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The swastika is a symbol with many styles and meanings and can be found in many cultures. The appropriation of the swastika by the Nazi Party is the most recognisable modern use of the symbol in the Western world. The swastika (卐 or 卍) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, and it is also seen in some African and ...
Swastika comes from Sanskrit (Devanagari: स्वस्तिक), and denotes "conducive to well being or auspicious". In Hinduism, the clockwise symbol is called swastika symbolizing surya (sun), prosperity, and good luck, while the counterclockwise symbol is called sauvastika symbolizing night or tantric aspects of Kali.
The swastika is an ancient Baltic thunder cross symbol (pērkona krusts; also fire cross, ugunskrusts), used to decorate objects, traditional clothing and in archaeological excavations. [1] [2] [3] Latvia adopted the swastika, for its Air Force in 1918/1919 and continued its use until the Soviet occupation in 1940.
[1] Exceptions to this include characters in certain writing systems that are also in use as political or religious symbols, such as 卐 (U+5350), the swastika encoded as a Chinese character (although it is also encoded as a religious symbol at U+0FD5); or ॐ (U+0950), the Om symbol which is, strictly speaking, a Devanagari ligature.
[49] [50] The symbol was also adopted by Byzantine vassals, like the Gattilusi who ruled Lesbos after 1355, or the Latin lords of Rhodes Vignolo dei Vignoli and Foulques de Villaret. It was placed on the walls of Galata , apparently as a sign of the Byzantine emperor's—largely theoretical—suzerainty over the Genoese colony.
After the appropriation of the swastika by Nazi organisations, the term fylfot has been used to distinguish historical and non-Nazi instances of the symbol from those where the term swastika might carry specific connotations. The word "swastika" itself was appropriated into English from Sanskrit in the late 19th century. [24]
A swastika shape is a symbol in the culture of the Guna people of Guna Yala, Panama. In Guna tradition it symbolises the octopus that created the world, its tentacles pointing to the four cardinal points. [62] In February 1925, the Guna revolted vigorously against Panamanian suppression of their culture, and in 1930 they assumed autonomy.
The Nazis' principal symbol was the swastika, which the newly established Nazi Party formally adopted in 1920. [1] The formal symbol of the party was the Parteiadler , an eagle atop a swastika. The black-white-red motif is based on the colours of the flags of the German Empire .