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A red string or thread worn on the wrist as protection.
Also known as: Red string bracelet, Kabbalah red string, Mauli, Martenitsa
A red thread tied round the wrist, recorded independently across Jewish, Hindu, Chinese, Slavic and Balkan traditions. The independence matters: this is not one custom that spread but several that resemble each other.
A red thread or string tied around the wrist, worn as protection against the evil eye or misfortune, recorded in Jewish, Hindu, Chinese, Slavic and Balkan traditions.
These are separate traditions with separate histories that happen to converge on a similar object, not one custom that spread. Treating them as a single practice erases the specific meanings each carries.
The convergence is real and the traditions are independent. Descriptions that merge them are inaccurate about all of them.
The Jewish practice associated with Rachel's tomb became widely visible from the 1990s through popularised Kabbalah, which is when the red string entered general Western awareness.
Widely visible from the 1990s
A single thin red cord tied in a loop around the wrist, knotted and with short ends left loose.