The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1908-04-24
SWASTIKA.

onAollhA. liSul ohSiO at tho
end, meets the eye everywhere.
Nearly every woman who buys one
knows that 1t Is in some sense good
luck pin," but how 1t came to be con-
sidered such and where the peculiar
and curiously attractive symbol origi-
mated is known to comparatively few
persons.
The swastika is one Of the great re-
ligious symbols of the world. 1t has
been recognized as religious emblem
by more people, very likely, than has
the cross itself. AS such symbol 1t Is
very many hundreds of years older
than the Christian era, In fact, 1t Is
perhaps, the very earliest of religious
signs or characters. 1t has been re-
vered all over Europe and Asia, and
long before the dawn of Christianity
our pagan ancestors looked up to 1t,
as the emblem Of what they worship
ed. 1t is one of the oldest things in
history, and there Is scarcely a land
In whose ruined temples it is not
found
"Swastika," the name given 1t by
the Brahmins and Buddhists of India,
Is a Sanscrlt word signifying "of good
fortune" In the Pail tongue 1t Is
"suti," which means "It is WE'LL" or
so be it," which Is much the same
meaning as the Sanscrit word The
japanese call 1t "manjr' and the Chi
nese call 1t "manji' and the Chinese
know 1t as "ouan" or wan" The
French call it lie croix pattee," the
footed cross, while the ancient Eng
lish name is "fy-fot," meaning either
four-footed or many-footed.
The most puzzling and most inter
esting thing about the swastika Is that
1t is found in nearly all parts Of the
world, in this country as well as in
Europe and Asia, wherever archaeolo-
gists dig up the buried cities of the
remote past. Drawn, painted, cut,
woven, scratched or otherwise design
ed, not only upon burial urn and sacri-
flcial stone, but also upon utensils and
objects Of everyday use, the curious
symbol appears.
1t has been found among relics that
mark the bronze age in Europe and
some antiquarians believe they have
discovered the fact Of Its existence In
the so-called polished stone age of
man.
Prof. Schlieman found 1t at Hissar-
lik In the buried cities that underlay
the ancient Troy, of which Homer
sang, which indicates Its existence at
a period from 1900 to $500 years ago.
Those who look upon the region to
he northwest Of India as the primal
home of the blonde races of the world
also consider that ancient land as be-
Ing the birthplace of the swastika. r.
?. Greg, an eminent English authority,
argues that 1T was a much-used and
favorite religious symbol among the
earlier Aryan races, and was intended
by them, In the first instance, to rep
resent In cruciform shape an ideo-
graph or symbol suggested by the fork
ed lightning" Our primal white for
bears worshiped Dyausoltar (Jupiter),
the sky father, and the jagged light
ming was the natural emblem of this
awful power.
With the successive emigratlons of
the Aryans from northern India all
over Europe, the swastika spread and,
adopted as symbol Of Buddha In the
seventh century before Christ, 1t was
later carried into China and Japan.
The Arabs and Jews knew 1t not, nor
did the ancient Egyptians, but they
were not Of Aryan blood
Thus the hammer of Thor, the Scan
dinavian deity for whom Thursday is
named, was this very same swastika
which the maiden OF to-day is using to
ornament summer shirt waist 1t
was with his mighty hammer, Mioll-
ner, that Thor is fabled to have crush
ed the head of the Midgard serpent,
destroyed the giants, restored to life
the dead goats which drew his car and