It seems that the Finnish air force still uses the swastika symbol on some of its flags, although it is thinking of phasing them out in the near future. "Sometimes awkward situations can arise with foreign visitors", a spokesperson laconically comments. Well, I can imagine.
As it turns out, Finland's use of the swastika symbol predates (and is unrelated to) its adoption by Adolf Hitler's Nazi party in the 1920s. And of course the symbol itself goes back thousands of years, and has long been a symbol of well-being and luck in Indian cultures, and in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
But whatever its history, the swastika is now forever associated with Nazism, and Finland is, rather belatedly, admitting that it's probably not worth the hassle to retain that particular part of its traditions.
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