Swastika

 
The swastika (卐) (Sanskrit: स्वस्तिक) is an equilateral cross with four arms bent at 90 degrees. The earliest Template:Wiki Template:Wiki of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki as well as the Mediterranean Classical Antiquity. Swastikas have also been used in various other Template:Wiki Template:Wiki around the world including China, Japan, India, and Southern Template:Wiki. It remains widely used in Indian religions, specifically in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, primarily as a tantric symbol to evoke shakti or the sacred symbol of auspiciousness. The word "swastika" comes from the Sanskrit svastika - "su" meaning "good" or "auspicious," "asti" meaning "to be," and "ka" as a suffix. The swastika literally means "to be good". Or another translation can be made: "swa" is "higher self", "asti" meaning "being", and "ka" as a suffix, so the translation can be interpreted as "being with higher self".

The swastika is a Template:Wiki character, defined by Template:Wiki Template:Wiki, published in 1716, as "Template:Wiki of Template:Wiki. It is used mostly in Buddhist classic texts", by extension, the word later evolved to represent Template:Wiki and Buddhism.

The symbol has a long history in Template:Wiki reaching back to antiquity. In Template:Wiki times, following a brief surge of popularity as a good luck symbol in Template:Wiki, a swastika was adopted as a symbol of the Template:Wiki Party of Template:Wiki in 1920, who used the swastika as a symbol of the Aryan race. After Template:Wiki came to power in 1933, a right-facing 45° rotated swastika was incorporated into the Template:Wiki party flag, which was made the state flag of Template:Wiki during Nazism. Hence, the swastika has become strongly associated with Nazism and related ideologies such as antisemitism, hate, Template:Wiki, death, and murder in many countries, and is now largely stigmatized there due to the changed connotations of the symbol. Notably, it has been outlawed in Template:Wiki and other countries if used as a symbol of Nazism in certain instances . Many Template:Wiki Template:Wiki extremists and Neo-Nazi groups such as the Template:Wiki National Unity use stylized swastikas or similar symbols.

Name

The word swastika came from the Sanskrit word, meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote auspiciousness, or any piece of luck or well-being.

It is composed of su- meaning "good, well" and asti "to be". Suasti thus means "well-being." The suffix -ka either forms a diminutive or intensifies the verbal meaning, and suastika might thus be translated literally as "that which is associated with well-being," corresponding to "lucky charm" or "thing that is auspicious." The word in this sense is first used in the Template:Wiki. The Template:Wiki does have the word, but in an unrelated sense of "one who utters words of Template:Wiki".

The most traditional form of the swastika's symbolization in Jainism is that the four arms of the swastika remind us that during the cycles of birth and death we may be born into any one of the four destinies: heavenly beings, human beings, animal beings, (including birds, bugs, and plants) and hellish beings. Our aim should be the liberation and not the rebirth. To show how we can do this, the swastika reminds us that we should become the pillars of the four fold Jain Sangh, then only can we achieve liberation. The four pillars of the Jain Sangh are sädhus, sädhvis, shrävaks, and shrävikäs. This means that first, we should strive to be a true shrävaks or shrävikäs, and when we can overcome our Template:Wiki attachments, we should Template:Wiki the worldly life and follow the path of a sädhu or sädhvi to be Template:Wiki.

The most traditional form of the swastika's symbolization in Hinduism is that the symbol represents the purusharthas: dharma (that which makes a human a human), artha (wealth), kama (desire), and moksha (liberation). All four are needed for a full life. However, two (artha and kama) are limited and can give only limited joy. They are the two closed arms of the swastika. The other two are unlimited and are the open arms of the swastika.

The Mahabharata has the word in the sense of "the crossing of the arms or hands on the Template:Wiki". Both the Mahabharata and the Template:Wiki also use the word in the sense of "a dish of a particular form" and "a kind of cake". The word does not occur in Template:Wiki. As noted by Template:Wiki in his Sanskrit-English Template:Wiki, according to Alexander Cunningham, its shape represents a monogram formed by interlacing of the letters of the auspicious words su-astí (svasti) written in Ashokan characters.
Hindu child with head shaven and red Svastika painted on it. Upanayana is a very popular Hindu-tradition, a Samskara or Sanskar (consecration).

The Sanskrit term has been in use in English since 1871, replacing gammadion (from Template:Wiki γαμμάδιον). Alternative historical English spellings of the Sanskrit Template:Wiki words with different meanings to include suastika, swastica, and svastica.

Other names for the shape are:

    crooked cross, hook cross or angled cross (Hebrew: צלב קרס, Template:Wiki: Hakenkreuz).
    cross cramponned, ~nnée, or ~nny, in heraldry, as each arm resembles a Crampon or angle-iron (Template:Wiki: Winkelmaßkreuz).
    fylfot, chiefly in heraldry and architecture. The term is coined in the 19th century based on a Template:Wiki of a Template:Wiki Template:Wiki.
    gammadion, tetragammadion (Template:Wiki: τετραγαμμάδιον), or cross gammadion (Template:Wiki: crux gammata; Template:Wiki: croix gammée), as each arm resembles the Template:Wiki letter Γ (gamma).
    tetraskelion (Template:Wiki: τετρασκέλιον), literally meaning "four legged", especially when composed of four conjoined Template:Wiki (compare Template:Wiki (Template:Wiki: τρισκέλιον)).
    The Tibetan swastika (࿖) is known as g.yung drung

The Buddhist sign has been standardized as a Template:Wiki character 卍 (pinyin: wàn) and as such entered various other Template:Wiki languages such as Japanese where the symbol is called 卍字 (manji). The swastika is included as part of the Template:Wiki script in the form of the character "萬" (pinyin: wàn) and has Template:Wiki encodings U+534D 卍 (left-facing) and U+5350 卐 (right-facing); the latter has a mapping in the original Big5 character set, but the former does not (although it's in Big5+ ). In Template:Wiki 5.2, four swastika symbols were added to the Tibetan block: U+0FD5 ࿕ (right-facing), U+0FD6 ࿖ (left-facing), U+0FD7 ࿗ (right-facing with dots) and U+0FD8 ࿘ (left-facing with dots).
Geometry

Geometrically, the swastika can be regarded as an irregular icosagon or 20-sided polygon. The proportions of the Template:Wiki swastika were fixed based on a 5 × 5 diagonal grid.

