Kandi bracelet

A kandi bracelet is a type of bracelet made out of beads, often pony beads, and is a popular type of attire in rave culture, particularly kandi culture. Kandi bracelets are traditionally handcrafted, and some view store-bought kandi bracelets as diminishing their meaning. They are frequently made with rainbow or lettered beads.

Trading kandi is an important element of kandi culture, and is often done to memorialize a special moment shared with someone or a connection formed. It can be considered rude to trade away kandi bracelets received through a trade.

"Kandi kids" is a term for those in the kandi trading subculture.

History
The term 'kandi' may come from the phrase 'candy necklace'; when pronounced out loud, kandi and candy sound the same.

Kandi bracelets may have evolved out of friendship bracelets; friendship bracelets are often handmade and exchanged to commemorate a friendship, like kandi bracelets. The idea that they started as a drug symbol is likely a myth based on the prevalence of club drugs at raves.

Left vs right arm
Kandi bracelets kept on the right arm are available to trade, while those on the left arm are not.

PLUR and trading
The PLUR handshake is done when exchanging kandi bracelets, with each element of the acronym represented by a step. Sometimes, the words are said as the gestures are done:


 * Peace: A peace sign is made, and the two fingertips are each touched to each other.


 * Love: Half of a hand heart is made by each party, with the two combining to form a single heart.


 * Unity: Hands are clasped together, as in a high five.


 * Respect: Fingers are clasped together. Kandi bracelets are, one at a time, moved to the other party's hand, using the non-clasping arm.

There could sometimes be a second "R" included, which stands for Responsibility, it was created in the late 90s or early 2000s by a specific DJ that got tired by the rampant unsafe use of Club Drugs (Also known as "Party Favors" in the Rave community) and began to spread the word of PLURR (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect, and Responsibility).

Often, the PLUR handshake is followed by a hug.

The PLUR handshake is often affected by where the trade is taking place (i.e if you attend a festival in Texas and are used to attending festivals/raves in Washington, there may be slight differences to the way the handshake is carried out; like the hand gesture for "Unity" may be different, or a gesture may be removed all together; or a second "R" gesture could be added.)

Terminology
Kandi bracelets have kandi-specific terms to describe them.

There are various common terms regarding the types of kandi you are able to make, they are as follows.

Stitch: An umbrella term regarding the specific types of kandi you are able to create. There are a two most common stitches are Multistitch, and Peyote stitch (even and odd). Most Kandi projects are based on these stitches in some way.