BOC: Gigs in M.E.262land (was: Dino-tours)

[Carl E. Anderson]

> >         The "swastika" is an ancient symbol of good luck, associated with
> > Indo-European sky/thunder gods (i.e. Thorr/Tor) and that is precisely why
> > the Nazis appropriated it.
>
> ...and inverted it (turning a good luck symbol into a bad luck symbol?)

        No, this is a common post-Nazi bit of folklore.  The swastika
originally could have it's points in either direction.  It depended on
how the artist/inscriber/whatever perceived the thing as facing.
Sunwise/Clockwise is always the direction of good luck for Indo-European
cultures (and many others).  However, people did not always agree on
whether the arms of the swastika should be *pointing* sunwise or whether
the swastika was *turning* sunwise (causing the arms to trail
counter-sunwise/counter-clockwise.
        What would be the point of creating a bad-luck symbol for your
movement?  That would just bring bad luck on you!

        Both directions were used before the Nazi's (in fact their direction
might have been slightly more common) and both are still used in areas
where the Nazi abomination has not overshadowed the symbols original
significance.  We'd all be seeing a lot more of this symbol if it
weren't for the Nazi's.

Cheers,
Carl "I knew that folklore degree would be good for something" Anderson

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Carl Edlund Anderson              "So that's Terra.  Oohwee, look out
ASNAC Dept., Cambridge U.          wenchlings, here come the Hawklords."
cea20 at cus.cam.ac.uk                -Lord Lemmy (Hawkwind, _Space Ritual_)
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