Who put the little baby swastika on the floor?

[baratron]

Today our neighbours had a swastika daubed on the paving stones in their front garden.

It took me a few fractions of a second to figure out that it was, in fact, a Hindu-style swastika rather than a Nazi-style swastika. (The difference is hard to see for people unfamiliar with the swastika as anything other than a symbol of Nazism - but Hindu or Buddhist-style swastikas are straight rather than at 45 degrees, and often feature dots placed inside each of the four spokes). Also, the two swastikas in the design were placed on either side of a large brightly-coloured flower, which just didn't seem very fascist. Also the fact it was done in chalk, and still present at 3.30 in the afternoon when the house was full of people implied it was probably supposed to be there.

Nonetheless, I had momentary panic thinking "Oh my God, the neighbours have had a swastika drawn in their garden!!", remembering they are a family of brown-skinned people and wondering what on earth I should do, before I realised it was (probably) harmless.

Part of me still wonders if I should knock on the door to make sure they know the swastikas are there. But knocking on the door of people you barely even recognise to ask them a question about a sign that's been in use for thousands of years seems pretty clueless. (I'm reminded of the time I stopped by a large demonstration of brown-skinned people who were supporting the BNP in great confusion because the British BNP is a far-right we're-not-racist-honest-we-just-want-to-stop-immigration party and I couldn't understand why non-white people would want to support them, to be told "No, we're protesting about the government trying to ban the Bangladeshi National Party.") And besides, how many people would want a neighbour they barely even recognise to knock on the door asking questions about religion? (I know I certainly wouldn't want it.) And the design honestly seems peaceful - I just can't see how a large flower could be hateful. On the other two sides there is a star and crescent, which is clearly a sign of Islam. Do Muslims use the swastika as well? Or maybe the design represents a wish for peace between Hindus and Muslims - which makes sense politically.

Or am I just looking for an excuse not to have to knock on someone else's door and take an interest in them?

The whole thing further emphasises how little I know about most of the world religions. It sucks that my eyes can turn a sign of peace and good luck into something evil, simply because of lack of familiarity with the religious meaning. Has there been a Hindu festival this weekend? I know the Muslims have had Eid, which is the end of the Ramadan fast and roughly equivalent to Christmas - but all I know about that is pretty much what I've learned from the couple of Muslim students I have. I really, really want to do a comparative religion course, looking at maybe 6 or 7 of the major religions in some detail over a year - just to learn more about them. But a) I haven't seen anything like that advertised, b) I have no copious free time, and c) I already know what I believe and don't want to be sold any of the religions - which is often the problem with that sort of thing.

And part of me is just pointing in utter horror and saying "Only you could see a swastika in a neighbour's garden and make a livejournal post all about yourself".

Comments

[mjl]

There has been a Hindu festival this weekend - it was diwali on Friday.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

The Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles is housed in a building that was originally a Buddhist temple. As a result, the staircase features sauvastikas in the wrought iron work. They need to have a sign explaining the symbolism so that people aren't distraught.

I don't think your entry is self-centered. It's more a case that the Nazis really did manage to do one of the most powerful cases of symbol appropriation in world history. I don't know if East Asian maps still point out Buddhist sites with a sauvastika. They used to.

[mjl]

Hrm... that comment looks a bit terse. I don't see anything wrong in your lack of familiarity with swastikas in non-Nazi contexts - you're familiar enough to think of other contexts after thinking for a second, which is more than most people outside of East/South Asia. As for the comparative religion, if you have the motivation and not the time for courses, there must be decent books on the subject if you could find someone suitable to recommend them (or maybe you've done that already...)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I'd wondered about Diwali, but I thought that was usually in December. Different calendar systems are another thing I'm fairly clueless about, beyond knowing they exist. And yes, Richard has an entire book about the calendar, which is geeky enough to be a cure for insomnia if you could read it for long enough to fall asleep without needing to gnaw your own leg off...

Apparently at the weekend they had a load of candles outside in the garden, so that was probably for Diwali.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I don't think that lj entry is self-centred, more that my whole life is. A proper explanation of that would take far longer to write than I have time or mental energy for at the moment, but it's to do with being depressed while living nowhere near the poverty line and in a safe part of the world. I do everything I can to fight it - both the good deeds that I do because I feel I have to (recycling everything that's possible, only taking public transport, trying to avoid generating unnecessary waste) and good deeds that I do for no reason other than to spread good karma (like giving people presents just because I can). But my life is still fundamentally self-centred, because on some level it has to be if I am going to keep on existing.

And it's just that sometimes (or often) I run up against things that I realise aren't part of my worldview, because although I'm supposed to be so bloody well educated, I still know hardly anything about the world. And that feels... odd. Especially as there's only so much poking at things outside my worldview that I can handle before I start to get overwhelmed and depressed (and I'm pretty sane these days!).

I don't know if this actually answers anything or just raises more questions. Oh well.

Wikipedia claims that strict vegetarian food in China is (still) marked with a swastika to show it is safe for Buddhists to eat. I'll have to look out for that.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Ah! Yes, I think I understand now.

I have a friend in somewhat similar circumstances who says he's got "poor little rich boy" syndrome, because while he's not rich in a "have TV specials made about one" sense, he is definitely in the "nowhere near the poverty line, and unlikely to be near it", while coping with depression.

[mhw.livejournal.com]

Poor guy... happiness will see you through times of no money far better than money will see you through times of no happiness, at least in my experience. Even though, of course, money does help if you need meds to get you through the Slough of Despond. I hope things improve speedily for him.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I don't get the impression that he's actually over the brink, just edging up to it. But it's kind of you to be concerned.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

> Who put the little baby swastika on the floor?

Wasn't it on the wall. :-) Sometimes our tastes in music coincide.

As for the original sun sign I saw one on the telly yesterday and did a similar double-take before realising what it probably was.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

> Wikipedia claims that strict vegetarian food in China is (still) marked with a swastika to show it is safe for Buddhists to eat.

I can ask my chinese IC friend if you like.

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

Diwali is around end October/early November each year - perfect timing for places to have an excuse to put up their Divali/Christmas lights up once in mid October, and for Diwali/Guy Fawkes fireworks to go on for a week or two.

A festival of light at this time of year sounds like a fine plan to me. My ex-minion brought in a big box of Indian sweets yesterday to celebrate, which was also a good thing (I have a weak spot for boiled-down condensed milk with coconut and lurid colouring)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Ain't that the truth?

Of course, the way I usually see that written is $drug_of_choice will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no $drug_of_choice, which is a fairly nonsensical statement. If you have money, why don't you use some of it to buy your $drug_of_choice?!

It works much better with "happiness".

[baratron.livejournal.com]

In the song it was on the wall - and it was spelled "swastikkka" - probably because Skunk Anansie were multiethnic enough to know about the two types of swastika.

My tastes in music are pretty broad and bound to overlap with most people's :) I hate the modern type of music called R&B (as opposed to actual Rhythm & Blues, which I merely don't care much for), don't care much for rap or so-called garage pop. Techno I can take or leave depending on how repetitive & shouty it is. Jazz of most descriptions I can only tolerate as long as there is a tune rather than just freeform noodling around it. Anything else, I'll listen to at least once. Even Country & Western (!).

Most of what I listen to these days is labelled as Lo-Fi (American-style Indie - Pixies, Eels, deUS etc), Wildhearts & related bands, modern punk, and 80s or 80s-style pop. I still like a lot of old Heavy Metal and even some Nu Metal - I just don't necessarily listen to it at home.