what did the swaztika originally stand for?

Question

before hitler used it?wasn't it like a sign of peace or culture for the japanese or something?

Answer 1

~The swastika is at least 3,000 years old and has been found on coins excavated from the ruins of Troy, dating from at least 1,000 BCE.

Cultures as diverse as the Trojans, the Romans, the Iroquois, the Chinese, the Greeks, the Asian Indians, Medieval English and the Swedes, to name a few, have used the swastika by one name or another throughout history . The meaning and symbolism vary by culture. It is frequently a symbol of luck or representative of some deistic or theological belief. There are as many meanings for it as there are cultures who have used it.

The origin is lost in the clouds of history. However, the figure appears naturally in the process of basket weaving. Given the diversity of the groups who used it and the varying things it has represented to different cultures over time, it is likely that the swastika, by any of its numerous names, was culled from those baskets and produced independently due to it's simplicity and eye catching attractiveness. It has been used by various Christian sects as a version of the cross. It was used extensively in architecture and decoration throughout Europe and the US simply as artistic embellishment until the National Socialists adopted it as their political, and later, national, symbol and is still in use today throughout Asia and Indonesia with and without some underlying meaning.

Answer 2

It is a good luck symbol that has been used for millennia in several cultures. The design has been woven into blankets in Native American tribes and is most noted for its presence in East India which I believe is where Hitler's Aryan race is resident.
It's just too bad that it is now only associated with Nazis.

Answer 3

As many have pointed out, the symbol was long used by many cultures. Most often it was a symbol of luck and prosperity. In fact that's one of the reasons the Nazis adopted the swastika in the first place. Unfortunately their association with it has tainted a once proud symbol.

Answer 4

The swastika is one of the oldest symbols in history.

Before the Nazis usurped its meaning, it was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck.

Answer 5

I've seen it in the history of several cultures although the vanes are most often turned the other way. American Indians are one. I think It represented a wheel, like in circle of life.

Answer 6

The Swaztika is a 1,000 year old Buddhist symbol. Buddhist monks in Japan and China still wear it today and have large swaztika emblems on their temples. It has nothing to do with Nazism.

Answer 7

The Swastika is a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It means well-being.