For week 5 we have been given an assignment to look at the swastika in objects from different cultures and give our opinions about the importance of this symbol on these objects. Learning about a symbol of this importance in so many different cultures shows how one thing can mean so much to people in different ways.
I started by researching about swastika and what it meant. It is derived from the Sanskrit “svastika” which refers to “well-being” and “good luck”. Swastika has many other meanings and religious beliefs attached to it. It’s origin happened thousands of years ago in different civilizations.
This is a tomb of Bishop
Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman-Biggs who died in 1922. He was an influential Church of England clergyman who served as the only Bishop of Southwark to be a suffragan bishop (in the Diocese of Rochester). On the band around his mitre are three distinct swastikas. The tomb of a Bishop of Coventry has a ‘relief’ of him over the grave. His Mitre (Bishop’s hat) has a band decorated with Swastikas. According to me the importance of this symbol on the tomb could be for his soul to rest in piece in a positive manner. It could also be there to show how great he was and people think of his well being.
The use of the swastika as an African symbol is an established tradition that still flourishes today amongst the Akan or Ashanti people of western Africa. The swastika is also one of the Akan people’s famous Adinkra symbols. According to me the importance of the symbol could be for a sign of good luck when you give them to someone and it could be auspicious for the people.
This is a red, white and black swastika design outside the barriers to the District Line service at the Upminster Bridge tube station in Hornchurch, east London. According to me the importance of this could be to have a positive atmosphere. Generally Hindus make swastika on their main doors for luck, positivity and to make it auspicious. The importance of the symbol being used here could be similar.
Overall, swastika has had a very positive and auspicious importance in different cultures except when Hitler used it as a sign of pure evil. The importance and beliefs with swastika changed from time to time and culture to culture.
Learning Portfolio 