To date there does not seem to be any article of substance or importance published on this subject in English. Very little is known about these examples of the swastika in Scotland because they often appear in unexpected places, off the beaten track and the relevant artifacts are sometimes only found in museums.
In this article about the swastika in Scotland, we will look at some of the earliest examples that have been found. The story begins with that collection of Celtic warrior tribes that came to be known collectively as the Picts. They were well known for their works of art and many examples of elaborately carved stones can still be seen in the countryside.
Sometimes we come across simple swastikas, and sometimes complex designs with the general appearance of swastikas, as found on a grave slab now placed in the Meigle Museum, Perth. Four figures have been arranged in a swastika-like pattern. The style is very similar to Kells Market Cross in the Republic of Ireland.
While some of these examples clearly come from the earlier pagan period, many have a clear and unmistakable Christian connotation. So where did this symbolic device come from?
While most people refer to it as a ‘swastika’, other terms can be used. ‘Gammadion’ is particularly appropriate where the symbol originated from a classical Christian source, as found in the catacombs of Rome and elsewhere in the early centuries of the common era. Its name derives from the quadrupled Greek capital ‘Gamma’. On the other hand, ‘Fylfot-Cross’ may be used when it can be clearly shown to have originated in the British Isles, in parts of Western Europe, or when the feet of this geometric device are shorter than the crossed arms.
Was there in fact an established tradition of employing the Gammadion on grave slabs, as a Christian symbol, in the period in which the Barhobble cross slab originated? Discovered by Mrs. Sheila Cormack at Mochrum, Wigtownshire, during excavations in 1984-1994, the Barhobble cross-slab measures approximately 2 feet by 1 foot. and is in shallow relief with an expanded cross-arm, the surface of which is plain except for an incised Gammadion on the lower arm. Dating from the 10th or 11th century, it was closely associated with a local center of Christian worship.
The swastika has often been thought to have arisen from pagan sources and was later ‘Christianised’. However, we can draw attention to those influences on Celtic iconography and the symbolic tradition of the South. Both Saint Ninianus (360-432 AD) and Saint Patrick (389-461 AD) had warm contacts with the continent and, by association, with the strong symbolic traditions that emerged from those early years of Christianity in Rome. .
It has been suggested that the Vikings in their exploratory forays into Russia and beyond introduced the Gammadion as a holy symbol of Byzantium, but they were already familiar with this device, whether it was considered to be a symbol of Odin or Thor. It would seem then that neither paganism nor Christianity alone could lay claim to a symbolic device that had had such a long and complex history.
Going back to Barhobble, can we answer the question of whether there was an established and unequivocal Christian tradition of using the Gammadion on grave slabs? Evidence from neighboring districts in Scotland and the north of England seems to confirm this. In fact, there are a number of examples of parallel use in Scotland, the Isle of Man and neighboring Cumbria.
We discover a complex interplay of Celtic and Viking traditions of grave art. As in Anatolia, in Scotland, Christian sculptors were happy to use traditional pagan images but imbue them with new meaning. The cross slabs of Ireland have often held the equal-armed Greek cross in close juxtaposition with the Gammadion. In all probability they were considered by the sculptors of the time as freely interchangeable representations of the Christian cross. As we move towards the south east of Scotland we find similar examples at Cambusnethan, Wishaw and at Greens, Carnwath.
Although the matter cannot be fully proven, there is, we contend, significant evidence to suggest that many, if not all, appearances of the Gammadion in Scotland were considered by its sculptors to be legitimate variants of the Latin or Greek cross.
