BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW THIS

What most of us know about the swastika is that, historically it represented National Socialism also referred to as Nazism and, of course the Nazi Party: A German political organization which took form around the year 1920 but, led by the infamous Adolf Hitler rose to prominence during the 1940s during which the party, formerly referred to as the National Socialist German Workers’ Party(Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) transmogrified into the Nazi militia: a political, paramilitary entity replete with a police force known as the Gestapo. BET YA DIDN’T KNOW that the swastika was not always a symbol of hatred and the barbaric cruelty perpetuated by the Third Reich driven by an unrealistic desire for a pure German race Swastika: Swas-ti-kas [swòstkə] is a noun and is defined as (1) an even cross, the arms of which are bent at right angles. Since all four bars point in the same direction . . . with the four ends of the arms bent at right angles in a clockwise or counterclockwise position; also defined as (2) an ancient religious symbol formed by a Greek cross. The symbol is Greek by origin. “In 1921 Hitler was elected ‘unlimited chairman’ of the party, which in the same year adopted as its official emblem a flag consisting of a red field in the center of which was a large white circle containing a black swastika”(Encarta). According to wiki.answers.com: The swastika is a well-known good-luck symbol from India. . . . In Sanskrit, swastika means "conducive to well-being". In the Buddhist tradition, the swastika symbolizes the feet or footprints of the Buddha and is often used to mark the beginning of texts. Modern Tibetan Buddhism uses it as a clothing decoration. With the spread of Buddhism, it has passed into the iconography of China and Japan where it has been used to denote plurality, abundance, prosperity and long life. And Check This Out: In India, Hindus use the swastika to mark the opening pages of account books, thresholds, doors, and offerings. The right-hand swastikas are a solar symbol and the left-hand version represents Kali and magic. Among the Jains (A religion of India) it is the emblem of their seventh Tirthankara (A traditional holy man). In ancient Mesopotamia it was a favorite symbol on coinage In Scandinavia it was the symbol for the god Thor's hammer. In early Christian art it was called the gammadion cross because it was made of four gammas. Swastikas have also been found in Mayan and Navajo art. Send Us Some Stuff & Bet Us That We Didn't Know