Red string
A red cord tied on the wrist or hung as a charm, with different meanings in Jewish, Hindu and Chinese custom.
Also: red thread, Kabbalah bracelet, kalava, mauli, red thread of fate
Red thread is used as a charm in several unrelated traditions. In Jewish folk custom, a red thread is wound around the tomb of Rachel near Bethlehem and then worn on the wrist, as protection against the evil eye; this was spread widely in the 1990s by the Kabbalah Centre, which some other Jewish groups criticise. In Hindu practice a red or saffron thread called kalava or mauli is tied on the wrist by a priest at a puja. In East Asia the red thread of fate is a legend in China and Japan, in which an unseen cord links people destined to meet. Small red strings also appear in Korean, Turkish and Slavic folk custom.