Rosaries in San Telmo

I am not catholic, but I have always had a fascination with the traditional ways of the largest and arguably most powerful church in the world. South America is a Catholic continent, and Argentina is no exception. With the recent selection of archbishop Jorge María Bergoglio as el Papá in Rome, catholic trinkets and souvenirs can be seen everywhere, especially in the touristy areas of Florida street and the Sunday San Telmo market. Pictures of the Pope with the argentine color of light blue behind him are screen-printed onto shirts, flags with his face fly above the newpaper stands, and in the old-money neighborhood of Recoleta, many houses fly the Vatican flag side-by-side the Argentine flag. 
As we meandered through the San Telmo antiques market on Sunday, a certain trinket caught my eye again and again: the shining, sparkly rosaries hanging form the sides of almost every booth. These gorgeous necklace-like strands of prayer-beads have always been a true fascination for me. I was brought up in a church as similar to Catholic as possible without actually being Catholic; we had communion every week, baptisms for babies, stain-glass windows, and even similar service language. Even though I am not Catholic, I have always used the Catholic rosary to pray; every country I have visited outside the US I have bought a rosary. And here in San Telmo, I had found the perfect place to buy a rosary from Argentina. They were all gorgeous and unique; some had colored beads with metal crucifixes, some had links of metal in between clear glass beads with painted crucifixes hanging down.  And I wanted all of them. I finally decided on one: a chain link strand with a metal crucifix and blue beads, gradually getting smaller towards the top. 

Sources:
1. http://buenosaires.for91days.com/2011/03/17/san-telmos-sunday-antiques-market/
2. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g312741-d314020-Reviews-San_Telmo_Antique_Market- Buenos_Aires_Capital_Federal_District.html
3. http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/03/catholicism-argentina