Swastika

For other uses, see Swastika (disambiguation).
Called svastika in Sanskrit, it is an ancient symbol of auspiciousness in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

The swastika (also known as the Hakenkreuz, gammadion cross, cross cramponnée, croix gammée, fylfot, or tetraskelion) (as a character 卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious symbol originating from the Indian subcontinent, being the symbol of peace and continuity that generally takes the form of an equilateral cross with four legs each bent at 90 degrees.[1][2] It is considered to be a sacred and auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism and dates back at least 11,000 years.[3] It continues to be commonly used as a religious symbol in religions native to the Indian subcontinent such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

Western literature's older term for the symbol, gammadion cross, derives mainly from its appearance, which is identical to four Greek gamma letters affixed to each other.[4] The name swastika comes from the Sanskrit word svastika (Devanāgarī: स्वस्तिक), meaning "lucky or auspicious object".[4] (By the etymology of Prefixes and suffixes in Devnagri / ancient Sanskrit language, 'Swa' means the 'Self' and 'stika' is the fusion version for 'Asti' meaning 'Existant /Existing' and 'ka' denotes the neutral gender. Thus, 'Swastika' simply means 'One that is self-existant / self-existing', in other words; 'Unborn and directly originating from eternity since time eternal'.)[5]

It has been used as a decorative element in various cultures since at least the Neolithic Age. It is known most widely as an important symbol, long used in Indian religions, denoting "auspiciousness".

The swastika was adopted by several organizations in pre-World War I-Europe and later, and most notably, by the Nazi Party and Nazi Germany prior to World War II. In many Western countries, the swastika has been highly stigmatized because of its use in and association with Nazism.[6][7]

Names

The word swastika has been in use in English since the 1870s, replacing gammadion (from Greek γαμμάδιον).[8] It was loaned from the Sanskrit term (Devanāgarī: स्वस्तिक), which is transliterated svastika under the commonly used IAST transliteration system, but is pronounced "swastika" when letters are used as in English. It means any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote auspiciousness, or any piece of luck or well-being. It is composed of su- meaning "good, well" and asti "it is", which form the word svasti, meaning good health or good fortune; the added suffix ka forms an abstract noun, and svastika might thus be translated literally as "that which is associated with well-being", corresponding to "lucky charm" or "thing that is auspicious".[9] The word finds its origin in Vedic Sanskrit. As noted by Monier-Williams in his Sanskrit-English dictionary, according to Alexander Cunningham, its shape represents a monogram formed by interlacing of the letters of the auspicious words su-astí (svasti) written in Ashokan characters.[10]

Other names for the symbol include:

Appearance

Swastikas tiling the plane.
A right-facing swastika might be described as "clockwise" or "counter-clockwise".

Although all swastikas are bent crosses based on a chiral symmetry, they appear with different geometrical details: as compact crosses with short arms, as crosses with long trailing arms and as motifs in a pattern of unbroken lines.

Chirality describes an absence of reflective symmetry, with the existence of two versions that are mirror images of each other. The mirror-image forms are typically described as:

The left-facing version is distinguished in some traditions and languages as a distinct symbol from the right-facing "swastika", and is more correctly called the "sauwastika".

The compact swastika can be seen as a chiral irregular icosagon (20-sided polygon) with fourfold (90°) rotational symmetry. Such a swastika proportioned on a 5 × 5 square grid and with the broken portions of its arms shortened by one unit can tile the plane by translation alone. The Nazi swastika used a 5 × 5 diagonal grid, but with the arms unshortened.[13]

Written characters

The sauwastika were adopted as a standard character in Sanskrit. "卍" (pinyin: wàn) and as such entered various other East Asian languages, including Chinese script. In Japanese the symbol is called "卍" (Hepburn: manji) or "卍字" (manji).

The sauwastika is included in the Unicode character sets of two languages. In Chinese unicode it is U+534D 卍 (left-facing) and U+5350 for the swastika 卐 (right-facing);[14] The latter has a mapping in the original Big5 character set,[15] but the former does not (although it is in Big5+[16]). In Unicode 5.2, two swastika symbols and two sauwastikas were added to the Tibetan block: swastika U+0FD5 ࿕ RIGHT-FACING, U+0FD7 ࿗ SWASTIKA (right-facing with dots), and sauwastikas U+0FD6 ࿖ LEFT-FACING, U+0FD8 ࿘ left-facing with dots).[17]

Theories of origin

A 3200 year old Swastika necklace discovered in Gilan province, northern Iran, excavated from Marlik

The swastika is a repeating design, said to have been created by the edges of the reeds in a square basket-weave. Other theories attempt to establish a connection via cultural diffusion or an explanation along the lines of Carl Jung's collective unconscious.

Ancient Roman mosaics of La Olmeda, Spain.
Mosaic swastika in excavated Byzantine (?) church in Shavei Tzion (Israel)

A new hypothesis put forth by the IIT Kharagpur in India states that the Swastika symbol migrated from Ancient India to the Americas via the Tartar Mongoloid route and Kamchatka about 11,000 years ago,[18] explaining the presence of the symbol in the Aztec and Mayan civilisations, and through the Western land route to Finland, Scandinavia, the British Highlands and Europe where the symbol is present in varying shapes of the cruciform. According to Joy Sen, a faculty member and the lead project investigator, "After dividing the world into nine quadrants into which Swastika moved from India, we retracted its footprints and have been able to graphically prove our claim through ancient seals, inscriptions, imprints and religious symbolism in these countries."

