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.
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.
You mean these guys?
http://alternika.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/image.jpg
http://www.jansochor.com/photo-essay/holy-week/cofradia-brotherhood-malaga-spain-02.jpg
Yeah, that’s weird.
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.
nother version of the swastica is the fylfot:
It also exists in Buddhism and Hinduism. 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.