Characteristic is the 90° rotational Template:Wiki and chirality, hence the absence of reflectional Template:Wiki, and the existence of two versions of swastikas that are each other's mirror image.

A right-facing swastika might be described as "Template:Wiki" or "counter-clockwise".

The mirror-image forms are often described as:

    Template:Wiki and anti-clockwise;
    left-facing and right-facing;
    left-hand and right-hand.

"Left-facing" and "right-facing" are used mostly consistently referring to the upper arm of an upright swastika facing either to the viewer's left (卍) or right (卐). The other two descriptions are Template:Wiki as it is unclear whether they refer to the arms as leading or being dragged or whether their bending is viewed outward or inward. However, "Template:Wiki" usually refers to the "right-facing" swastika. The terms are used inconsistently in Template:Wiki times, which is confusing and may obfuscate an important point, that the rotation of the swastika may have symbolic relevance, although Template:Wiki Template:Wiki scripts describe the symbolic relevance of clock Template:Wiki and counter clock Template:Wiki. Less Template:Wiki terms might be "clockwise-pointing" and "counterclockwise-pointing."

Template:Wiki ensigns had a through and through image, so both versions were Template:Wiki, one on each side, but the Template:Wiki flag on land was right-facing on both sides and at a 45° and 90° angle.

The name "sauwastika" is sometimes given to the left-facing form of the swastika (卍).
Origin Template:Wiki

Among the earliest cultures utilizing swastika is the Template:Wiki Vinča culture of South-East Template:Wiki (see Vinča symbols). More extensive use of the Swastika can be traced to Template:Wiki, during the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki.

The swastika is a repeating design, created by the edges of the reeds in a square basket-weave. Other theories attempt to establish a connection via Template:Wiki diffusion or an explanation along the lines of Carl Jung's collective unconscious.

The genesis of the swastika symbol is often treated in Template:Wiki with cross symbols in general, such as the Template:Wiki cross of Template:Wiki Bronze Age religion. Beyond its certain presence in the "proto-writing" symbol systems emerging in the Template:Wiki, nothing certain is known about the symbol's origin. There are nevertheless a number of speculative Template:Wiki. One Template:Wiki is that the cross symbols and the swastika share a common origin in simply symbolizing the Template:Wiki. Another Template:Wiki is that the 4 arms of the cross represent 4 aspects of nature - the Template:Wiki, wind, water, soil. Some have said the 4 arms of cross are four seasons, where the division for 90-degree sections correspond to the Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki. The Hindus represent it as the Universe in our own spiral Template:Wiki in the fore finger of Lord Vishnu. This carries most significance in establishing the creation of the Universe and the arms as 'kal' or time, a calendar that is seen to be more advanced than the Template:Wiki (symbolized by the lunar crescent common to Template:Wiki) where the seasons drift from calendar year to calendar year.

The luni-solar Template:Wiki for correcting season drift was to intercalate an extra month in certain years to restore the lunar cycle to the solar-season cycle. The Star of David is thought to originate as a symbol of that calendar system, where the two overlapping triangles are seen to form a partition of 12 sections around the perimeter with a 13th section in the middle, representing the 12 and sometimes 13 months to a year. As such, the Template:Wiki cross, Template:Wiki hexagram Template:Wiki and the Template:Wiki crescent moon are seen to have their origins in different views regarding which calendar system is preferred for marking Template:Wiki days. Groups in higher latitudes experience the seasons more strongly, offering more advantage to the calendar represented by the swastika/cross. (Note relation to the Template:Wiki cross.)

Template:Wiki in his book Comet (1985) reproduces Han period Template:Wiki Template:Wiki (the Book of Silk, 2nd century BC) that shows comet tail varieties: most are variations on simple comet tails, but the last shows the comet nucleus with four bent arms extending from it, recalling a swastika. Sagan suggests that in antiquity a comet could have approached so close to Earth that the jets of gas streaming from it, bent by the comet's rotation, became visible, leading to the adoption of the swastika as a symbol across the world. Bob Kobres in Comets and the Bronze Age Collapse (1992) contends that the swastika like comet on the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki comet atlas was labeled a "long tailed pheasant Template:Wiki" (Di-Xing) because of its resemblance to a bird's foot or track. Kobres goes on to suggest an association of mythological birds and comets also outside China.

In Life's Other Secret (1999), Ian Stewart suggests the Template:Wiki swastika pattern arises when parallel waves of neural activity sweep across the visual cortex during states of altered consciousness, producing a swirling swastika-like image, due to the way quadrants in the field of vision are mapped to opposite areas in the Template:Wiki.
Template:Wiki record
The Samarra bowl, at the Pergamonmuseum, Template:Wiki. The swastika in the center of the design is a reconstruction.

The earliest swastika known has been found from Mezine, Ukraine. It is carved on late Template:Wiki figurine of mammoth ivory, being dated as early as about 10,000 BC. It has been suggested this swastika is a stylized picture of a stork in flight.

In India, Bronze Age swastika symbols were found at Lothal and Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki on Template:Wiki seals. In Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki or Bronze Age stone carvings of the symbol have been found on Ilkley Moor.

Swastikas have also been found on pottery in Template:Wiki digs in Template:Wiki, in the area of Kush and on pottery at the Jebel Barkal temples, in Iron Age designs of the northern Template:Wiki (Koban Template:Wiki), and in Template:Wiki China in the Majiabang, Dawenkou and Xiaoheyan cultures. Other Iron Age attestations of the swastika can be associated with Template:Wiki cultures such as the Indo-Iranians, Template:Wiki, Greeks, Germanics and Slavs.

The swastika is also seen in Template:Wiki during the Coptic period. Textile number T.231-1923 held at the V&A Museum in Template:Wiki includes small swastikas in its design. This piece was found at Qau-el-Kebir, near Asyut, and is dated between AD300-600.