European hypotheses of the Swastika are often treated in conjunction with cross symbols in general, such as the sun cross of pagan Bronze Age religion. Beyond its certain presence in the "proto-writing" symbol systems, such as the Vinca script,[19] which appeared during the Neolithic,[20] nothing certain is known about the symbol's origin. There are nevertheless a number of speculative hypotheses. One hypothesis is that the cross symbols and the swastika share a common origin in simply symbolizing the sun. Another hypothesis is that the four arms of the cross represent four aspects of nature - the sun, wind, water, soil. Some have said the four arms of cross are four seasons, where the division for 90-degree sections correspond to the solstices and equinoxes. The Hindus represent it as the Universe in our own spiral galaxy in the fore finger of Lord Vishnu. This carries most significance in establishing the creation of the Universe and the arms as 'kal' or time, a calendar that is seen to be more advanced than the lunar calendar where the seasons drift from calendar year to calendar year. The luni-solar solution for correcting season drift was to intercalate an extra month in certain years to restore the lunar cycle to the solar-season cycle. The Star of David is thought to originate as a symbol of that calendar system, where the two overlapping triangles are seen to form a partition of 12 sections around the perimeter with a 13th section in the middle, representing the 12 and sometimes 13 months to a year. As such, the Christian cross, Jewish hexagram star, and Muslim crescent moon are seen to have their origins in different views regarding which calendar system is preferred for marking holy days. Groups in higher latitudes experience the seasons more strongly, offering more advantage to the calendar represented by the swastika/cross.

According to Reza Assasi, the swastika is a geometric pattern in the sky representing the north ecliptic pole centred to Zeta Draconis. He argues that this primitive astrological symbol was later called the four-horse chariot of Mithra in ancient Iran and represented the centre of Ecliptic in the star map and also demonstrates that in Iranian mythology, the cosmos was believed to be pulled by four heavenly horses revolving around a fixed centre on clockwise direction possibly because of a geocentric understanding of an astronomical phenomenon called axial precession. He suggests that this notion was transmitted to the west and flourished in Roman mithraism in which this symbol appears in Mithraic iconography and astrological representations.[21]

Carl Sagan in his book Comet (1985) reproduces Han period Chinese manuscript (the Book of Silk, 2nd century BC) that shows comet tail varieties: most are variations on simple comet tails, but the last shows the comet nucleus with four bent arms extending from it, recalling a swastika. Sagan suggests that in antiquity a comet could have approached so close to Earth that the jets of gas streaming from it, bent by the comet's rotation, became visible, leading to the adoption of the swastika as a symbol across the world.[22] Bob Kobres in his 1992 paper Comets and the Bronze Age Collapse contends that the swastika like comet on the Han Dynasty silk comet atlas was labeled a "long tailed pheasant star" (Di-Xing) because of its resemblance to a bird's foot or footprint,[23] the latter comparison also being drawn by J.F.K. Hewitt's observation on page 145 of Primitive Traditional History: vol. 1.[24] as well as an article concerning carpet decoration in Good Housekeeping.[25] Kobres goes on to suggest an association of mythological birds and comets also outside China.[23]

In Life's Other Secret (1999), Ian Stewart suggests the ubiquitous swastika pattern arises when parallel waves of neural activity sweep across the visual cortex during states of altered consciousness, producing a swirling swastika-like image, due to the way quadrants in the field of vision are mapped to opposite areas in the brain.[26]

Alexander Cunningham suggested that the Buddhist use of the shape arose from a combination of Brahmi characters abbreviating the words su astí.[10]

Prehistory

Swastika seals from the Indus Valley Civilization preserved at the British Museum

The earliest known swastika-like symbol dates from around 10,000-13,000 BC. It appears on a late paleolithic figurine of a bird, carved from mammoth ivory, which was found in Mezine, Ukraine. The bird was found with a number of phallic objects which is consistent with the idea that the swastika pattern was used as a fertility symbol.[27] However it has also been suggested that this swastika may be a stylized picture of a stork in flight and not the true swastika that is in use today.[28] Extensive use of the Swastika can be traced to Ancient India, during the Indus Valley Civilization.

The Samarra bowl, at the Pergamonmuseum, Berlin. The swastika in the center of the design is a reconstruction.[29]
A photograph of the swastika stone on Ilkley Moor, alongside its replica carving and the view it overlooks from Woodhouse Crag.

In England, neolithic or Bronze Age stone carvings of the symbol have been found on Ilkley Moor.

Mirror-image swastikas (clockwise and anti-clockwise) have been found on ceramic pottery in the Devetashka cave, Bulgaria, dated 6,000 B.C.[30]

Some of the earliest archaeological evidences of Swastika in the Indian subcontinent can be dated to 3,000 BCE.[31] Swastikas have also been found on pottery in archaeological digs in Africa, in the area of Kush and on pottery at the Jebel Barkal temples,[32] in Iron Age designs of the northern Caucasus (Koban culture), and in Neolithic China in the Majiabang,[33]Majiayao,[34] Dawenkou and Xiaoheyan cultures.[35] Other Iron Age attestations of the swastika can be associated with Indo-European cultures such as the Indo-Iranians, Celts, Greeks, Germanic peoples and Slavs.

The swastika is also seen in Egypt during the Coptic period. Textile number T.231-1923 held at the V&A Museum in London includes small swastikas in its design. This piece was found at Qau-el-Kebir, near Asyut, and is dated between AD300-600.

The Tierwirbel (the German for "animal whorl" or "whirl of animals"[36]) is a characteristic motif in Bronze Age Central Asia, the Eurasian Steppe, and later also in Iron Age Scythian and European (Baltic[37] and Germanic) culture, showing rotational symmetric arrangement of an animal motif, often four birds' heads. Even wider diffusion of this "Asiatic" theme has been proposed, to the Pacific and even North America (especially Moundville).[38]

Historical use

Carved fretwork forming a swastika in the window of a Lalibela rock hewn church in Ethiopia.

