Reasons...

Greetings Dear Reader!

"Everything happens for a reason."

The R and x written by a doctor in the prescription he writes, the 'Swastika' on the Nazi flag, a dove with an olive branch in its beak and a thumbs up to show 'Okay'. There's a reason why these famous symbols were adopted where they are. An the unknown history of some of the famous symbols is the topic of discussion for today.

Coming directly to the point, let's have a look at the reasons behind the adoption of these famous symbols.

(1.)

The Swastika is considered as a holy symbol of Hinduism. The origin of Swastika dates 4600 years ago during the Sindhu civilization when the Aryans accepted it as a religious symbol.

The Swastika

In the 19th century, Heinrich Schliemann, a German archaeologist discovered ancient remains which had scriptures in ancient German language with the symbol of Swastika on it.The linguists recognized the writings to be in the Indo-German language known as 'Proto'. This proved that Germans too, like the people of the Sindhu civilization, were the descendants of the Aryan race.

The Nazi Flag

On December 25, 1907, a group of Germans formed a union identifying themselves as Aryans. They unfurled a flag with the symbol of the Swastika that represented their group. Various other groups who were in their favour of driving Jews away from Germany also used the Swastika symbol. Hitler had spent some of the initial years of his life in this political environment. Thus when he came to power, he chose the Swastika as a symbol to represent the Nazis party.

(2.)

Before writing a prescription for the patient, the doctor writes the letters R and x. But what does 'R and x' stand for?

Many years ago, medicines were prepared by expert pharmacists in mortar and pestle, as per the proportion of various medicines mentioned by the doctor in his prescription. Thus the mortar and pestle became a symbol of pharmacy. Letters R and x written by the doctor in the prescription meant 'recipere' which means 'to be consumed accordingly' in Latin. The English word 'recipe' is derived for the said Latin word. Eventually, writing R and x became customary for the doctors before prescribing medicines.

(3.)

Those who deal with the stock market might be familiar with the words 'bull' and 'bear' since they indicate the rise and fall of the stock prices and the position of the overall market. A situation with rising stock prices is known as 'bullish' because a bull locks its horns and hits the bear's head upwards. On the other hand, a declining market is called 'bearish' as during an attack, a bear pushes its paw downwards.

Those who take interest in the stock market might know that there are people called 'bears' in the stock market. The reason why they're called so is this-

In the 17th century, when the Europeans colonized North America, they had to use animal fur to keep themselves warm during the extremely cold winter. Due to its huge size, bearskin was highly in demand and therefore led to its shortage. Anticipating further shortage, the bearskin supplier would strike a deal with the traders and commit its supply at a stipulated price in future based on the season and its prospective demand. These deals could not be considered genuine as it was quite likely that the supplier had promised the supply of bearskin stock without the confirmation of its availability. These speculative traders therefore became known as 'bears'. In the stock market terminology, traders known as 'bears' sell the stock at a higher price and buy it back at a lower price. 

(4.)

The United Nations Organization (UNO) has recognized the symbol of two olive branches as its emblem. Since the dove is a non-violent, herbivorous and a docile bird, it is selected as the symbol of peace. But there's more to the story. One more explanation justifies the selection of dove as a symbol of peace.

According to the Bible, during the great floods, Patriarch Noah sent a dove to find out the situation and whether the flood waters had receded or not. The dove brought the good news of the waters receding and things restoring back to normal. Thereafter, the dove was considered as a symbol of peace.

Another lesser known fact is that nearly 2500 years ago, there were constant conflicts between the princely states such as Sparta, Athens and Thebes of Greece. Doves were used as messengers for communication between the two battalions of army during the war. Therefore, every time a dove was spotted it was immediately killed by the opponent's army in order to stop any communication. Even if the dove brought a message of peace or compromise, it would meet the same fate. As a result, it was decided that if the dove is sent with a peace message, it should be sent with an olive branch in its beak.

(5.)

A symbol of thumbs up is indicated as a sign of 'Okay'. In Brazil, it is considered as 'Thank You'. In Russia it means 'Bravo' and in India it means negative or no. Do you know the origin of this practice?

In ancient Rome, swordsmen, known as gladiators would entertain the audience by fighting violent fights with wild animals. The gladiator had to either win or lose his life. In certain cases, if the gladiator would get seriously wounded without any scope of retaliation; his opponent would pose with the sword pointed at his chest and await the King's instruction. If the King signaled a thumbs down, it meant that the defeated gladiator had to be killed or else if the King furled a flag, the defeated gladiator was to be granted life. Thus a thumbs down meant negative which automatically suggested that a thumbs up meant positive.

(6.)

China is closely associated with dragons. So much so that China is called the 'Land of Dragons'. The symbol of a dragon is included in various political, social and cultural events of China and is given its due importance and respect.

The reason behind dragon being so closely associated with China is that according to the traditional Chinese calendar, each year is identified by the name of a particular animal namely rabbit, tiger, bull, mouse, pig, dog, cock, monkey, sheep, horse, snake and dragon. The calendar follows a 12-year cycle which restarts after the end of the 12th year. It is believed that a child born in the 'Year of the Dragon' lives a long, healthy and wealthy life and is intelligent, strong and active and gets the best in life. The dragon is therefore symbolized as good luck in China. 2024 is the next 'Year of the Dragon'.

The traditional Chinese calendar

Well, that was quite interesting wasn't it? Want more? Take a look at a set of another 10 symbols whose origins have been forgotten here.

Now for the bitter part, I have come to an end of this post. I love hearing from you, so please drop in your reviews/suggestions in the comments below. The next post will be a combination of the past and the present. Meaning that I shall tell you about the 'Ancient and Modern Seven Wonders of the World'. I hope I'm keeping up with the promise of keeping you entertained with my posts and if I am, I'd appreciate it if you shared the link to this blog. Thank you! Bye! :)

Source: Safari India