MANALAPAN, NJ — A Monroe Twp. mother of three found this bracelet lying in the parking lot of the Manalapan recreation center Thursday afternoon and said at first she became very alarmed, thinking it may be a swastika.

However, the orange and yellow bracelet appears to be more similar to a rakhi, a Hindu symbol of sibling brother and sisterhood. Hindus actually just celebrated the festival of Raksha Bandhan, or Rakhi for short, this past Monday, Aug. 7. Laura Schiller, 34, who lives in Monroe, found the bracelet. After posting the photo on Facebook, several Indian friends told her it resembles a rakhi.

Still, Manalapan is an area where many Reform and Conservative Jews live, and Schiller, as a Jewish woman herself, said it was a little scary to stumble on it at first. As Patch has reported, there was a bias incident in Manalapan in April: Someone spray painted swastikas and anti-Semitic writing on the pavement at the Clark Mills school playground. Schiller said she grew up in nearby Marlboro and she has never personally experienced any anti-Semitism. There is also a sizable Hindu community in that area.