Asia

Swastikas inscribed at a Kshetrapala shrine at Hanumantal Bada Jain Mandir at Jabalpur

In Asia, the swastika symbol first appears in the archaeological record around[31] 3000 BCE in the Indus Valley Civilization.[39][40] It also appears in the Bronze and Iron Age cultures around the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. In all these cultures the swastika symbol does not appear to occupy any marked position or significance, but appears as just one form of a series of similar symbols of varying complexity. In the Zoroastrian religion of Persia, the swastika was a symbol of the revolving sun, infinity, or continuing creation.[41][42] It rose to importance in Buddhism during the Mauryan Empire and in Hinduism with the decline of Buddhism in India during the Gupta Empire. With the spread of Buddhism, the Buddhist swastika reached Tibet and China. The symbol was also introduced to Balinese Hinduism by Hindu kings. The use of the swastika by the Bön faith of Tibet, as well as Chinese Taoism, can also be traced to Buddhist influence. In Thailand, the word "Sawaddi" is normally used as a greeting which simply means "hello"; Sawaddi-ka (feminine) and Sawaddi-krup (masculine). "Sawaddi" derives from the Sanskrit word "swasti" and its meaning is a combination of the words: prosperity, luck, security, glory, and good.

Hinduism

The swastika is an important Hindu symbol. It is traced with the finger with sindoor on the head or body during Hindu religious rites, and on doors on festival days - notably on Diwali. It is painted on many, if not most, three-wheel auto-rikshas and trucks. In all these uses it is a lucky charm protecting from evil and attracting good.

It is also said to represent God (the Brahman) in his universal manifestation, and energy (Shakti). It represents the four directions of the world (the four faces of Brahma). It also represents the Purushartha: Dharma (natural order), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire), and Moksha (liberation).

Among the Hindus of Bengal, it is common to see the name "swastika" (Bengali: স্বস্তিক shostik) applied to a slightly different symbol, which has the same significance as the common swastika, that looks like a stick figure of a human being.[43] Right-facing swastika in the decorative Hindu form is used to evoke the Shakti.

The Arya Samaj is of the opinion that 'Swastik' is 'OM' written in the ancient Brahmi Script.

Buddhism

Buddhism originated in the 5th century BC and spread throughout the Indian subcontinent. The swastika rose in importance around the 3rd century BC (during the Mauryan Empire). Also known as a "yungdrung"[44] in ancient Tibet, it was a graphical representation of eternity.[45]

Jainism

Nepalese Buddhist gompa, Swayambhunath, Kathmandu, showing swastika designs on curtains. 1973
Swastika on the doorstep of an apartment in Maharashtra, India.

Jainism gives even more prominence to the swastika as a tantra than Buddhism does. It is a symbol of the seventh tīrthaṅkara, Suparśvanātha. In the Śvētāmbara tradition, it is also one of the aṣṭamaṅgala. All Jain temples and holy books must contain the swastika and ceremonies typically begin and end with creating a swastika mark several times with rice around the altar. Jains use rice to make a swastika in front of statues and then put an offering on it, usually a ripe or dried fruit, a sweet (Hindi: मिठाई miṭhāī), or a coin or currency note. The four arms of the swastika symbolize the four places where a soul could be reborn in the cycle of birth and death - svarga "heaven", naraka "hell", manushya "humanity" or tiryancha "as flora or fauna" - before the soul attains moksha "salvation" as a siddha, having ended the cycle of birth and death and become omniscient.[46]

East Asian traditions

Swastika on Saisen box in Sensō Temple, Asakusa, Taitō, Tokyo, Japan.

The paired swastika symbols are included, at least since the Liao Dynasty (AD 907–1125), as part of the Chinese writing system (卍 and 卐) and are variant characters for 萬 or 万 (wàn in Mandarin, man in Korean, Cantonese, and Japanese, vạn in Vietnamese) meaning "all" or "eternity" (lit. myriad). The swastika marks the beginning of many Buddhist scriptures. In East Asian countries, the left-facing character is often used as symbol for Buddhism and marks the site of a Buddhist temple on maps.

In Chinese, Japanese, and Korean the swastika is also a homonym of the number 10,000, and is commonly used to represent the whole of Creation, e.g. 'the myriad things' in the Dao De Jing. During the Chinese Tang Dynasty, Empress Wu Zetian (684-704) decreed that the swastika would also be used as an alternative symbol of the Sun.

The Hachisuka swastika, a family crest used by the Japanese Hachisuka clan.

When the Chinese writing system was introduced to Japan in the 8th century, the swastika was adopted into the Japanese language and culture. It is commonly referred as the manji (lit. Man-character). Since the Middle Ages, it has been used as a mon by various Japanese families such as Tsugaru clan, Hachisuka clan or around 60 clans that belong to Tokugawa clan.[47] On Japanese maps, a swastika (left-facing and horizontal) is used to mark the location of a Buddhist temple. The right-facing swastika is often referred to as the gyaku manji (逆卍, lit. "reverse swastika") or migi manji (右卍, lit. "right swastika"), and can also be called kagi jūji (鉤十字, literally "hook cross").

In Chinese and Japanese art, the swastika is often found as part of a repeating pattern. One common pattern, called sayagata in Japanese, comprises left- and right-facing swastikas joined by lines.[48] As the negative space between the lines has a distinctive shape, the sayagata pattern is sometimes called the "key fret" motif in English.

As a pottery graph of unknown provision and meaning the swastika-like sign is known in Chinese Neolithic culture (2400–2000 BCE, Liu wan 柳湾, Qinghai province).

Armenia

Khachkar with swastikas Sanahin, Armenia

In Armenia the swastika is called the "arevakhach" and "kerkhach" (Armenian: կեռխաչ)[49] and is the ancient symbol of eternity and eternal light (i.e. God). Swastikas in Armenia were founded on petroglyphs. During the bronze age it was depicted on cauldrons, belts, medallions and other items.[50] Among the oldest petroglyphs is the seventh letter of the Armenian alphabet - "E" (which means "is" or "to be") - depicted as half-swastika.

