This just in from an Orlando based news tation. Just in the time for the holidays: A local woman says her new Christmas wrapping paper is full of swastikas.

 

Casey Lehman bought a roll of wrapping paper at the Altamonte Mall. She said it looked innocent enough until she unrolled it on Monday.

“I asked myself, ‘Is that really what I think it is? Am I making something out of nothing,’” Lehman said.

 Lehman said she couldn’t believe her eyes. She called her fiancé and mother just to double check and she said they all agreed that her wrapping paper is covered in swastikas.

“It’s shocking to me, but someone else could get this on Christmas Day and who knows how I would affect somebody else,” Lehman said.

 Lehman said she bought the wrapping paper at Dollar Mania in Altamonte Mall in October to get a head start on the holiday season.

 ”I saw green and gold, and thought that’s Christmassy and grabbed it and took it home,” Lehman said.

Lehman said she hadn’t opened the roll until Monday.

“I pulled it down from the closet, and for the first time saw it and thought, ‘Oh wow. That’s really inappropriate,’” Lehman said.

The symbol on the gift paper has a dot in each quadrant, which indicates it’s actually an ancient Sanskrit symbol from Hinduism that denotes good luck. The wrapping also features Indian looking ornamentation including elephants. But Rabbi Rick Sherwin said even if the perceived swastika is a Hindu symbol, he feels it should not be used in our culture out of respect for the horrors the swastika is associated with.

“There should be sensitivity to the awful things that symbol represents,” he said. “The swastika has been outlawed in Germany.”

WESH 2 News spoke with the manager of Dollar Mania off camera who had no clue about the questionable design until we showed him.

He said the wrapping paper at his store is made in China and he buys it from wholesale vendors in New York and LA.

Lehman said she’s not looking for a refund from the store since the paper only cost her $1.

She said she’s just worried others who bought the same roll may not notice what she did.

“If I had sent this out on my Christmas gifts and someone had pointed it out to me I would have been mortified. I would have been really embarrassed,” Lehman said. “I asked myself, ‘Is that really what I think it is? Am I making something out of nothing,’” Lehman said.

 

Lehman said she couldn’t believe her eyes. She called her fiancé and mother just to double check and she said they all agreed that her wrapping paper is covered in swastikas.

 

“It’s shocking to me, but someone else could get this on Christmas Day and who knows how I would affect somebody else,” Lehman said.

 

Lehman said she bought the wrapping paper at Dollar Mania in Altamonte Mall in October to get a head start on the holiday season.

 

“I saw green and gold, and thought that’s Christmassy and grabbed it and took it home,” Lehman said.

 

Lehman said she hadn’t opened the roll until Monday.

 

“I pulled it down from the closet, and for the first time saw it and thought, ‘Oh wow. That’s really inappropriate,’” Lehman said.

 

The symbol on the gift paper has a dot in each quadrant, which indicates it’s actually an ancient Sanskrit symbol from Hinduism that denotes good luck. The wrapping also features Indian looking ornamentation including elephants. But Rabbi Rick Sherwin said even if the perceived swastika is a Hindu symbol, he feels it should not be used in our culture out of respect for the horrors the swastika is associated with.

 

“There should be sensitivity to the awful things that symbol represents,” he said. “The swastika has been outlawed in Germany.”

 

WESH 2 News spoke with the manager of Dollar Mania off camera who had no clue about the questionable design until we showed him.

 

He said the wrapping paper at his store is made in China and he buys it from wholesale vendors in New York and LA.

 

Lehman said she’s not looking for a refund from the store since the paper only cost her $1.

 

She said she’s just worried others who bought the same roll may not notice what she did.

 

“If I had sent this out on my Christmas gifts and someone had pointed it out to me I would have been mortified. I would have been really embarrassed,” Lehman said.