Swastika at Brewood

The swastika symbol is now so associated with Nazism that there is a feeling of distaste whenever one sees it.
So, it’s quite a shock to see it in the design of the floor-tiles in a church - as here, in the parish church in Brewood.

Of course, what we sometimes forget is that the swastika is an ancient, very widespread symbol, which is used quite innocently all over the world - and in fact was innocently used all over Europe too, right up to the 1930s. (The English writer Rudyard Kipling even had it as his personal symbol, until it became inappropriate).
It has lots of meanings, though sometimes it was just decorative, like here at Brewood.

The tiles you see were probably installed in Brewood in the early 1900s.

There is also a strange myth that the Nazi version of the swastika, which is generally left-facing, like this one at Brewood, was deliberately faced in the reverse way to the ancient swastika. In fact the ancient swastika could face either left or right.


Links: Brewood Parish Church / Meaning of the Swastika