Swastikas can also be seen on early Medieval churches and fortresses, including the principal tower in Armenia's historical capital city of Ani.[49] The same symbol can be found on Armenian carpets, cross-stones (khachkar) and in medieval manuscripts, as well as on modern monuments as a symbol of eternity.[51]

Europe

Swastika shapes have been found on numerous artifacts from Iron Age Europe - Armenian arevakhach (Armenian: Արևախաչ, արև arev "sun" + խաչ xač "cross", "sun cross"),[49][52][53] Greco-Roman, Illyrian, Etruscan, Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic.[1]

Greco-Roman antiquity

Ancient Greek architectural, clothing and coin designs are replete with single or interlinking swastika motifs. There are also gold plate fibulae from the 8th century BC decorated with an engraved swastika.[54] Related symbols in classical Western architecture include the cross, the three-legged triskele or triskelion and the rounded lauburu. The swastika symbol is also known in these contexts by a number of names, especially gammadion,[55] or rather the tetra-gammadion. The name gammadion comes from the fact that it can be seen as being made up of four Greek gamma (Γ) letters. Ancient Greek priestesses would tattoo the symbol, along with the tetraskelion, on their bodies. Ancient Greek architectural designs are replete with the interlinking symbol.

In Greco-Roman art and architecture, and in Romanesque and Gothic art in the West, isolated swastikas are relatively rare, and the swastika is more commonly found as a repeated element in a border or tessellation. The swastika often represented perpetual motion, reflecting the design of a rotating windmill or watermill. A meander of connected swastikas makes up the large band that surrounds the Augustan Ara Pacis.

A design of interlocking swastikas is one of several tessellations on the floor of the cathedral of Amiens, France.[56] A border of linked swastikas was a common Roman architectural motif,[57] and can be seen in more recent buildings as a neoclassical element. A swastika border is one form of meander, and the individual swastikas in such a border are sometimes called Greek keys. There have also been swastikas found on the floors of Pompeii.[58]

Celts

The bronze frontispiece of a ritual pre-Christian (c. 350-50 BC) shield found in the River Thames near Battersea Bridge (hence "Battersea Shield") is embossed with 27 swastikas in bronze and red enamel.[59] An Ogham stone found in Anglish, Co Kerry, Ireland (CIIC 141) was modified into an early Christian gravestone, and was decorated with a cross pattée and two swastikas.[60] The Book of Kells (ca. 800) contains swastika-shaped ornamentation. At the Northern edge of Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire, there is a swastika-shaped pattern engraved in a stone known as the Swastika Stone.[61]

Germanic Iron Age

A comb with a swastika found in Nydam Mose, Denmark.
Swastika symbols on the Church of Christ Pantocrator (13th-14th century) in Nesebar, Bulgaria.

The swastika shape (also called a fylfot) appears on various Germanic Migration Period and Viking Age artifacts, such as the 3rd century Værløse Fibula from Zealand, Denmark, the Gothic spearhead from Brest-Litovsk, today in Belarus, the 9th century Snoldelev Stone from Ramsø, Denmark, and numerous Migration Period bracteates drawn left-facing or right-facing.[62]

The pagan Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, England, contained numerous items bearing the swastika, now housed in the collection of the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.[63] The Swastika is clearly marked on a hilt and sword belt found at Bifrons in Kent, in a grave of about the 6th century.

Hilda Ellis Davidson theorized that the swastika symbol was associated with Thor, possibly representing his hammer Mjolnir - symbolic of thunder - and possibly being connected to the Bronze Age sun cross.[63] Davidson cites "many examples" of the swastika symbol from Anglo-Saxon graves of the pagan period, with particular prominence on cremation urns from the cemeteries of East Anglia.[63] Some of the swastikas on the items, on display at the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, are depicted with such care and art that, according to Davidson, it must have possessed special significance as a funerary symbol.[63] The runic inscription on the 8th-century Sæbø sword has been taken as evidence of the swastika as a symbol of Thor in Norse paganism.

Illyrians

Swastika was widespread among the Illyrians, symbolizing the Sun. The Sun cult was the main Illyrian cult, and the Sun was represented by a swastika in clockwise motion, and it stood for the movement of the Sun.[64]

Slavic

Kolovrat or in Polish "Słoneczko" represents the Sun. It is familiar with almost every ancient slavic culture.
Old Russian embroidery

According to painter Stanisław Jakubowski the "little sun" is an Early Slavic pagan symbol of the sun. It was engraved on wooden monuments built near the final resting places of fallen Slavs to represent eternal life.[65] The symbol was first seen in a collection of Early Slavic symbols and architectural features drawn and compiled by Polish painter Stanisław Jakubowski, which he named Prasłowiańskie motywy architektoniczne (Polish: Early Slavic Architectural Motifs).[65] His work was published in 1923, by a publishing house that was then based in the Dębniki district of Kraków.[65] The symbol can also be found on embroidery and pottery in most Slavic countries.

Swastika pattern on Russian Orthodox Vestments

In Russia before World War I the swastika was a favorite sign of the last Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. She placed it where she could for happiness, including drawing it in pencil on the walls and windows in the Ipatiev House, - place of execution of the royal family, and, without dating, on the wallpaper above the bed, where obviously slept the heir.[66] It was printed on some banknotes of the Russian Provisional Government (1917) and some sovznaks (1918-1922).[67] In 1919 it was approved as insignia for the Kalmyk formations,[68] and for a short period had a certain popularity amongst some artists, politics and army groups.[69] Also it was present on icons, vestments and clerical clothing[70] but in World War II it was removed, becoming by association, a symbol of the German occupation.[71]

In modern Russia some neo-Nazis[72][73] and neopagan followers of pseudohistory argue that the Russian name of the swastika is "Kolovrat" (Russian: Коловрат, lit. "spinning wheel"), but there are no ethnographic sources, confirming this.[71][74] In the traditional vernacular the swastika was called differently; for example, "breeze" - as in Christianity, the swastika represents a spiritual movement, descent of the Holy Spirit, and therefore the "wind" and "spirit" - a word with one meaning.[71] Or "geeses", "ognevtsi" (dialect. "little flames"), "hares" (towel with a swastika was called as towel with the "hares"), "little horses", because it is such a curved cross.[70][71]

The neo-Nazi Russian National Unity group's branch in Estonia is officially registered under the name "Kolovrat" and published an extremist newspaper in 2001 under the same name.[72] A criminal investigation found the paper included an array of racial epithets. One Narva resident was sentenced to 1 year in jail for distribution of Kolovrat.[75] The Kolovrat has since been used by the Rusich Battalion, a Russian militant group known for its operation during the War in Donbass.[76]

The swastika is contained in sign of the Polish nationalist organization Nacjonalistyczne Stowarzyszenie "Zadruga".

