Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-09-07
SWAST|kA SIGN
 CENTURIES 0LD
Emblem of Good Luck, Now the Craze, Is Really Over 2,50O Years Old-In- volved in Aryan Race.

The present great craze for the swas- tika as, an article of adornment has pro- vided the public with an entirely new topic of conversation. Everybody is asking what the swastika is, where it originated and how it came to be the fashion so suddenly, and nine people out of ten will say it is a North American Indian good luck emblem which has come into fashion just as Indian bead work, Indian baskets, hand hammered silver bracelets and necklaces and n dozen other specimens of Indian hand. craft have become popular in America. The tenth person will say it is Japan csc Cor Chinese) character meaning good luck, and right there the argu- ment which makes the subject interest ing will begin. As matter of fact, neither theory is correct, for the swas- tika is of prehistoric origin and no one really knows when and where it was first used.
 The work swastika is Sanscrit and means happiness, pleasure, good luck, and the symbol which the word rep resents dates from remotest antiquity. The swastika is the most ancient of the many forms of the cross and is found in almost all parts of the Globe. It was mystic symbol used by sev- eral East Indian sects and was equally well known by Brahmins and Buddhists.
 The Buddhists regarded it as holy and sacred symbol and it appears in the famous footprints of Buddha." It is seen on vases and pottery of Rhodes and Etruria in the mural decorations of ancient Troy, in sculpture and pottery of India, China and Japan, upon Greek cases, in Aztec stone carving and in American Indian textile and pottery de- signs. Its use is distributed through Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, southwestern Flu rope, Persia, Armenia, Egypt, north eastern Africa, India, Thibet, China, Korea, Japan, the United States, Cen tral America, Brazil and the Argentine Republic. Historically it was first at tested on coins of Kranando about $50 B. C., but its origin must have been centuries earlier.
 The swastika is believed to be in volved in the great question of the scat tering of the Aryan race. It is believed by some to be the oldest Aryan symbol and is supposed to have apeared in the Orient and to have moved westward. It's appearance in Aztec remains and it's use at the present day among the In. dian tribes of the United States opens up a problem in anthropology that is of absorbing interest to students, since it serves as a connecting link between the oldest civilizations of the old worlG and the so-ealled aborigines of the new world.
 The real and original significance of the swastika is as little known as its origin and the explanation of the symbol differs according to the race using it. The general idea of good rather than evil fortune seems always to have been attached to it, however. The American Indians believe wearing the swastika will ward off sickness and misfortune, and they use it in the mega tive sense as a preventative agency rather than actively as a bestower of good luck and happiness, as it seems to have been used by other people. Some writers say the emblem of Zeus, Baal, the sun, the sun god, the sun chariot of Agni, the fire god, Indra, the rain god, the sky, the sky god, light or the god of light, lightning, water and finally the great Jehovah. Others think it was used to represent Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, the Creator, preserver, destroyer and still others that it stood for Jupiter, Tonans and Pluvius of the Latins and for Thor of the Scandinavians, but all agree that it has been eroneously con sidered a variety of the Thor hammer or Tau cross.
 Students have speculated and the orized about the swastika for the last two centuries, and beyond the fact that it has been in use almost since the be- ginning of time by some nations and with some significance, little definite knowledge has been gained. Burnouf's definition of the swastika-"a mono grammatic sign of benediction of good augury twill therefore stand until someone discovers it's origin and true meaning and traces its progress step by step through the various branches of the human race. Meanwhile the pub lie will continue to buy and wear the quaint amulets and all sorts of uses will be made of them until Dame Fash ion wearies of them and turns her at ,a,notb;no pou