Before the Nazis hijacked it, the world used to love swasitkas, it was a symbol of luck

• Strangeness

Arguably, the swastika is now widely perceived as a trademark of evil and closely associated with the Nazi party. Understandably, now, whenever we stumble across something, whatever it is, with a swastika symbol, instantly we perceive it as a Nazi object. However, before the Nazi hijacked the symbol in 1920, the swastika was  a popular symbol of luck in the Western World in the early 20th century, as it had long been in Asia. It is considered to be a sacred and auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism religions.Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period and was first found in the Mezine, Ukraine.
It has been used as a decorative element in various cultures since at least the Neolithic. It is known most widely as an important symbol long used in Indian religions, denoting “auspiciousness.”In many Western countries, the swastika has been stigmatized because of its use in and association with Nazism. It continues to be commonly used as a religious symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism.
Western literature’s oldest term for the symbol, gammadion cross, derives mainly from its appearance, which is identical to four Greek gamma letters affixed to each other. The name swastika comes from the Sanskrit word svastika (Devanāgarī: स्वस्तिक), meaning “lucky or auspicious object

But, when the Nazis rose as a party and did what they did,  the symbol became suddenly associated with evil. Below is a list of uses of the symbol, before it was hijacked by the Nazis.

1.Laundry

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The Swastika Laundry was a laundry founded in 1912, located on Shelbourne Road, Ballsbridge, a district of Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by John W. Brittain (1872–1937) from Manorhamilton, County Leitrim who was one of the “pioneers of the laundry business in Ireland” having founded the Metropolitan and White Heather Laundries in 1899. He was also the owner of a famous horse called Swastika Rose which was well known “to frequenters of the Royal Dublin’s Society’s Shows”.In 1939, the laundry changed its name to the “The Swastika Laundry” to make clear the distinction between its use of the name and the symbol and the recent adoption of the symbol by the Nazi Party in Germany.

2.Brewery

Carlsberg’s Elephant Tower.Source

The Danish 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 Nazi Party in neighbouring Germany. However, the swastika carved on elephants at the entrance gates of the company’s headquarters in Copenhagen in 1901 can still be seen today.

3. Religion

Korean temple.Source

In Christianity, the swastika is used as a hooked version of the Christian Cross, the symbol of Christ’s victory over death. Some Christian churches built in the Romanesque and Gothic eras are decorated with swastikas, carrying over earlier Roman designs. Swastikas are prominently displayed in a mosaic in the St. Sophia church 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.

Nepalese Buddhist gompa, Swayambhunath, Kathmandu, showing swastika designs on curtains. 1973.Source

The swastika is an important Hindu symbol. It is traced with the finger with sindoor on the head or body during Hindu religious rites, and on doors on festival days – notably on diwali, or deepavalli. It is painted on many, if not most, three-wheel auto-rikshas and trucks. In all these uses it is a lucky charm protecting the bearer or owner from evil and attracting good.

It is also said to represent God (the Brahman) in his universal manifestation, and energy (Shakti). It represents the four directions of the world (the four faces of Brahma). It also represents the Purushartha: Dharma (natural order), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire), and Moksha (liberation).

Swastika symbol carved on the window of Lalibela Rock hewn churches, Ethiopia.Source

Jainism gives even more prominence to the swastika as a tantra than Hinduism does. It is a symbol of the seventh tīrthaṅkara, Suparśvanātha. In the Śvētāmbara tradition, it is also one of the aṣṭamaṅgala. All Jain temples and holy books must contain the swastika and ceremonies typically begin and end with creating a swastika mark several times with rice around the altar. Jains use rice to make a swastika in front of statues and then put an offering on it, usually a ripe or dried fruit, a sweet (Hindi: मिठाई miṭhāī), or a coin or currency note. The four arms of the swastika symbolize the four places where a soul could be reborn in the cycle of birth and death – svarga “heaven”, naraka “hell”, manushya “humanity” or tiryancha “as flora or fauna” – before the soul attains moksha “salvation” as a siddha, having ended the cycle of birth and death and become an omniscient being.

4. Art

Mosaic swastika in excavated Byzantine.Source

In Chinese 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 space between the lines has a distinctive shape, the sayagata pattern is sometimes called the “key fret” motif in English.

5. Sport

Fernie Swastikas women’s hockey team, 1922.Source

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In January 1922, the Fernie Ladies Hockey Team was named the Fernie Swastikas. The uniform was composed of white knickers and red sweaters. The Swastikas would appear at the 1922 Calgary Winter Carnival and played the Calgary Regents.

6. Architecture

Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington swastikas.Source

Ancient Greek architectural, clothing and coin designs are replete with single or interlinking swastika motifs. There are also gold plate fibulae from the 8th century BC decorated with an engraved swastika. Related symbols in classical Western architecture include the cross, the three-legged triskele or triskelion and the rounded lauburu.

73 Troy Street in Verdun, Montreal.Source

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 Greek gamma (Γ) letters. Ancient Greek priestesses would tattoo the symbol, along with the tetraskelion, on their bodies. Ancient Greek architectural designs are replete with the interlinking symbol.

Swastika pattern in a Venetian palace that likely follows a Roman pattern, at Palazzo Roncale, Rovigo.Source

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