Sami

An object very much like a hammer or a double axe is depicted among the magical symbols on the drums of Sami shamans, used in their religious ceremonies before Christianity was established. The name of the Sami thunder god was Horagalles, thought to be derived from "Old Man Thor" (Þórr karl). Sometimes on the drums, a male figure with a hammer-like object in either hand is shown, and sometimes it is more like a cross with crooked ends, or a swastika.[63]

Medieval and early modern Europe

Because the outer lines point to the left instead of the swastika's right point ends, this is referred to as a sauwastika. This pattern can be found in a Venetian palace that likely follows a Roman pattern, at Palazzo Roncale, Rovigo
A swastika composed of Hebrew letters as a mystical symbol from the Jewish Kabbalistic work "Parashat Eliezer".

In Christianity, the swastika is used as a hooked version of the Christian Cross, the symbol of Christ's victory over death. Some Christian churches built in the Romanesque and Gothic eras are decorated with swastikas, carrying over earlier Roman designs. Swastikas are prominently displayed in a mosaic in the St. Sophia church of Kiev, Ukraine dating from the 12th century. They also appear as a repeating ornamental motif on a tomb in the Basilica of St. Ambrose in Milan.

A ceiling painted in 1910 in the church of St Laurent in Grenoble has many swastikas. It can be visited today because the church became the archaeological museum of the city. A proposed direct link between it and a swastika floor mosaic in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens, which was built on top of a pagan site at Amiens, France in the 13th century, is considered unlikely. The stole worn by a priest in the 1445 painting of the Seven Sacraments by Rogier van der Weyden presents the swastika form simply as one way of depicting the cross.

Swastikas on the vestments of the effigy of Bishop William Edington (d. 1366) in Winchester Cathedral

Swastikas also appear in art and architecture during the Renaissance and Baroque era. In fact, the famous fresco The School of Athens shows an ornament made out of swastikas, and the symbol can also be found on the facade of the Santa Maria della Salute, a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice.

In the Polish First Republic the symbol of the swastika was also popular with the nobility. According to chronicles, the Rus' prince Oleg, who in the 9th century attacked Constantinople, nailed his shield (which had a large red swastika painted on it) to the city's gates.[77] Several noble houses, e.g. Boreyko, Borzym, and Radziechowski from Ruthenia, also had Swastikas as their coat of arms. The family reached its greatness in the 14th and 15th centuries and its crest can be seen in many heraldry books produced at that time. The Swastika was also a heraldic symbol, for example on the Boreyko coat of arms, used by noblemen in Poland and Ukraine. In the 19th century the swastika was one of the Russian empire's symbols; it was even placed in coins as a background to the Russian eagle.[78][79]

A swastika can be seen on stonework at Valle Crucis Abbey, near Llangollen.

Africa

Ashanti weight
Adinkra symbols recorded by Robert Sutherland Rattray, 1927. Swastika like symbol №12

Swastika can be found on Ashanti gold weights and among adinkra symbols in West Africa.[80]

Early 20th century

Swastikas on the wedding dress as symbols of luck, British colony, 1910

Swastikas on the wedding dress as symbols of luck, British colony, 1910

In the Western world, the symbol experienced a resurgence following the archaeological work in the late 19th century of Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the symbol in the site of ancient Troy and associated it with the ancient migrations of Proto-Indo-Europeans, whose proto-language was not incidentally termed "Proto-Indo-Germanisch" by German language historians. He connected it with similar shapes found on ancient pots in Germany, and theorized that the swastika was a "significant religious symbol of our remote ancestors", linking Germanic, Greek and Indo-Iranian cultures.[81][82] By the early 20th century, it was used worldwide and was regarded as a symbol of good luck and success.

The work of Schliemann soon became intertwined with the völkisch movements, for which the swastika was a symbol of the "Aryan race", a concept that came to be equated by theorists such as Alfred Rosenberg with a Nordic master race originating in northern Europe. Since its adoption by the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler, the swastika has been associated with Nazism, fascism, racism in its (white supremacy) form, the Axis powers in World War II, and the Holocaust in much of the West. The swastika remains a core symbol of Neo-Nazi groups.

The Benedictine choir school at Lambach Abbey, Upper Austria, which Hitler attended for several months as a boy, had a swastika chiseled into the monastery portal and also the wall above the spring grotto in the courtyard by 1868. Their origin was the personal coat of arms of Abbot Theoderich Hagn of the monastery in Lambach, which bore a golden swastika with slanted points on a blue field.[83] The Lambach swastika is probably of Medieval origin.

Europe

Britain

Theosophical Seal

In the 1880's the Theosophical Society adopted a swastika as part of its seal, along with an Om, a hexagram or star of David, an Ankh and an Ouroboros. Unlike the much more recent Raëlian movement, the Theosophical Society symbol has been free from controversy, and the seal is still used. The current seal also includes the text "There is no religion higher than truth."[84]

Denmark

Carlsberg's Elephant Tower.

The Danish brewery company Carlsberg Group used the swastika as a logo[85] from the 19th Century until the middle of the 1930s when it was discontinued because of association with the Nazi Party in neighbouring Germany. The swastika carved on elephants at the entrance gates of the company's headquarters in Copenhagen in 1901 can still be seen today.[86]

Ireland

The Swastika Laundry was a laundry founded in 1912, located on Shelbourne Road, Ballsbridge, a district of Dublin, Ireland. In the fifties Heinrich Böll came across a van belonging to the company while he was staying in Ireland, leading to some awkward moments before he realized the company was older than Nazism and totally unrelated to it. The chimney of the boiler-house of the laundry still stands, but the laundry has been redeveloped.[87][88]

Finnish folklore

In Finland the swastika was often used in traditional folk art products, as a decoration or magical symbol on textiles and wood. The swastika was also used by the Finnish Air Force until 1945, and is still used in air force flags.