The Tierwirbel (the Template:Wiki for "animal whorl" or "whirl of animals" ) is a characteristic Template:Wiki in Bronze Age Template:Wiki, the Eurasian Steppe, and later also in Iron Age Scythian and Template:Wiki (Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki) Template:Wiki, showing rotational symmetric arrangement of an animal Template:Wiki, often four birds' heads. Even wider diffusion of this "Asiatic" theme has been proposed, to the Pacific and even Template:Wiki (especially Moundville).
Historical use
Template:Wiki

The swastika is also a motif used by certain African groups. One of the oldest recorded uses of the swastika is in the adinkra artwork of the Akan people in Ghana. Referred to as nkotimsefuopua The swastika was used in akan goldweights as early as 1400. In 1927, Template:Wiki anthropologist Robert Sutherland Rattray noted servants in Ashanti Empire wearing the image on their dresses.
Template:Wiki

The swastika is a historical sacred symbol both to evoke 'Shakti' in tantric rituals and evoke the gods for blessings in Indian religions. It first appears in the Template:Wiki record here around 2500 BC in the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki. It also appears in the Bronze and Iron Age cultures around the Template:Wiki and the Template:Wiki. In all these cultures the swastika symbol does not appear to occupy any marked position or significance, but appears as just one form of a series of similar symbols of varying complexity. In the Template:Wiki religion of Template:Wiki, the swastika was a symbol of the revolving Template:Wiki, infinity, or continuing creation. It rose to importance in Buddhism during the Template:Wiki and in Hinduism with the Template:Wiki of Buddhism in India during the Template:Wiki. With the spread of Buddhism, the Buddhist swastika reached Tibet and China. The symbol was also introduced to Template:Wiki Hinduism by Hindu kings. The use of the swastika by the Bön faith of Tibet, as well as later Template:Wiki religions, such as Cao Dai of Vietnam and Falun Gong of China, can also be traced to Buddhist influence.
Jainism

Jainism gives even more prominence to the swastika as a tantra than Hinduism does. It is a symbol of the seventh Tirthankara, Suparshvanath. In the Svetambara tradition, it is also one of the symbols of the ashtamangala. All derasars and Template:Wiki books must contain the swastika and Template:Wiki typically begin and end with creating a swastika mark several times with Template:Wiki around the altar. Jains use Template:Wiki to make a swastika in front of statues in a temple. Jains then put an offering on this swastika, usually a ripe or dried fruit, a sweet (Template:Wiki: मिठाई, Miṭhāī), or a coin or currency note.

Hinduism

The swastika is recognized as a Hindu symbol in most parts of the world. In Hinduism, the swastika is at times in certain sects considered a symbolic representation of Ganesha. In Hindu rites, Ganesha is offered first offerings in every pooja. The swastika is made with Sindoor during Hindu religious rites.

Among the Hindus of Template:Wiki, it is common to see the name "swastika" (Template:Wiki: স্বস্তিক shostik) applied to a slightly different symbol, which has the same significance as the common swastika, and both symbols are used as auspicious signs. This symbol looks something like a stick figure of a human being. Right-facing swastika in the decorative Hindu form is used to evoke "shakti".
Buddhism

Buddhism originated in the 5th century BC and spread throughout the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BC (Template:Wiki). Known as a "yungdrung" in Template:Wiki Tibet, it was a graphical representation of Template:Wiki.
Template:Wiki traditions

The paired swastika symbols are included, at least since the Liao Dynasty, as part of the Template:Wiki writing system (卍 and 卐) and are variant characters for 萬 or 万 (wàn in Mandarin, man in Korean, Cantonese and Japanese, vạn in Vietnamese) meaning "all" or "Template:Wiki" (lit. Template:Wiki). The swastika marks the beginning of many Buddhist scriptures. In Template:Wiki countries, the left-facing character is often used as symbol for Buddhism and marks the site of a Buddhist temple on maps.

In Template:Wiki and Japanese the swastika is also a homonym of the number 10,000, and is commonly used to represent the whole of Creation, e.g. 'the Template:Wiki things' in the Dao De Jing. During the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki Zetian (684-704) decreed that the swastika would also be used as an alternative symbol of the Template:Wiki.
Hachisuka family crest is called Hachisuka Manji (蜂須賀卍?).

In Japan, the swastika is called manji. Since the Template:Wiki, it has been used as a coat of arms by various Japanese families such as Tsugaru Template:Wiki, Hachisuka Template:Wiki or around 60 Template:Wiki that belong to Template:Wiki Template:Wiki. On Japanese maps, a swastika (left-facing and horizontal) is used to mark the location of a Buddhist temple. The right-facing manji is often referred to as the gyaku manji (逆卍, lit. "reverse manji") or migi manji (右卍, lit. "right manji"), and can also be called kagi jūji (literally "hook cross").

In Template:Wiki and Japanese art, the swastika is often found as part of a repeating pattern. One common pattern, called sayagata in Japanese, comprises left- and right-facing swastikas joined by lines. As the negative space between the lines has a Template:Wiki shape, the sayagata pattern is sometimes called the "key fret" motif in English.

As a pottery graph of unknown provision and meaning the swastka-like sign is known in Template:Wiki Template:Wiki Template:Wiki (2400-2000 BCE, Liu wan 柳湾, Qinghai province).
Armenia

In Armenia swastika is called "vardan", "arevakhach" and "ker khach" and is the Template:Wiki symbol of eternal Template:Wiki (i.e. God). Swastikas in Armenia were founded on Template:Wiki. Among the oldest Template:Wiki is the seventh letter of the Template:Wiki alphabet - "E" (which means "is" or "to be") - depicted as half-swastika.
The swastika mark on the tower of Template:Wiki fortress Ani (10th century AD)
Template:Wiki necklace

Swastikas can also be seen on early Template:Wiki churches and fortresses, including the principal tower in Armenia's historical Template:Wiki of Ani. The same symbol can be found on Template:Wiki carpets, cross-stones (khachkar) and in Template:Wiki manuscripts.
Template:Wiki

In Template:Wiki, a golden necklace of three swastikas found in Marlik, Gilan province Template:Wiki, dates back to first millennium BC. There is a Swastika on the hip of a lion in the Golden cup of Hasanlu (1200 BC) and the Golden Cup of Kelardasht
Ural Mountains

In the South Ural Mountains the swastika motif is found in Template:Wiki barrows associated with an early Metal Age Template:Wiki known as Bashkir.
Template:Wiki
A borjgali


