The Swastika: The Earliest Known Symbol & its Migrations
Dispersion of the Swastika
Page 92
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.
ThePimas. --- 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 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 Buereau 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.
In
Scribner's Magazine for September, 1894, under the title of "Tapestry
in the New World," one of our popular writers has described, with
many illustrations, the bedquilt patterns of our grandmothers' time. One
of these she interprets as the 
Swastika. This is, however, believed to be forced. The pattern in question
is made of patches in the form of rhomboids and right-angled triangles
sewed and grouped somewhat in the form of the Swastika (fig. 259). It
is an invented combination of patchwork which formed a new pattern, and
while it bears a slight resemblance to the Swastika, lacks its essential
elements. It was not a symbol, and represents no idea beyond that of a
pretty pattern. It stood for nothing sacred, nor for benediction, blessing,
nor good luck. It was but an ornamental pattern which fortuitously had
the resemblance of Swastika. It was not even in the form of a cross. The
difference between it and the Swastika is about the same there would be
between the idle and thoughtless boy who sporadically draws the