The tursaansydän is used by scouts in some instances[89] and a student organization.[90] The village of Tursa uses the tursaansydän as a kind of a certificate of authenticity on products made there.[91] Traditional textiles are still being made with swastikas as parts of traditional ornaments.

Swastika in Finnish military
The aircraft roundel and insignia of the Finnish Air force from 1918–1945
The flag of the Finnish Air Force Academy

The Finnish Air Force used the swastika as an emblem, introduced in 1918. The type of swastika adopted by the air-force was the symbol of luck for the Swedish count Eric von Rosen, who donated one of its earliest aircraft; he later became a prominent figure in the Swedish nazi-movement.

The swastika was also used by the women's paramilitary organization Lotta Svärd, which was banned in 1944 in accordance with the Moscow Armistice between Finland and the allied Soviet Union and Britain.

The President of Finland is the grand master of the Order of the White Rose. According to the protocol, the president shall wear the Grand Cross of the White Rose with collar on formal occasions. The original design of the collar, decorated with 9 swastikas, dates from 1918, and was designed by the artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The Grand Cross with the swastika collar has been awarded 41 times to foreign heads of state. To avoid misunderstandings, the swastika decorations were replaced by fir crosses at the decision of president Urho Kekkonen in 1963 after it became known that the President of France Charles De Gaulle was uncomfortable with the swastika collar.

Also a design by Gallen-Kallela from 1918, the Cross of Liberty has a swastika pattern in its arms. The Cross of Liberty is depicted in the upper left corner of the standard of the President of Finland.[92]

In December 2007, a silver replica of the World War II period Finnish air defence's relief ring decorated with a swastika became available as a part of a charity campaign.[93]

The original war time idea was that the public swap their precious metal rings for the State air defence's relief ring, made of iron.

Latvia

Latvia adopted the swastika, called the Ugunskrusts ("fire cross"), for its air force in 1918/1919 and continued its use until 1940. The cross itself was maroon on a white background, mirroring the colors of the Latvian flag. Earlier versions pointed counter-clockwise, while later versions pointed clock-wise and eliminated the white background.[94][95]

Poland

The traditional symbols of the Podhale Rifles include the edelweiss flower and the Mountain Cross, a swastika symbol popular in folk culture of the Polish mountainous regions. The units of Podhale Rifles, both historical and modern, are notable for their high morale and distinctive uniforms.

North America

Illustration of the Horned Serpent by artist Herb Roe based on an engraved shell cup from Spiro, Oklahoma
Chilocco Indian Agricultural School basketball team in 1909.
Fernie Swastikas women's hockey team, 1922
The old symbol of the 45th Infantry Division

The swastika motif is found in some traditional Native American art and iconography. Historically, the design has been found in excavations of Mississippian-era sites in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys, and on objects associated with the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (S.E.C.C.). It is also widely used by a number of southwestern tribes, most notably the Navajo, and plains nations such as the Dakota. Among various tribes, the swastika carries different meanings. To the Hopi it represents the wandering Hopi clan; to the Navajo it is one symbol for the whirling log (tsil no'oli), a sacred image representing a legend that is used in healing rituals.[96] A brightly colored First Nations saddle featuring swastika designs is on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada.[97]

A swastika shape is a symbol in the culture of the Kuna people of Kuna Yala, Panama. In Kuna tradition it symbolizes the octopus that created the world, its tentacles pointing to the four cardinal points.[98]

In February 1925 the Kuna revolted vigorously against Panamanian suppression of their culture, and in 1930 they assumed autonomy. The flag they adopted at that time is based on the swastika shape, and remains the official flag of Kuna Yala. A number of variations on the flag have been used over the years: red top and bottom bands instead of orange were previously used, and in 1942 a ring (representing the traditional Kuna nose-ring) was added to the center of the flag to distance it from the symbol of the Nazi party.[99]

The symbol for the 45th Infantry Division of the United States Army, before the 1930s, was a red square with a yellow swastika, a tribute to the large Native American population in the southwestern United States.

The town of Swastika, Ontario, Canada is named after the symbol.

Nazism

Use in Nazism

Further information: Nazi symbolism
The Third Reich flag

In the wake of widespread popular usage, the Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) formally adopted the swastika (in German: Hakenkreuz (pronounced more or less "HAHK-en-KROITS" meaning "hooked-cross") in 1920. This was used on the party's flag, badge, and armband.

In his 1925 work Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler writes that: "I myself, meanwhile, after innumerable attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika."

When Hitler created a flag for the Nazi Party, he sought to incorporate both the swastika and "those revered colors expressive of our homage to the glorious past and which once brought so much honor to the German nation." (Red, white, and black were the colors of the flag of the old German Empire.) He also stated: "As National Socialists, we see our program in our flag. In red, we see the social idea of the movement; in white, the nationalistic idea; in the swastika, the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work."[100]

The swastika was also understood as "the symbol of the creating, effecting life" (das Symbol des schaffenden, wirkenden Lebens) and as "race emblem of Germanism" (Rasseabzeichen des Germanentums).[101]

Indische Legion and swastika, 1942

The use of the swastika was incorporated by Nazi theorists with their conjecture of Aryan cultural descent of the German people. Following the Nordicist version of the Aryan invasion theory, the Nazis claimed that the early Aryans of India, from whose Vedic tradition the swastika sprang, were the prototypical white invaders. The concept of racial hygiene was an ideology central to Nazism, though it is scientific racism.[102][103] For Alfred Rosenberg, the Aryans of India were both a model to be imitated and a warning of the dangers of the spiritual and racial "confusion" that, he believed, arose from the proximity of races. Thus, they saw fit to co-opt the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race. The use of the swastika as a symbol of the Aryan race dates back to writings of Emile Burnouf. Following many other writers, the German nationalist poet Guido von List believed it to be a uniquely Aryan symbol.

