Bisbee daily review., 1907-09-04
SWASTkKA LORE
 DATES BEFORE CHRIST
Emblem of Good Luck. Nov the Craze, Is Really OyeI. 2500 Years 0Id-lnyOIyed in Ayan Race,

The present great craze for the swdstika as an article Of adornment has provided the public with an en- tirely new topic of conversation. 1 Everybody is asking what the swas- l tika is, where it originated and how it came to be the fashion so suddenly and nine people cut cf ter will say 1t is a North American Indian good luck emblem which has come into fashion just as Indian bead work, h. dian baskets, hand hammered silver bracelets and necklaces and dozen other specimens of Indian handicrafJ have become popular in America. The tenth person will say it is Japanese
 tor Chinese) character meaning gCCd
 luck, and right there the argument
 which makes the subject interesting
 will begin. As Q matter of fact nelJh- CT theory is correct for the swaStika is of prehistoric origin and no one really knows when and where il was first used.
 The word swastika is SanscTit 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 l the many forms of the cross and is found in almost all parts of the globe 1 Y was a mystic symbol used by sev- . eral East Indian secIs and was equal
 ly well known by Brahmans and Bud dhists The Buddhists regarded it i as a holy and sacred symbol and it 1 appears in the famous footprints of Buddha,' It is seen on vases and pot 1 tery of Rhodes and Etruria in the IL. f,D sculpture and pottery of India, China and Japan, upon Greek cases. in Az . tee stone carving and in American In-
 dia pottery and textile designs. Its use is distributed through Great Brit ian. Scandinavia, Germany, France, Spain. Italy southwestern Europe. Persia. Armenia. Egypt, northeastern
 Africa. India. Thibet. China. Korea,
 Japan. the United States, Central
 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.
 yolved in the great question of the
 scattering of the ATyan race. It is
 believed by some to be the oldest
 Aryan symbol and is supposed to
 have appeared in the Orient and to , have moved westward. It's appear
 ance in Aztec remains and its use al
 the present day among the Indian tribes of the United States opens UT 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 . world and the so-called abOrigines O1 the new world.
 The real and original significance = of the swastika is as little known as it's origin and the explanation of the
 symbol differs according to the race , using it. The general idea of good rather than evil fortune seems alway.
 to have been attached to it, however
 The American Indians believe wear . ing the swastika will ward off sick
 ness and misfortune, and they use , in the negative sense as a preventa tive agency rather than actively as bestOwer of good luck and happiness 4 as it seems to have been used by oth . CT people. Some writers say the en
 blem of Zeus, Baal, the sun, the sun ,; god; the sun Chariot of Agni. the fire II god; Indra, the rain-god; the sky I the skygod light or the god of light lightning, water and finally the grea
 Jehovah. Others think it was used t 7, represent BTahma, VishnU, Siva, tn u Creator, preserver. destroyer and sti !, others that it stood for Jupiter, ToI U ans and -plnEinG- af thn I atinE.- and if ! Thor of the Scandinavians. but a agree that it has been erroneousl l. considered a variety of the Thor han mer or Tau cross.
 Il Students have speculated and thu o- oTized about the swastika for the la! two centuries. and beyond the fat 2 that it has been in use almost sinc II the beginning of time by some n