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Re: Is the Swastika evidence of a common origin?
Dan Harper (dwharper@ingr.com)
20 Jan 1997 22:00:40 GMT
In article <32DE2CE5.6E7D@columbia-center.org>, clore@columbia-center.org says...
>
>Gerry Palo wrote:
>>
>> In article <1997Jan9.201830.8899@atl.com>,
>> Pastor Bob <pbob@jacobs.ladder.com> wrote:
>> >In article <5b0g3b$26i@bcarh8ab.bnr.ca>, swatson@bnr.ca (Stephen Watson) says:
>> >
>> >>In article <01bbfcfb$40aef7e0$1d3ae9cd@wintermute>,
>> >>Gord Bowman <gbowman@atlsci.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >>>The Swastika (the original, not the flipped Nazi version) is an ancient
>> >>>symbol of unknown origin that has been employed for thousands of years as a
>> >>>religious sign and a decorative emblem.
>>
>> There is a popular notion that the Nazis reversed the direction of the
>> arms of the swastika, perhaps as somee kind of dark perversion of an
>> otherwise innocent symbol. But this is not true. The swastika appears in
>> many places in both orientations. It was a common esoteric symbol in a
>> variety of European esoteric movements, including the Theosophical Society
>> before and just after the turn of the century. Many publications from that
>> time bear the "Nazi" type symbol. It goes back further, certainly to
>> India. I believe the word swastika is Sanscrit.
>
>The Nazis got the symbol from an earlier group, the Thule Gesellschaft,
>which was a sort of Theosophical offshoot that believed in the lost
>continent Thule as homeland of the Aryan race. (Point: Theosophy was
>illegal in Nazi Germany and known members were sent to concentration
>camps; don't bother trying to blame them for the Nazis because of a
>connection like this.)
>
>> I think the legend of the Nazi flipping came about in America when the
>> opposite-oriented swastika was found to be a sacred symbol among Native
>> Americans. Naturally one would want to distance oneself from the Nazi
>> sign, so the notion came about, based on incomplete information, that the
>> "true" swastika spins clockwise where the false, bad Nazi one goes the
>> other way.
>> --
>
>In some traditions the one way is good and the other bad. The pattern
>shows up all over the place: in Native American traditions, Hindu,
>Buddhist (a sign of a Buddha is being born with the chest hair arranged
>as a swastika) and even in common English sewing patterns -- called a
>fylfot.
I brought back a bath robe from Indonesia back in 1992. The robe
had an intricate pattern on it, but I never paid any attention
until one day my brother came by the house while I was still in
my pajamas. He wanted to know where I got the Nazi sleep wear.
I didn't know what he was talking about until he pointed out the
swastikas all over the thing. Good think it wasn't something
I might have worn out of the house. I might have gotten killed.
Dan Harper
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