Peace?

I heard something interesting today. Being a sensible sounding explanation and going along with my experiences of our culture historically modifying whatever it can for odd reasons I was inclined to believe it. But it was something I had never heard before, so I spent a little time just now researching it. Here are the results.

Presumption: the traditional peace sign from the 60s is actually upside down. It stems from the 'original' version of the tree of lift - picture a man with his arms stretched out and up slightly. Turn it upside down, and you've got this 'wrong' peace sign and using the symbol of a sword.

First: My initial gut reaction was amazement and wonder - really? We've gotten it wrong for almost 40 years? My second reaction was a little bit of confusion. Clearly our culture recognizes the traditional version as meaning 'peace'. If you turn it upside down and head off to a peace rally, aren't you just going to cause confusion. Even if you were correct in the history and desired accuracy, you'd spend the whole time explaining why your 'peace' sign is upside down rather than joining the community in protest.

Research: The origins of this sign is not the tree of life, inverted to become a sword. The most obvious and consistent origin I've found so far is that it is a combination of the letters N and D from the Naval semaphore system, the initials standing for 'nuclear disarmament'. In the upside down form, there's the concept of an inverted "broken cross", stemming from a 5th century drawing. This broken cross has several different meanings, but one is the Teutonic rune of death or an inverted 'man rune'. A Christian website positions this as anti-Christian, though I haven't found this to be a general belief. The symbol is currently very familiar in the UK as tied with the CND, but in the US it really just means 'peace' or 'non-violence'.

Conclusion: The 'inverted man of life to become a sword' concept that got me thinking about this is not an accurate history. A majority of web sites (source, source, source) are very consistent with regards to the N.D. origin, though the link to runes and broken crosses is usually mentioned. Given this, in its currently known form of an inverted-Y shape, this is a symbol of peace and non-violence.

Please, please, do not go writing the symbol upside down on protest papers or notebooks or jackets claiming you've got the right story. You don't. And anyone with 10 minutes to spare can prove it to you. If you further want to claim it's a Satanic symbol that is anti-Christian, dig around for news reports from last Christmas (early December 2006) for a peace-wreath that a public figure objected to along these lines. See how far he got before issuing an apology and letting the wreath stay.

We'll discuss the "V" hand symbol for peace another day (a pretty cool history to that one!)