Swastika -- as Many People

Swastika -- as many people know -- dates well back into history, long before Adolf Hitler twisted the ancient symbol into a hateful logo that today symbolizes the slaughter of millions of innocents and one of the most evil "periods" in recorded history. In this paper the true history of the swastika will be reviewed, and the cultural meanings from history will be addressed as well.

According to the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), the word "swastika" derives from the Sanskrit word "swastika"; it means "good to be" in that language (http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk). The symbol itself is, in geometric terms, "an irregular icosagon or 20-sided polygon" (BBC). The swastika has been used for "thousands of years" and it was used to "bring luck" to peoples in Into-European culture. In the Hindu religion, the swastika was used in holy texts to symbolize "luck, Brahma or samsara (rebirth)" (BBC). Hinduism isn't the only religion that has embraced the swastika; it has also been used in Buddhism and Jainism, the BBC explains.

Even the Boy Scouts used the swastika in Europe in the early part of the 20th Century, as did the Finnish Air Force; in fact the BBC asserts that the Finnish Air Force used the swastika as its "official symbol" during World War II, notwithstanding the use by the Nazis during the same bloody conflict. The name "swastika" was given to a small mining community in Ontario, Canada, 580 kilometers north of Toronto -- and despite pleas by the Canadian government to change the town's name during WWII, citizens refused (BBC).

The Web site Lucky Mojo reports that the swastika is a symbol consisting of four "L's" that represents "luck, light, love and life" (www.luckymogo.com). The swastika has been seen on Buddhist idols, in ancient Greek cities, on ancient Chinese coins (dating from 315 B.C.) and has been used by Southwest Indians in the United States as "an amulet" (Lucky Mojo). Other cultures like the "Mound Builders" and "Cliff Dwellers" of Mexico and Central America believed the swastika symbol was "a charm to drive away evil and bring good luck, long life, and prosperity" to persons holding on to the symbol, the Lucky Mojo site explains.

The Web site www.about.com explains that the swastika has been found during excavations on pottery and on coins in ancient Troy, and that many cultures around the world looked on the swastika as a positive icon.

Imagine being a time traveler, and returning to England during the Middle Ages; the swastika was called "fylfot" in England and it represented something positive. And then upon arriving at an ancient temple in China the time traveler again would see the swastika. In China the swastika was called "wan" and meant "good luck" -- so to use the symbol in China one would be hoping for health and happiness and prosperity. That culture in China respected the swastika and any visitor to that era would be expected to understand that. But if the time travelers would punch a button on the time machine, set the clock to June 1920, and "fly" to Germany, the traveler would learn that the swastika was the "official emblem of the German Gymnasts' League" (About.com). The swastika was also uses in "a multitude of places such as the emblem for the Wandervogel, a German youth movement" (About.com).