A prayer belt from the collection of the museum was made at the beginning of the 20th century. By this time machine weaving had replaced handmade items, many products were made on special weaving machines. This belt is also machine made. It was woven like a traditional wide men’s girdle with tassels.

This type of girdle was made as a wide strip of fabric. Unlike a belt, it had no buckle, and its free ends could be tied in a knot.

This belt has a woven prayer,

Since ancient times, people have perceived such accessories as special amulets. They believed that wearing items that had been tied had a healing power. In her articles on the history of fairy tales and magic in Russia, a folklorist Elena Eleonskaya described this worldview in detail:

Thus, since ancient times, tied belts, ribbons and threads have promised well-being and health to their owner. In ancient times people preferred to depict special geometric patterns signifying the elements of nature on their amulets. But over time there appeared a belief that a prayer belt, like a pectoral cross, would certainly protect a person from evil spirits.

At the same time, the Christian church has always been against perceiving pectoral crosses or prayer texts as magical amulets. Matthew Vlastar in the 14th century called such practices to be a kind of sorcery,