An example of a lauburu: each arm can be drawn with three sweeps of a compass

The lauburu or Basque cross has four comma-shaped heads, each of which is drawn with a compass upon a scribed cross, employing in each head a common center but two settings, one the half of the other (illustration, right]]. This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship. ... This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship. ... A comma ( , ) is a punctuation mark. ...

Historians and authorities compete to apply allegorical meaning to the ancient symbol–some say it signifies the "four heads or regions" of the Basque Country [1] (http://www.bcbasque.com/HTMLfiles/lauburu.htm), even though these are in fact seven, not four; the lauburu does not appear in any of the seven coats-of-arms that have been combined in the arms of the Basque Country: Navarra, Guipuzcoa, Bizkaia, Alava, Labourd, La Soule [2] (http://gofree.indigo.ie/~janoty/euskadi/zazpiak.htm); The Basque intellectual Imanol Mujica liked to say that the heads signify spirit, life, consciousness, and form [3] (http://www.bcbasque.com/HTMLfiles/lauburu.htm) – but it is generally used as a symbol of prosperity. Many Basque homes and shops display the symbol over the doorway as a sort of talisman. In modern times it has been associated with the swastika. An allegory (from Greek αλλος, allos, other, and αγορευειν, agoreuein, to speak in public) is a figurative representation conveying a meaning other than and in addition to the literal. ... This article is about the traditional Basque domain. ... Navarra is the Spanish name for Navarre (Basque: Nafarroa), an ancient kingdom in the Pyrenees, and now a province and an autonomous community in Spain. ... Guipúzcoa (Basque Gipuzkoa, Spanish Guipúzcoa, in English sometimes as Guipuscoa) is a province of northern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. ... Categories: Spain geography stubs | Basque | Provinces of Spain | Bizkaia ... lava (Basque Araba, Spanish lava) is a province of northern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. ... Labourd (Lapurdi in Basque; from Latin Lapurdum) is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques département. ... La Soule, also known as choule, is a traditional team sport originating in Normandy, Brittany and Picardy. ... An amulet from the Black Pullet grimoire An amulet (from Latin amuletum, meaning A means of protection) consists of any object intended to bring good luck and/or protection to its owner. ... The Swastika in traditional Hindu form The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles either clockwise or anticlockwise. ...

The symbol in its positive form (right-facing) can symbolise life, and in its negative form (left-facing) death. This is the reason why many Basque tombstones display left-facing lauburus. Life is a multi-faceted concept. ... Death is either the cessation of life in a living organism or the state of the organism after that event. ...

Etymology

Lau buru means "four heads" in Basque, but it could a folk etymology applied to the Latin labarum. Folk etymology (or popular etymology) is a linguistic term for the modification of a word or phrase based on an analogy or an erroneous etymology which is popularly believed to be true. ... An image of the labarum, with the letters Alpha and Omega inscribed. ...

External link

• "La croix Basque, laubaru" (http://gofree.indigo.ie/~janoty/euskadi/croix.htm): demonstrating the layout for scribing the arms

See also

• Sauwastika
• Swastika
• Tomoe

The name sauwastika is sometimes given for the supposedly evil form of the swastika. ... The Swastika in traditional Hindu form The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles either clockwise or anticlockwise. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

External link

• The Baskian Swastika Lauburu, its symbolic meaning and history (http://www.swastika-info.com/en/article/Allgemeine-Bedeutung/1066313818.html)