# Swastika in Graceland Cemetery **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swastika-in-graceland-cemetery/494872 "2009-04-30T18:16:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swastika-in-graceland-cemetery/494872/21 "2009-05-01T14:59:07Z")
Within the Boy Scout organization there is an “elete” group today known as “Order of the Arrow”. Prior to WW-II it was known as the “Order of the White Swastika” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swastika-in-graceland-cemetery/494872/22 "2009-05-01T15:30:12Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > Within the Boy Scout organization there is an “elete” group today known as “Order of the Arrow”. Prior to WW-II it was known as the “Order of the White Swastika” I’m an Arrowman, and I believe you’re mistaken. There were Orders of the White Swastika at three Scout camps in Ohio, New York and Missouri in the 1920s, IIRC, but the Order of the Arrow was founded in 1921 and has always borne the name it still has. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swastika-in-graceland-cemetery/494872/23 "2009-05-01T21:48:08Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > Just last night I spotted a swastika in the illustrations in Rudyard Kipling’s “Just So Stories” (which have a heavy Indian influence). My mom has a copy of Kipling’s short stories bound in leather, with a big gold swastika embossed on the spine. She also has an antique poster advertising the Santa Semana celebration in Spain, that looks an awful lot like a KKK cross burning at first glance. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swastika-in-graceland-cemetery/494872/24 "2009-05-02T04:19:43Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > …She also has an antique poster advertising the Santa Semana celebration in Spain, that looks an awful lot like a KKK cross burning at first glance. You mean these guys? [http://alternika.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/image.jpg](http://alternika.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/image.jpg) [http://www.jansochor.com/photo-essay/holy-week/cofradia-brotherhood-malaga-spain-02.jpg](http://www.jansochor.com/photo-essay/holy-week/cofradia-brotherhood-malaga-spain-02.jpg) [http://www.betweenthelands.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/CIMG2369%20young%20black%20and%20white%20hood.jpg](http://www.betweenthelands.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/CIMG2369%20young%20black%20and%20white%20hood.jpg) Yeah, that’s weird. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swastika-in-graceland-cemetery/494872/25 "2009-05-02T04:56:43Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > Within the Boy Scout organization there is an “elete” group today known as “Order of the Arrow”. Prior to WW-II it was known as the “Order of the White Swastika” It’s not “elite” at all, it’s a popularity contest. The most popular scouts are elected. I beleive the original name was _Wimachtendienk._ It was more or less based upon the Masons, etc. to start. Basicly, it’s a “lodge” of some of the more popular boys with the usual “secret handshakes” and such stuff. > **[Order of the Arrow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Arrow)** > > The Order of the Arrow (OA) is the honor society of Scouting America, composed of Scouts and Scouters who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives as elected by their peers. It was founded as a camp fraternity by E. Urner Goodman, with the assistance of Carroll A. Edson, in 1915. Although it began without national approval, it was eventually admitted as an "Official Experiment" of Scouting America. In 1948, following an extensive review, it became a program of the organizatio... nother version of the swastica is the fylfot: > **[Fylfot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fylfot)** > > The fylfot or fylfot cross (/ˈfɪlfɒt/ FILL-fot) and its mirror image, the gammadion, are types of truncated swastika, associated with medieval Anglo-Saxon culture. It is a cross with perpendicular extensions, usually at 90° or close angles, radiating in the same direction. However – at least in modern heraldry texts, such as Friar and Woodcock & Robinson (see § Bibliography) – the fylfot differs somewhat from the archetypal form of the swastika: always upright and typically with truncated limbs... ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swastika-in-graceland-cemetery/494872/26 "2009-05-02T06:16:19Z")
It also exists in [Buddhism and Hinduism.](http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/symbols/swastika.htm) As someone else has noted, it can point either way. I saw one recently on one of those little buddha statuettes they sell in some asian shops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swastika-in-graceland-cemetery/494872.md?page=1)