Emblem of the Youth wing of the Bulgarian fascist organisation Union of Bulgarian National Legions with swastika

Before the Nazis, the swastika was already in use as a symbol of German völkisch nationalist movements (Völkische Bewegung). Ulric of England [sic] says

... what inspired Hitler to use the swastika as a symbol for the NSDAP was its use by the Thule Society (German: Thule-Gesellschaft) since there were many connections between them and the DAP ... from 1919 until the summer of 1921 Hitler used the special Nationalsozialistische library of Dr. Friedrich Krohn, a very active member of the Thule-Gesellschaft ... Dr. Krohn was also the dentist from Sternberg who was named by Hitler in Mein Kampf as the designer of a flag very similar to one that Hitler designed in 1920 ... during the summer of 1920, the first party flag was shown at Lake Tegernsee ... these home-made ... early flags were not preserved, the Ortsgruppe München (Munich Local Group) flag was generally regarded as the first flag of the Party.
— Ulric of England, Deutschland Erwache, ISBN 0-912138-69-6

José Manuel Erbez says:

The first time the swastika was used with an Aryan meaning was on December 25, 1907, when the self-named Order of the New Templars, a secret society founded by [Adolf Joseph] Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, hoisted at Werfenstein Castle (Austria) a yellow flag with a swastika and four fleurs-de-lys.[104]

However, Liebenfels was drawing on an already established use of the symbol. On March 14, 1933, shortly after Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Germany, the NSDAP flag was hoisted alongside Germany's national colors. It was adopted as the sole national flag on September 15, 1935.

The swastika was used for badges and flags throughout Nazi Germany, particularly for government and military organizations, but also for "popular" organizations such as the Reichsbund Deutsche Jägerschaft (German Hunting Society).[105]

While the DAP and the NSDAP had used both right-facing and left-facing swastikas, the right-facing swastika was used consistently from 1920 onwards. Ralf Stelter notes that the swastika flag used on land had a right-facing swastika on both sides, while the ensign (naval flag) had it printed through so that a left-facing swastika would be seen when looking at the ensign with the flagpole to the right.[106] Nazi ensigns had a through and through image, so both versions were present, one on each side, but the Nazi flag on land was right-facing on both sides and at a 45° rotation.[107]

Divisional insignia of the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking
Divisional insignia of 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland.

Several variants are found:

There were attempts to amalgamate Nazi and Hindu use of the swastika, notably by the French writer Savitri Devi who declared Hitler an Avatar of Vishnu.

Use by anti-Nazis

Swastikas marking downed German aircraft on the fuselage sides of a RAF Spitfire.

During World War II it was common to use small swastikas to mark air-to-air victories on the sides of Allied aircraft, and at least one British fighter pilot inscribed a swastika in his logbook for each German plane he shot down in World War II.[112]

Post-World War II stigmatization

Origins

Because of its use by Nazi Germany, the swastika since the 1930s has been largely associated with Nazism and white supremacy in most Western countries.

As a result, all of its use, or its use as a Nazi or hate symbol, is prohibited in some countries, including Germany. Because of the stigma attached to the symbol, many buildings that have used the symbol as decoration have had the symbol removed.

Germany

Further information: Strafgesetzbuch § 86a

The German and Austrian postwar criminal code makes the public showing of the Hakenkreuz (the swastika), the sig rune, the Celtic cross (specifically the variations used by the White-Power-Activists), the wolfsangel, the odal rune and the Totenkopf skull illegal, except for scholarly reasons (and - in the case of the odal rune - as the insignia of the rank of sergeant major, Hauptfeldwebel,[113] in the modern German Bundeswehr). It is also censored from the reprints of 1930s railway timetables published by the Reichsbahn. The eagle remains, but appears to be holding a solid black circle between its talons. The swastikas on Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain temples are exempt, as religious symbols cannot be banned in Germany.

The German fashion company Esprit Holdings was investigated for using traditional British-made folded leather buttons after complaints that they resembled swastikas. In response, Esprit Holdings destroyed two hundred thousand catalogues.[114][115]

A controversy was stirred by the decision of several police departments to begin inquiries against anti-fascists.[116] In late 2005 police raided the offices of the punk rock label and mail order store "Nix Gut Records" and confiscated merchandise depicting crossed-out swastikas and fists smashing swastikas. In 2006 the Stade police department started an inquiry against anti-fascist youths using a placard depicting a person dumping a swastika into a trashcan. The placard was displayed in opposition to the campaign of right-wing nationalist parties for local elections.[117]

On Friday, March 17, 2006, a member of the Bundestag, Claudia Roth reported herself to the German police for displaying a crossed-out swastika in multiple demonstrations against Neo-Nazis, and subsequently got the Bundestag to suspend her immunity from prosecution. She intended to show the absurdity of charging anti-fascists with using fascist symbols: "We don't need prosecution of non-violent young people engaging against right-wing extremism." On March 15, 2007, the Federal Court of Justice of Germany (Bundesgerichtshof) held that the crossed-out symbols were "clearly directed against a revival of national-socialist endeavors", thereby settling the dispute for the future.[118][119][120]

Legislation in other European countries

Attempt to ban in the European Union

The European Union's Executive Commission proposed a European Union-wide anti-racism law in 2001, but European Union states failed to agree on the balance between prohibiting racism and freedom of expression.[124] An attempt to ban the swastika across the EU in early 2005 failed after objections from the British Government and others. In early 2007, while Germany held the European Union presidency, Berlin proposed that the European Union should follow German Criminal Law and criminalize the denial of the Holocaust and the display of Nazi symbols including the swastika, which is based on the Ban on the Symbols of Unconstitutional Organizations Act. This led to an opposition campaign by Hindu groups across Europe against a ban on the swastika. They pointed out that the swastika has been around for 5,000 years as a symbol of peace.[125][126] The proposal to ban the swastika was dropped by Berlin from the proposed European Union wide anti-racism laws on January 29, 2007.[124]