In Bronze Age Template:Wiki, the "Template:Wiki cross" (a three- or four-armed hooked cross in a circle) appears frequently, often interpreted as a Template:Wiki symbol. Swastika shapes have been found on numerous Template:Wiki from Iron Age Template:Wiki (Template:Wiki Arevakhach), Template:Wiki, Illyrian, Etruscan, Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, Slavic and Georgian Borjgali). This prehistoric use seems to be reflected in the appearance of the symbol in various Template:Wiki cultures of Template:Wiki.
Bronze Age Mycenaean "doll" with human, Template:Wiki and tetragammadion (swastika) symbols. Louvre Museum
Template:Wiki helmet with swastika marks on the top part (circled), 350-325 BC from Taranto, found at Herculanum. Cabinet des Médailles, Template:Wiki.
Two sauwastikas (opposite-facing swastikas) on an Template:Wiki Kantharos, Attica, ca. 780 BC.
Etruscan pendant with swastika symbols, Bolsena, Template:Wiki, 700-650 BC. Louvre Museum
Template:Wiki antiquity

Template:Wiki architectural, clothing and coin designs are replete with single or interlinking swastika motifs. There are also found Template:Wiki plate fibulae from the 8th century BC decorated with an engraved swastika. Related symbols in classical Template:Wiki architecture include the cross, the three-legged triskele or Template:Wiki and the rounded lauburu. The swastika symbol is also known in these contexts by a number of names, especially gammadion, or rather the tetra-gammadion. The name gammadion comes from the fact that it can be seen as being made up of four Template:Wiki gamma (Γ) letters. Template:Wiki Template:Wiki would tattoo the symbol, along with the tetraskelion, on their bodies. Template:Wiki architectural designs are replete with the interlinking symbol.

In alchemy, the gammadion was used to symbolise the four cardinal corners of the world and the guardianship of this world.

In Template:Wiki art and architecture, and in Romanesque and Gothic art in the West, isolated swastikas are relatively rare, and the swastika is more commonly found as a repeated element in a border or tessellation. The swastika often represented perpetual Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki the design of a rotating windmill or watermill. A meander of connected swastikas makes up the large band that surrounds the Augustan Ara Pacis. A design of interlocking swastikas is one of several tessellations on the floor of the cathedral of Amiens, Template:Wiki. A border of linked swastikas was a common Template:Wiki architectural motif, and can be seen in more recent buildings as a neoclassical element. A swastika border is one form of meander, and the Template:Wiki swastikas in such a border are sometimes called Template:Wiki keys. There have also been swastikas found on the floors of Pompeii.
Template:Wiki

The bronze frontspiece of a ritual pre-Christian (c. 350-50 BC) shield found in the River Thames near Battersea Bridge (hence "Battersea Shield") is embossed with 27 swastikas in bronze and red enamel. An Ogham stone found in Anglish, Co Kerry, Ireland (CIIC 141) was modified into an early Template:Wiki gravestone, and was decorated with a cross pattée and two swastikas. The Book of Kells (ca. 800) contains swastika-shaped ornamentation. At the Northern edge of Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire, there is a swastika-shaped pattern engraved in a stone known as the Swastika Stone. The figure in the foreground of the picture is a 20th century replica; the original carving can be seen a little farther away, at left of center.
Template:Wiki Iron Age

The swastika shape (also called a fylfot) appears on various Template:Wiki Migration Period and Viking Age Template:Wiki, such as the 3rd century Værløse Fibula from Zealand, Template:Wiki, the Gothic spearhead from Brest-Litovsk, today in Belarus, the 9th century Snoldelev Stone from Ramsø, Template:Wiki, and numerous Migration Period bracteates drawn left-facing or right-facing.
A comb with a swastika found in Nydam Mose, Template:Wiki.
Swastika symbols on the Template:Wiki of Template:Wiki Pantocrator (13th-14th century) in Nesebar.

The Template:Wiki Template:Wiki ship burial at Sutton Hoo, Template:Wiki, contained numerous items bearing the swastika, now housed in the collection of the Template:Wiki Museum of Archaeology and Template:Wiki. The Swastika is clearly marked on a hilt and sword belt found at Bifrons in Kent, in a grave of about the 6th century.

Hilda Ellis Davidson theorized that the swastika symbol was associated with Template:Wiki, possibly representing his hammer Mjolnir - symbolic of thunder - and possibly being connected to the Bronze Age Template:Wiki cross. Davidson cites "many examples" of the swastika symbol from Template:Wiki graves of the Template:Wiki period, with particular prominence on cremation urns from the Template:Wiki of East Anglia. Some of the swastikas on the items, on display at the Template:Wiki Museum of Archaeology and Template:Wiki, are depicted with such care and art that, according to Davidson, it must have possessed special significance as a funerary symbol. The runic inscription on the 8th-century Sæbø sword has been taken as evidence of the swastika as a symbol of Template:Wiki in Template:Wiki Template:Wiki.
Illyrians

Swastika was wide spread among the Illyrians, symbolizing the Template:Wiki. The Template:Wiki Template:Wiki was the main Illyrian Template:Wiki, and the Template:Wiki was represented by a swastika in Template:Wiki Template:Wiki, and it stood for the Template:Wiki of the Template:Wiki.
Template:Wiki

The swastika is one of the most common symbols used throughout Template:Wiki art. In Latvian the symbol is known as either Ugunskrusts, the "Fire cross" (rotating counter-clockwise), or Pērkonkrusts, the "Thunder cross" (rotating clock-wise), and was mainly associated with Pērkons, the god of Thunder and justice. It was also occasionally related to the Template:Wiki, as well as Dievs (the god of creation), Laima (the goddess of destiny and fate). It was believed that the god of Thunder (Pērkons) was the only god which was feared by the devil. The swastika is featured on many distaffs, dowry chests, cloths and other artisanal items.
Slavic

Currently, Slavic neo-pagans and neo-Nazis frequently use the standard and eight-pointed ("kolovrat") swastika. They believe that swastika and kolovrat are Template:Wiki Slavic Template:Wiki symbols.
Sami

An object very much like a hammer or a double axe is depicted among the magical symbols on the drums of Sami Template:Wiki, used in their religious Template:Wiki before Template:Wiki was established. The name of the Sami thunder god was Horagalles, thought to be derived from "Old Man Template:Wiki" (Þórr karl). Sometimes on the drums, a Template:Wiki figure with a hammer-like object in either hand is shown, and sometimes it is more like a cross with crooked ends, or a swastika.
Template:Wiki and early Template:Wiki Template:Wiki
A ceiling painted with small swastikas in Grenoble Template:Wiki Museum

In Template:Wiki, the swastika is used as a hooked version of the Template:Wiki Cross, the symbol of Christ's victory over death. Some Template:Wiki churches built in the Romanesque and Gothic eras are decorated with swastikas, carrying over earlier Template:Wiki designs. Swastikas are prominently displayed in a mosaic in the St. Sophia Template:Wiki of Kiev, Ukraine dating from the 12th century. They also appear as a repeating ornamental motif on a tomb in the Basilica of St. Ambrose in Milan.

