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Ahoy, there, Whyville! Apparently, one of the face parts I made last year (called "daytime television") has recently been noticed by a few Whyvillians who are offended by the design on the shirt. The shirt features a cross in scale 1, and a counterclockwise swastika in scales 2, 3, and 4. My fellow Whyvillians believe this part was created as a sort of hate crime against the Jewish community. Methinks it's time for a short but very useful history lesson so my fellow Whyvillians may learn how to differentiate between the two symbols, as both have very different meanings. Let's begin, shall we?
Counterclockwise Swastika:
Actually, the word "swastika" itself originates from the Sanskrit 'svastika'. "Su" means "good, "asti" means "to be", and "ka" was used as a suffix.
The counterclockwise swastika is an ancient symbol, used for thousands of years (artifacts including coins and pottery from ancient Troy indicate the swastika was a regularly-used symbol dating back as far as 1000 BCE). The symbol represents power, strength, peace, sun, and good luck and has been used by many cultures in India, China, Japan, southern Europe and even Native Americans.
In today's society, Hindus and Buddhists still commonly use the swastika as a heavily religious symbol.
Clockwise Swastika:
In the mid-nineteenth century, to counter the stigma of youth and the sensation of youth, German nationalists started using the swastika to represent a long Aryan (German) history, because it had ancient Aryan and Indian origins. Toward the ending of the 1800s, the swastika was the official symbol of the German Gymnasts' League and was boldly declared on nationalist German volkisch periodicals. The swastika became even more commonly used as the twentieth century went on.
Now, here's where the meaning of the clockwise swastika changed. In 1920, Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany, decided to use the swastika as the emblem of the Nazi Party's insignia and flag. Because of this, the clockwise swastika was then considered a symbol representing antisemitism, violence, murder, death, and all-around hate.
These two very different meanings still cause conflict today in society (hence why people are arguing about my facepart). As seen on an ancient Chinese silk drawing, the circular direction of the swastika was interchangeable in ancient times. Since the two conflicting sides of the story need a way to differentiate the "good" swastika from the "bad" swastika, they vary the direction. The clockwise version represents Nazi Germany, and the counterclockwise version still holds true to the ancient meaning: life and good fortune.
My face part, again, has a COUNTERCLOCKWISE swastika symbol on it. The part was created to represent the true, positive meaning. Let's be mature about this article and not go around drawing swastikas on everything and using the "its the GOOD swastika!" excuse when you get in trouble. A lot of people clearly do not know the real meaning, and it pains me to see how ignorant people today are.
Signing off,
kittypet
Author's Note: Sources:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007453
http://history1900s.about.com/cs/swastika/a/swastikahistory.htm
http://www.iearn.org/hgp/aeti/aeti-1997/swastika.html
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