Latin America

Media

In 2010, Microsoft officially spoke out against the use of the swastika in the first-person shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops. In Black Ops, players are allowed to customize their name tags to represent, essentially, whatever they want. The swastika can be created and used, but Stephen Toulouse, director of Xbox Live policy and enforcement, stated that players with the symbol on their name tag will be banned (if someone reports as inappropriate) from Xbox Live.[128]

In the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular in Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida, the swastikas on German trucks, aircraft and actor uniforms in the reenactment of a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark were removed in 2004. The swastika has been replaced by a stylized Greek Cross.[129]

Nazi imagery was adapted and incorporated into the 2016 sci-fi movie 2BR02B: To Be or Naught to Be. Its inclusion was to subliminally draw parallels between the movie's Federal Bureau of Termination and Nazi Germany, and also refer to Kurt Vonnegut's experiences as a POW and the influence World War II played in his imagining of a population-controlled future where gas chambers are used to terminate people. The Federal Bureau of Termination logo appears as a white geometric design with a black outline, centered on vertical banners, in reference to the Third Reich banners. These banners were initially red, until crew felt the allusion was too strong. The movie's hospital was envisaged as the Bureau's branch which controlled birth, and their red cross was given 'wings' to transform it into a swastika, and link it to the Bureau's logo.[130]

Postwar use

Contemporary use in Asia

Central Asia

In 2005, authorities in Tajikistan called for the widespread adoption of the swastika as a national symbol. President Emomali Rahmonov declared the swastika an Aryan symbol and 2006 to be "the year of Aryan culture", which would be a time to "study and popularize Aryan contributions to the history of the world civilization, raise a new generation (of Tajiks) with the spirit of national self-determination, and develop deeper ties with other ethnicities and cultures".[131]

East Asia

Swastika on a temple in Korea.

In the Sinosphere, countries and regions that were historically influenced by the culture of China, such as Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore and China itself, the symbol is most commonly associated with Buddhism.

They are commonly found in Buddhist temples, religious artifacts, texts related to Buddhism and schools founded by Buddhist religious groups.

A member of the Red Swastika, circa 1937.

The Red Swastika Society, a syncretic religious group that aspires to unify Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, runs two schools in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Red Swastika Society Tai Po Secondary School[132] and Hong Kong Red Swastika Society Tuen Mun Primary School[133] ) and one in Singapore (Red Swastika School). All of them incorporated the Swastika in their school logo to signify the society's aspiration with philanthropy and moral education.

The swastika is also used in maps to denote a temple. For example, the symbol is designated by the Survey Act and related Japanese governmental rules to denote a Buddhist temple on Japanese maps.[134]

Hirosaki City in Aomori Prefecture designates this symbol as its official flag, which stemmed from its use in the emblem of Tsugaru clan, the lord of Hirosaki Domain in Edo era.

Indian Subcontinent

In Indian custom, new cars are painted with a Swastika to signify blessing for road safety.
Swastika in Seal (emblem) or Coin of the Indo-Sassanid (early 4th century).

In Indian Subcontinent, the swastika is omnipresent as a symbol of wealth and good fortune. In India and Nepal, electoral ballot papers are stamped with a round swastika-like pattern (to ensure that the accidental ink imprint on the other side of a folded ballot paper can be correctly identified as such).[135] Many businesses and other organisations, such as the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange and the Nepal Chamber of Commerce,[136] use the swastika in their logos. The red swastika was suggested as an emblem of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in India and Sri Lanka, but the idea was not implemented.[137] Swastikas are fairly ubiquitous in Indian and Nepalese cities, located on buses, buildings, auto-rickshaws, and clothing. The swastika continues to be prominently used in Hindu religious ceremonies and temples, and is recognised as a Hindu religious symbol, sometimes used to evoke the Shakti in tantric rituals.

Logo of Musaeus College, a Buddhist girls' school in Sri Lanka.

Musaeus College in Colombo, Sri Lanka which is a popular Buddhist girls' school in the country has a left facing swastika in their school logo alongside the Sanskrit motto පදීපං ගවේසථ" (pronounced: "padeepang gavae saTha") which means "Follow the Light".

In India, Swastik and Swastika, with their spelling variants, are common first names for males and females respectively, e.g. Swastika Mukherjee. Also, the Seal of Bihar contains two swastikas.

Western misinterpretation of Asian use

At the end of 20th century, and early 21st century, confusion and controversy has occurred when consumer goods bearing the Buddhist symbol have been exported to North America, and mistakenly interpreted by Western consumers as a Nazi symbol.

When a ten-year-old boy in Lynbrook, New York, bought a set of Pokémon cards imported from Japan in 1999, two of the cards contained the left-facing Buddhist swastika. The boy's parents misinterpreted the symbol as a Nazi swastika, which is right-facing with 45 degree rotation, and filed a complaint to the manufacturer. Nintendo of America announced that the cards would be discontinued, explaining that what was acceptable in one culture was not necessarily so in another; their action was welcomed by the Anti-Defamation League who recognised that there was no intention to be offensive but said that international commerce meant that "isolating [the Swastika] in Asia would just create more problems".[138]

In 2002, Christmas crackers containing plastic toy red pandas sporting swastikas were pulled from shelves after complaints from consumers in Canada. The manufacturer, based in China, said the symbol was presented in a traditional sense and not as a reference to the Nazis, and apologized to the customers for the cross-cultural mixup.[139] In 2007, Spanish fashion chain Zara withdrew a handbag from its stores after a customer in Britain complained swastikas were embroidered on it. The bags were made by a supplier in India and inspired by commonly used Hindu symbols, which include the swastika.[140]

New religious movements

The Raëlian symbol with the swastika (left) and the alternative version (right)

Besides the use as a religious symbol in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, which can be traced to pre-modern traditions, the swastika is also used by a number of new religious movements established in the modern period.

See also

References

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