy objects used for prayer. Never used as jewelry. By wearing a rosary around your neck you are insulting every Catholic you encounter. Most non-Catholics would notice such a practice with disdain as well.
Ummm... I think that's the point genius.
Anglicans have used prayer beads for hundreds of years too, and there is an official 'Protestant Rosary Prayer' as well, that replaces all the "Hail Mary" stuff with something about Jesus, because "Hail Mary" makes Evangelicals uncomfortable. There are protestants who pray the (modified) Rosary.
So you're wrong about it being a stupid question. Just so you know...
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