We took to the sanctuary of the tiny Nine stones stone circle, sheltered beneath the branches of a spectacular mature beech tree, with massive fungus colonies sprouting from its roots. It’s a very sweet stone circle which was perhaps used by both local people and travellers using the trackway that is now the busy A35.
Some tosser or tossers has chosen to decorate the monument with flowers. One bunch, still wrapped in its sellophane, had been left at the base of the tree. Another bunch had been placed in a log vase in the centre of the circle, around which was arranged some twigs to form the arms of a reversed swastika. Perhaps the same tosser who did this scratched the graffiti at the Hellstone?
Two things: 1. How come the people who apparently have enough ‘respect’ to lay flowers as some kind of offering at an ancient monument, can’t be arsed to respect the 1. environment by taking their sellophane wrappings aways with them? and 2. the feelings of other visitors for who the swastika means nazism and is therefore deeply offensive? You can be sure that the swastika twigs did not stay very long! Moth unwrapped the flowers and took away the sellophane to dispose of correctly.
To be fair, the swastika was 'hijacked' by the Nazi's (from Finland, if memory serves) and is a much more ancient and noble symbol than a bunch of facsists could grasp. An Indian (sub continent, not red) grave may have a 'Swastika' on it, but Indians ain't fascists. The wheel of life was used by Hitler and inverted.
I hear what you're saying 'bout plastic, votive junk is a problem at sites (e.g. waylands.) Flowers is organic and will be gone in a short while.
Hope you find no offence here,
WF x
I don't think its fair to say that the svastika shouldn't be used because its meaning has been lost and some people have missused it. It is the symbol of Brahma in our house and we would consider it offensive if we were told we couldn't honour a sacred place with a sacred symbol. You can't undo thousands of years of belief, regardless of what it has become. Lots of people these days use stone circles to drink, do drugs and light fires, doesn't mean thats what they mean to all of us, or that our understnading of them is no longer relevent.
Oh, and it wasn't me that put the symbol there!! I realised it looked like I was defending something I did! Not the case, I actually WOULDN'T cover things in svastikas, but my other half is hindu and gets very cross if people take offense at something that is so important to him and I was just pointing out that it can be offensive from both points of view.
(hope I havn't upset anyone!)