A ceiling painted in 1910 in the Template:Wiki of St Laurent in Grenoble has many swastikas. It can be visited today because the Template:Wiki became the Template:Wiki museum of the city. A proposed direct link between it and a swastika floor mosaic in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens, which was built on top of a Template:Wiki site at Amiens, Template:Wiki in the 13th century, is considered unlikely. The stole worn by a priest in the 1445 painting of the Seven Sacraments by Roger van der Weyden presents the swastika form simply as one way of depicting the cross. Swastikas also appear on the vestments on the effigy of Template:Wiki William Edington (d. 1366) in Winchester Cathedral.
A swastika composed of Hebrew letters as a mystical symbol from the Template:Wiki Kabbalistic work "Parashat Eliezer."

In the Template:Wiki First Template:Wiki the symbol of the swastika was also popular with the nobility. According to chronicles, the Rus' Template:Wiki Oleg, who in the 9th century attacked Template:Wiki, nailed his shield (which had a large red swastika painted on it) to the city's gates. Several noble houses, e.g. Boreyko, Borzym, and Radziechowski from Ruthenia, also had Swastikas as their coat of arms. The family reached its greatness in the 14th and 15th centuries and its crest can be seen in many heraldry books produced at that time. The Swastika was also a heraldic symbol, for example on the Boreyko coat of arms, used by noblemen in Template:Wiki and Ukraine. In the 19th century the swastika was one of the Template:Wiki empire's symbols; it was even placed in coins as a background to the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki.

An unusual swastika, composed of the Hebrew letters Aleph and Resh, appears in the 18th century Kabbalistic work "Parashat Eliezer" by Rabbi Eliezer Fischl of Strizhov, a commentary on the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki Template:Wiki book "Karnayim", ascribed to Rabbi Aharon of Kardina. The symbol is enclosed by a circle and surrounded by a cyclic hymn in Aramaic. The hymn, which refers explicitly to the power of the Template:Wiki, as well as the shape of the symbol, shows strong Template:Wiki symbolism. According to the book, this mandala-like symbol is meant to help a mystic to contemplate on the cyclic nature and Template:Wiki of the Universe. The letters are the initial and final characters of the Hebrew word, אוֹר, or "Template:Wiki".

Freemasons also gave the swastika symbol importance. In Template:Wiki Northern Template:Wiki Runic Script, a counter-clockwise swastika denotes the letter 'G,' and could stand for the important Freemason terms God, Great Template:Wiki of the Universe, or Geometry.
Early 20th century Template:Wiki

In the Template:Wiki world, the symbol experienced a resurgence following the Template:Wiki work in the late 19th century of Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the symbol in the site of Template:Wiki Troy and associated it with the Template:Wiki migrations of Proto-Indo-Europeans, whose proto-language was not incidentally termed "Proto-Germanisch" by Template:Wiki language Template:Wiki. He connected it with similar shapes found on Template:Wiki pots in Template:Wiki, and theorized that the swastika was a "significant religious symbol of our remote Template:Wiki", linking Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki and Indo-Iranian cultures. By the early 20th century, it was used worldwide and was regarded as a symbol of good luck and success.

The work of Schliemann soon became intertwined with the völkisch movements, for which the swastika was a symbol of the "Aryan race", a Template:Wiki that came to be equated by theorists such as Template:Wiki with a Nordic master race originating in northern Template:Wiki. Since its adoption by the Template:Wiki Party of Template:Wiki, the swastika has been associated with Nazism, fascism, racism (white supremacy), the Axis powers in Template:Wiki, and the Holocaust in much of the West. The swastika remains a core symbol of Neo-Nazi groups, and is used regularly by activist groups.

The Benedictine choir school at Lambach Abbey, Upper Template:Wiki, which Template:Wiki attended for several months as a boy, had a swastika chiseled into the monastery portal and also the wall above the spring grotto in the courtyard by 1868. Their origin was the personal coat of arms of Abbot Theoderich Hagn of the monastery in Lambach, which bore a golden swastika with slanted points on a blue field. The Lambach swastika is probably of Template:Wiki origin. The Template:Wiki brewery company Carlsberg Group used the swastika as a logo from the 19th Century until the middle of the 1930s when it was discontinued because of association with the Template:Wiki Party in neighbouring Template:Wiki. However, the swastika carved on elephants at the entrance gates of the company's headquarters in Copenhagen in 1901 can still be seen today.
Ireland

The Swastika Laundry was a laundry founded in 1912, located on Shelbourne Road, Ballsbridge, a district of Template:Wiki, Ireland. In the fifties Heinrich Böll came across a van belonging to the company while he was staying in Ireland, leading to some awkward moments before he could realize the company was older than Nazism and totally unrelated to it. The chimney of the boiler-house of the laundry still stands, but the laundry has been redeveloped.
Template:Wiki
Template:Wiki

In Template:Wiki the swastika was often used in traditional Template:Wiki art products, as a decoration or magical symbol on textiles and wood. The swastika was also used by the Finnish Air Force until 1945, but is still used in air force flags.

The tursaansydän is used by scouts in some instances and a student organization. The village of Tursa uses the tursaansydän as a kind of a Template:Wiki of authenticity on products made there. Traditional textiles are still being made with swastikas as parts of traditional ornaments.
The insignia of the Finnish Air force 1918–1945
Swedish-origin swastika in Template:Wiki

The Finnish Air Force uses the swastika as an Template:Wiki, introduced in 1918. The type of swastika adopted by the air-force was the symbol of luck for the Template:Wiki count Eric von Rosen, who later became a prominent figure in the Template:Wiki nazi-movement.
Present-day flag (from 1958) and its pole of the Training Air Wing with three swastikas

The swastika was also used by the women's paramilitary organization Lotta Svärd, which was banned in 1944 in accordance with the Template:Wiki Armistice between Template:Wiki and the allied Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki.

