Sunday 23 July 2006
a swastika on the doorstep
Recently when my 'My #1 Fan' came to visit my place with some friends, I left them hanging out on the front porch when they first arrived. 'My #1 Fan' happened to notice a hooked-cross symbol on the doorstep threshhold of my neighbor's entrance door.
Sherry said to me, "Your #1 Fan wants to know why there are swastikas on that doorstep. I think he's concerned Nazis live there."
I hadn't noticed it myself before, but luckily I had already met my new neighbor, a cute & friendly old Indian man.
I took a look, and said, "That's not a Nazi swastika, it's a Hindu symbol."
It really is too bad that Nazis have inflicted so much damage, that continues in the form of having corrupted an age-old benign, even positive symbol -- the swastika.
The swastika has been a symbol of 'the wheel of life', representing the positive energies of the universe in the Hindu tradition, for thousands of years before it was adopted by Adolf Hitler & the Nazis. The word "swastika", itself, is from the ancient Sanskrit language, and usage of the swastika symbol apparently dates back to the Paleolithic era at least.
I blogged about this topic about a year & a half ago. But I suppose this was before 'My #1 Fan' was my number one fan.
Watermelon Punch, the Blog - Side-Blog - 22 Jan 2005 | swastika, the hooked cross origin
Wikipedia has a lot of information on the history of the symbol, including several visual aids:
Swastika - Wikipedia
posted by Chloe | Sunday 23 July 2006 7:53 PM
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