The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric TimesWilson, Thomas
Religion
The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times
Wilson, Thomas
Industries, Primitive; Swastikas; Symbolism
Thus are formed in this chart four specimens of the Swastika, with
the cross and circle at the intersection of the arms. The plumes have a
small black spot at the tip end of each.
[Illustration: Fig. 257. WAR SHIELD USED BY THE PIMA INDIANS. Ogee
Swastika (tetraskelion) in three colors: (1) blue, (2) red, (3) white.
Cat. No. 27829, U. S. N. M.]
[Illustration: Fig. 258. WAR SHIELD WITH OGEE SWASTIKA IN CENTER. Pima
Indians. The hole near the lower arm of the Swastika was made by an arrow.
Property of Mr. F. W. Hodge.]
Dr. Matthews informs me that he has no knowledge of any peculiar meaning
attributed by these Indians to this Swastika symbol, and we know not
whether it is intended as a religious symbol, a charm of blessing, or good
luck, or whether it is only an ornament. We do not know whether it has any
hidden, mysterious, or symbolic meaning; but there it is, a prehistoric or
Oriental Swastika in all its purity and simplicity, appearing in one of
the mystic ceremonies of the aborigines in the great American desert in
the interior of the North American Continent.
_The Pimas._--The U. S. National Museum possesses a shield (Cat. No.
27829) of bull hide, made by the Pima Indians. It is about 20 inches in
diameter, and bears upon its face an ogee Swastika (tetraskelion), the
ends bent to the right. The body and each arm is divided longitudinally
into three stripes or bands indicated by colors, blue, red, and white,
arranged alternately. The exterior part of the shield has a white ground,
while the interior or center has a blue ground. This shield (fig. 257) is
almost an exact reproduction of the Swastika from Mycenæ (fig. 161), from
Ireland (fig. 216), and from Scandinavia (figs. 209 and 210). Fig. 258
shows another Pima shield of the same type. Its Swastika is, however,
painted with a single color or possibly a mixture of two, red and white.
It is ogee, and the ends bend to the left. This shield is the property of
Mr. F. W. Hodge, of the Bureau of Ethnology. He obtained it from a Pima
Indian in Arizona, who assured him that the hole at the end of the lower
arm of the Swastika was made by an arrow shot at him by an Indian enemy.
COLONIAL PATCHWORK.
[Illustration: Fig. 259. COLONIAL PATCHWORK WITH FIGURES RESEMBLING
SWASTIKAS. Scribner's Magazine, September, 1894.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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