page_title: Tzitzit
section_title: Karaite tzitzit
hierarchical_section_title: Tzitzit / Karaite tzitzit
context_page_description: Tzitzit are specially knotted ritual fringes, or tassels, worn in antiquity by Israelites and today by observant Jews and Samaritans. Tzitzit are usually attached to the four corners of the tallit gadol, usually referred to simply as a tallit or tallis; and tallit katan. Messianic Jews also wear them as separate tassels tied to belt loops.
  Other pronunciations include Sephardic: ṣiṣit; Ashkenazi: tzitzis; Yemenite: ṣiṣith; and Samaritan: ṣeṣet.
context_section_description: Karaite Jews maintain that the tzitziyot must be braided and have the appearance of chains, rather than being knotted as are the tzitziyot of Rabbinic Judaism.
  Karaites tzitziyot have blue-violet threads (tekhelet) in them. In contrast to rabbinic Jews, Karaites believe that the tekhelet source can be any dye, except those produced from impure (a definition mostly overlapping "un-kosher") species, such as the molluscs used by Rabbinic Jews. Instead, Karaites propose that the source of the dye was indigo or woad (Isatis tinctoria). Karaites also consider synthetic blue or blue-violet to be acceptable for tekhelet. Contrary to some claims, Karaites do not hang tzitziyot on their walls.
caption: Example of Karaite tzitziyot
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