The President of Template:Wiki is the grand master of the Order of the White Rose. According to the protocol, the president shall wear the Grand Cross of the White Rose with collar on formal occasions. The original design of the collar, decorated with 9 swastikas, dates from 1918, and was designed by the artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The Grand Cross with the swastika collar has been awarded 41 times to foreign heads of state. To avoid misunderstandings, the swastika decorations were replaced by fir crosses at the decision of president Urho Kekkonen in 1963 after it became known that the President of Template:Wiki Charles De Gaulle was uncomfortable with the swastika collar.

Also a design by Gallen-Kallela from 1918, the Cross of Liberty has a swastika pattern in its arms. The Cross of Liberty is depicted in the upper left corner of the standard of the President of Template:Wiki.

In December 2007, a Template:Wiki replica of the WWII period Finnish air defence's relief ring decorated with a swastika became available as a part of a charity campaign.

The original war time idea was that the public swap their precious metal rings for the State air defence's relief ring, made of Template:Wiki.
Template:Wiki

Template:Wiki adopted the swastika, called the Ugunskrusts ("fire cross"), for its air force in 1918/1919 and continued its use until 1940. The cross itself was maroon on a white background, mirroring the colors of the Latvian flag. Earlier versions pointed counter-clockwise, while later versions pointed clock-wise and eliminated the white background.
Template:Wiki


The swastika motif was used by some Native American groups. It has been found in excavations of Mississippian-era sites in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. It is frequently used as a motif on objects associated with the Southeastern Template:Wiki Complex (S.E.C.C.). It was also widely used by many southwestern tribes, most notably the Navajo. Among various tribes, the swastika carried different meanings. To the Hopi it represented the wandering Hopi Template:Wiki; to the Navajo it was one symbol for a whirling log (tsil no'oli), a sacred image representing a legend that was used in healing rituals. A brightly colored First Nations saddle featuring swastika designs is on display at the Template:Wiki Saskatchewan Museum in Canada.

A swastika shape is a symbol in the Template:Wiki of the Kuna people of Kuna Yala, Panama. In Kuna tradition it symbolizes the octopus that created the world, its tentacles pointing to the four cardinal points.

In February 1925 the Kuna revolted vigorously against Panamanian suppression of their Template:Wiki, and in 1930 they assumed autonomy. The flag they adopted at that time is based on the swastika shape, and remains the official flag of Kuna Yala. A number of variations on the flag have been used over the years: red top and bottom bands instead of orange were previously used, and in 1942 a ring (representing the traditional Kuna nose-ring) was added to the center of the flag to distance it from the symbol of the Template:Wiki party.
As the symbol of Nazism

Since Template:Wiki, the swastika is often associated with the flag of Template:Wiki Template:Wiki and the Template:Wiki Party in the Template:Wiki world.

In the wake of widespread popular usage, the Template:Wiki Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) formally adopted the swastika (in Template:Wiki: Hakenkreuz (hook-cross)) in 1920. This was used on the party's flag (right), badge, and armband.

In his 1925 work Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki wrote that: I myself, meanwhile, after Template:Wiki attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika.

When Template:Wiki created a flag for the Template:Wiki Party, he sought to incorporate both the swastika and "those revered colors expressive of our homage to the glorious Template:Wiki and which once brought so much Template:Wiki to the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki." (Red, white, and black were the colors of the flag of the old Template:Wiki Empire.) He also stated: "As National Socialists, we see our program in our flag. In red, we see the Template:Wiki idea of the Template:Wiki; in white, the nationalistic idea; in the swastika, the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work."

The swastika was also understood as "the symbol of the creating, effecting life" (das Symbol des schaffenden, wirkenden Lebens) and as "race Template:Wiki of Germanism" (Rasseabzeichen des Germanentums).

The use of the swastika was incorporated by Template:Wiki theorists with their conjecture of Aryan Template:Wiki descent of the Template:Wiki people. Following the Nordicist version of the Aryan invasion Template:Wiki, the Template:Wiki claimed that the early Aryans of India, from whose Template:Wiki tradition the swastika sprang, were the prototypical white invaders. The Template:Wiki of racial purity was an ideology central to Nazism, though it is now considered unscientific. For Template:Wiki, the Aryans of India were both a model to be imitated and a warning of the dangers of the spiritual and racial "Template:Wiki" that, he believed, arose from the close proximity of races. Thus, they saw fit to co-opt the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race. The use of the swastika as a symbol of the Aryan race dates back to writings of Emile Burnouf. Following many other writers, the Template:Wiki nationalist poet Template:Wiki believed it to be a uniquely Aryan symbol.

Before the Template:Wiki, the swastika was already in use as a symbol of Template:Wiki völkisch nationalist movements (Völkische Bewegung). In Deutschland Erwache (ISBN 0-912138-69-6), Ulric of Template:Wiki (sic) says:

    [...] what inspired Template:Wiki to use the swastika as a symbol for the NSDAP was its use by the Template:Wiki (Template:Wiki: Thule-Gesellschaft) since there were many connections between them and the DAP ... from 1919 until the summer of 1921 Template:Wiki used the special Nationalsozialistische library of Dr. Friedrich Krohn, a very active member of the Thule-Gesellschaft ... Dr. Krohn was also the dentist from Sternberg who was named by Template:Wiki in Template:Wiki as the designer of a flag very similar to one that Template:Wiki designed in 1920 ... during the summer of 1920, the first party flag was shown at Lake Tegernsee ... these home-made ... early flags were not preserved, the Ortsgruppe München (Template:Wiki Local Group) flag was generally regarded as the first flag of the Party.

José Manuel Erbez says:

    The first time the swastika was used with an "Aryan" meaning was on December 25, 1907, when the self-named Order of the New Templars, a secret Template:Wiki founded by [Adolf Joseph] Lanz von Liebenfels, hoisted at Werfenstein Castle (Template:Wiki) a yellow flag with a swastika and four fleurs-de-lys.

However, Liebenfels was drawing on an already established use of the symbol. On March 14, 1933, shortly after Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Template:Wiki, the NSDAP flag was hoisted alongside Germany's national colors. It was adopted as the sole national flag on September 15, 1935 (see Template:Wiki Template:Wiki).

The swastika was used for badges and flags throughout Template:Wiki Template:Wiki, particularly for government and Template:Wiki organizations, but also for "popular" organizations such as the Reichsbund Deutsche Jägerschaft (Template:Wiki Hunting Template:Wiki).

