My Dainty Swastikas
Someone gave me a pair of swastikas as a wedding gift.
They were quite beautiful: delicate, pure gold swastika earrings, with subtle etchings along the front and edges. I wish I had taken a picture of them – and of my husband’s face when he opened the gift. I still don’t know who the giver was, but I suspect it was an older Auntie with superb taste and very few NRI relatives.
I’m almost certain it was Auntie since almost all of the single men at our wedding gave the simpler gift of money. Superb taste is certain, given the quality of the gift – similar to the other earrings I received:
NRI stands for non-resident Indians – citizens who live in countries other than
You see, in Hinduism, the swastika is an ancient symbol for good luck. And while it’s known that Hitler co-opted the symbol for his own use, the first and primary connotation in
Of course, Aditya, being born and raised in
Luckily for him, they’d been traveling in
I think it’s the little cultural things, like using swastikas as decorative items, that make you more aware of being in an intercultural relationship than any of the major things, such as food, clothing, or family practices. It’s that little unexpected jar to the system, a reminder that, hey, this person grew up in a fundamentally different culture from me. These little things, however, are the easiest to get used to, though they may look odd to an outsider (”Yes, that’s a swastika in the painting on the living room wall. No, we’re not planning a Blitzkrieg against France anytime in the near future.”).
The swastika earrings situation was easily resolved, like most little cultural things. Maa, having traveled to the
***Aditya’s older brother, whom we both call “Dada” (which means older brother in Bengali), lives only a few miles away from my dad’s house in
If you enjoyed this post - or hated it - I'd love to hear your comments, so leave one below!
If you found Gori Girl interesting, consider subscribing to the Gori Girl feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader. You can also subscribe to the comments feed.
Previous Post: Indian Survial Guide: How to Eat Indian Food (Part I)
Next Post: What Counts as an Intercultural Relationship?
Comments
It’s not at all surprising that the Indian grandmother sent over something with swastikas as a gift: it’s a very common symbol for marriage-related things, since it’s considered so auspicious. Of course, Aditya only remembered this *after* his father had had our wedding invitations printed up in India. Luckily, Baba chose a design without swastikas - we had a few moments of panic while examining them to make sure this was something we could safely send through the US mail system.
My sources (an Indian friend who’s still awake) tell me that “bloody” is a no-no word for kids in India, but doesn’t have that much bite among adults unless combined with a more, uh, expressive word. Also, there’s a faint “trying to sound British” and/or “mocking the British” connotation when it’s used.
This post was very amusing!(”Yes, that’s a swastika in the painting on the living room wall. No, we’re not planning a Blitzkrieg against France anytime in the near future.”)
lol
This subject also reminds me of the time my daughter say a friends rakhi with the swastika on it. Innocently and sweetly she asked “oh, did you used to be a nazi?”
Hi Mirchi - thanks for stopping by and sharing your cute story! Was your daughter just being mischievous, or did she not know the non-Nazi meaning of the swastika?
We avoided swastikas at all costs for our wedding — it would have been especially uncouth with my very German maiden name! We used either little Ganesha outlines (on our invitations) or ohm symbols (on the anterpat) instead.
I just found your blog and found this entry hilarious. I, too, am a white American who got married to her Indian husband in India. And during the whole wedding, we stood on a giant drawing of a swastika. I also realized my in-laws painted them on top of each door in their apartment.
I, too, have a really long German surname, D, and my husband kept teasting me about this the whole time we were there…
I hadn’t even thought of the problems that might arise from a marriage where the white spouse had a German last name! Good thing that you were able to use other traditional auspicious symbols, D.
And Ana, thanks for stopping by! My inlaws don’t have many swastikas around the house - Baba prefers Ganeshas, I think. Did any of the (Indian) guests even notice the swastika at the wedding + German last name thing?
Leave a comment
If you'd like to keep track of future comments on this post, consider subscribing to the comments feed of Gori Girl by clicking here.
I have heard a similar story from someone who had an Indian grandmother; she gave him a beautiful bracelet decorated with swastikas to give to his fiancee and couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t want to give it to her. Very interesting how something can mean something very different in different cultures! Same thing with “bloody” and “bugger”– kinda quaint and cute “alternates-for-swears” in America but in England, horribly rude! My grandma is from England and my dad and his sibs say that she would say “s**t” all the time when mildly angry– but if she started in with the “bleedin’” and “bloody”, you ran.