While the DAP and the NSDAP had used both right-facing and left-facing swastikas, the right-facing swastika was used consistently from 1920 onwards. However, Ralf Stelter notes that the swastika flag used on land had a right-facing swastika on both sides, while the ensign (naval flag) had it printed through so that a left-facing swastika would be seen when looking at the ensign with the flagpole to the right.

Several variants are found:

    a 45° black swastika on a white disc as in the NSDAP and national flags;
    a 45° black swastika on a white lozenge (e.g., Template:Wiki Youth );
    a 45° black swastika with a white outline was painted on the tail of aircraft of the Luftwaffe, and usually using a design based on a 25-small-square subdivided square template (width of "strokes" in each of its arms, equalling the width of the space between the strokes);
    a 45° black swastika outlined by thin white and black lines on a white disc (e.g., the Template:Wiki War Ensign ;
    an upright black swastika outlined by thin white and black lines on a white disc (e.g., Personal standard of Template:Wiki in which a Template:Wiki wreath encircles the swastika; the Schutzstaffel; and the Reichsdienstflagge, in which a black circle encircles the swastika);
    small Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, black, or white 45° swastikas, often Template:Wiki on or being held by an Template:Wiki, on many badges and flags.
    a swastika with curved outer arms forming a broken circle, as worn by the SS Nordland Division.

There were attempts to amalgamate Template:Wiki and Hindu use of the swastika, notably by the Template:Wiki writer Savitri Devi who declared Template:Wiki an Avatar of Vishnu (see Template:Wiki mysticism).
Post-WW II stigmatization
Origins

Because of its use by Template:Wiki Template:Wiki, the swastika since the 1930s has been largely associated with Nazism and white supremacy in most Template:Wiki countries. As a result, all of its use, or its use as a Template:Wiki or hate symbol is prohibited in some jurisdictions. Because of the stigma attached to the symbol, many buildings that have contained the symbol as decoration have had the symbol removed.
Template:Wiki


The Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki postwar criminal code makes the public showing of the Hakenkreuz (the swastika), the SS-Rune (also called Sigrune), the Template:Wiki cross (the variations used by the White-Power-Activists), the wolfsrune, the odalrune and the SS-Skull (which was used by the so-called SS-Totenkopfdivision) illegal, except for scholarly reasons (and - in the case of the odalrune - as the insignia of the rank of sergeant major, Hauptfeldwebel, in the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki Bundeswehr). It is also censored from the reprints of 1930s railway timetables published by the Reichsbahn. The Template:Wiki remains, but appears to be holding a solid black circle between its talons. The swastikas on Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain temples are exempt, as religious symbols cannot be banned in Template:Wiki.

A Template:Wiki fashion company was investigated for using traditional British-made folded leather buttons after complaints that they resembled swastikas. In response, Esprit destroyed two hundred thousand catalogues.

A controversy was stirred by the decision of several police departments to begin inquiries against anti-fascists. In late 2005 police raided the offices of the punk rock label and mail order store "Nix Gut Records" and confiscated merchandise depicting crossed-out swastikas and fists smashing swastikas. In 2006 the Stade police department started an inquiry against anti-fascist youths using a placard depicting a person dumping a swastika into a trashcan. The placard was displayed in opposition to the campaign of right-wing nationalist parties for local elections.

On Friday, March 17, 2006, a member of the Bundestag, Claudia Roth reported herself to the Template:Wiki police for displaying a crossed-out swastika in multiple demonstrations against Neo-Nazis, and subsequently got the Bundestag to suspend her immunity from prosecution. She intended to show the absurdity of charging anti-fascists with using fascist symbols: "We don't need prosecution of non-violent young people engaging against right-wing Template:Wiki." On March 15, 2007, the Federal Court of Justice of Template:Wiki (Bundesgerichtshof) holding that the crossed-out symbols were "clearly directed against a revival of national-socialist endeavors", thereby settling the dispute for the Template:Wiki.
Legislation in other Template:Wiki countries

    In Template:Wiki, it is a criminal misdemeanour to publicly display "totalitarian symbols", including the swastika, the SS insignia and the Arrow Cross, punishable by fine. Display for Template:Wiki, educational, artistic or journalistic reasons is allowed. The Template:Wiki symbols of hammer and Template:Wiki and the red Template:Wiki are also regarded as a totalitarian symbols and have the same restriction by Hungarian criminal law.
    In Lithuania public display of Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki symbols, including swastika, is an administrative offence, punishable by fine from 500 to 1000 Lithuanian litas.
    In Template:Wiki, public display of Template:Wiki symbols, including the Template:Wiki swastika, is a criminal offence punishable by up to eight years of imprisonment.

Attempt to ban in the Template:Wiki Union

The Template:Wiki Union's Executive Commission proposed a Template:Wiki Union-wide anti-racism law in 2001, but Template:Wiki Union states failed to agree on the balance between prohibiting racism and freedom of expression. An attempt to ban the swastika across the EU in early 2005 failed after objections from the Template:Wiki Government and others. In early 2007, while Template:Wiki held the Template:Wiki Union presidency, Template:Wiki proposed that the Template:Wiki Union should follow Template:Wiki Criminal Law and criminalize the Template:Wiki of the Holocaust and the display of Template:Wiki symbols including the swastika, which is based on the Ban on the Symbols of Unconstitutional Organisations Act. This led to an opposition campaign by Hindu groups across Template:Wiki against a ban on the swastika. They pointed out that the swastika has been around for 5,000 years as a symbol of peace. The proposal to ban the swastika was dropped by Template:Wiki from the proposed Template:Wiki Union wide anti-racism laws on January 29, 2007.
Template:Wiki

    The manufacture, distribution or broadcasting of the swastika, with the intent to propagate Nazism is a crime in Template:Wiki as dictated by article 20, paragraph 1, of federal Template:Wiki 7.716, passed in 1989. The penalty is a two to five years Template:Wiki term and a fine.
    The flag of the Kuna Yala autonomous territory of Panama is based on a swastika design. In 1942 a ring was added to the centre of the flag to differentiate it from the symbol of the Template:Wiki party (this version subsequently fell into disuse).

Media

In 2010, Microsoft officially spoke out against the use of the swastika in the first-person shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops. In Black Ops, players are allowed to customize their name tags to represent, essentially, whatever they want. The swastika can be created and used, but Stephen Toulouse, director of Xbox Live policy and enforcement, stated that players with the symbol on their name tag will be banned (if someone reports as inappropriate) from Xbox Live.
Satirical use

A book featuring "120 Funny Swastika Cartoons" was published in 2008 by Template:Wiki Cartoonist Sam Gross. The author said he created the cartoons in response to excessive news coverage given to swastika vandals, that his intent "...is to reduce the swastika to something humorous."

The powerful symbolism acquired by the swastika has often been used in graphic design and Template:Wiki as a means of drawing Template:Wiki comparisons; examples include the cover of Stuart Eizenstat's 2003 book Imperfect Justice, publicity materials for Constantin Costa-Gavras's 2002 film Amen., and a billboard that was erected opposite the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba, in 2004, which juxtaposed images of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse pictures with a swastika.
Controversies over Template:Wiki products

In recent years, controversy has occurred when consumer goods bearing the symbol have been exported to Template:Wiki.

When a ten-year-old boy in Lynbrook, Template:Wiki bought a set of Pokémon cards imported from Japan in 1999, his parents complained after finding that two of the cards contained the Buddhist Manji symbol which resembles a mirror reversed Template:Wiki swastika. It also caused a lot of concern amongst fans from Template:Wiki communities. Nintendo of Template:Wiki announced that the cards would be discontinued, explaining that what was acceptable in one Template:Wiki was not necessarily so in another; their action was welcomed by the Anti-Defamation League who recognised that there was no intention to be offensive but said that international commerce meant that "isolating [the Swastika) in Template:Wiki would just create more problems."

In 2002, Template:Wiki crackers containing plastic toy red pandas sporting swastikas were pulled from shelves after complaints from consumers in Canada. The manufacturer, based in China, explained the symbol was presented in a traditional sense and not as a reference to the Template:Wiki, and apologized to the customers for the cross-cultural mixup. In 2007, Template:Wiki fashion chain Zara withdrew a handbag from its stores after a customer in Template:Wiki complained swastikas were embroidered on it. The bags were made by a supplier in India and inspired by commonly used Hindu symbols, which include the swastika.
Contemporary use in Template:Wiki
 
Template:Wiki

In Template:Wiki, the swastika is Template:Wiki as a symbol of wealth and good fortune. In India and Nepal, electoral ballot papers are stamped with a round swastika-like pattern (to ensure that the accidental ink imprint on the other side of a folded ballot paper can be correctly identified as such). Many businesses and other organisations, such as the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange and the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, use the swastika in their Template:Wiki. The red swastika was suggested as an Template:Wiki of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Template:Wiki in India and Sri Lanka, but the idea was not implemented. Swastikas can be found practically everywhere in Indian and Template:Wiki cities, on buses, buildings, auto-rickshaws, and clothing. Swastika continues to be prominently used in Hindus religious Template:Wiki and temples, and is recognised as a Hindu religious symbol.In Hindu auspicious rituals that were used to evoke the 'Shakti' in tantric rituals.

In India Swastik (Swasthik) is a commonly used name for persons, especially among Jain communities.
Template:Wiki

In Template:Wiki countries such as Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and China itself, the symbol is most commonly associated with Buddhism. They could be commonly found in Buddhist temples, religious Template:Wiki, texts related to Buddhism and schools founded by Buddhist religious groups.

The Red Swastika Template:Wiki, a Template:Wiki religious group that aspires to unify Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, currently runs two schools in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Red Swastika Template:Wiki Tai Po Secondary School and Hong Kong Red Swastika Template:Wiki Tuen Mun Primary School) and one in Template:Wiki (Red Swastika School). All of them incorporated the Swastika in their school logo to signify the society's aspiration with philanthropy and moral education.

The swastika is also used in maps to denote a temple. For example, the symbol is designated by the Survey Act and related Japanese governmental Template:Wiki to denote a Buddhist temple on Japanese maps.

Hirosaki City in Aomori Prefecture designates this symbol as its official flag, which stemmed from its use in the Template:Wiki of Tsugaru Template:Wiki, the lord of Hirosaki Domain in Edo Template:Wiki. See also the section Template:Wiki traditions in this article.
Template:Wiki

In 2005, authorities in Tajikistan called for the widespread adoption of the swastika as a national symbol. President Emomali Rahmonov declared the swastika an Aryan symbol and 2006 to be "the year of Aryan Template:Wiki," which would be a time to "study and popularize Aryan contributions to the history of the world Template:Wiki, raise a new generation (of Tajiks) with the spirit of national self-determination, and develop deeper ties with other ethnicities and cultures."
New religious movements


Besides the use as a religious symbol in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, which can be traced to pre-modern traditions, the swastika is also used by a number of new religious movements established in the Template:Wiki period.

    The Theosophical Society uses a swastika as part of its Template:Wiki, along with an Om, a hexagram or Template:Wiki of David, an Ankh and an Ouroboros. Unlike the much more recent Raëlian Template:Wiki (see below), the Theosophical Society symbol has been free from controversy, and the Template:Wiki is still used. The current Template:Wiki also includes the text "There is no religion higher than truth."
    The Raëlian Template:Wiki, who believe that Extra-Terrestrials originally created all life on earth, use a symbol that is often the source of considerable controversy: an interlaced Template:Wiki of David and a swastika. The Raelians state that the Star of David represents infinity in space whereas the swastika represents infinity in time i.e. there being no beginning and no end in time, and everything being cyclic. In 1991, the symbol was changed to remove the swastika, out of respect to the Template:Wiki of the Holocaust, but as of 2007 has been restored to its original form.
    The Tantra-based new religious Template:Wiki Ananda Marga (Template:Wiki: आनन्द मार्ग, meaning Path of Bliss) uses a motif similar to the Raëlians, but in their case the apparent Template:Wiki of David is defined as intersecting triangles with no specific reference to Template:Wiki Template:Wiki.
    The Falun Gong qigong Template:Wiki uses a symbol that features a large swastika surrounded by four smaller (and rounded) ones, interspersed with yin-and-yang symbols. The usage is taken from Template:Wiki symbolism, and here alludes to a chakra-like portion of the esoteric human Template:Wiki, located in the Template:Wiki.
    The Odinic Rite claims the fylfot as a Template:Wiki symbol of Odinism, citing the pre-Christian Template:Wiki use of the symbol.