THE CROSS, TOTALIZATOR ANCESTRAL SYMBOL
THE CROSS, TOTALIZATOR ANCESTRAL SYMBOL

Summary/Abstract: The work aims to highlight the age and complexity of the cross. The cross is a totalizator ancestral symbol, dated since antiquity. In the past, the cross was reported to the four cardinal points - north, south, east, west. In the present, the cross is correlated with Christianity. The cross taken over from the orphics, the Celtic cross, the cross of St. Andrew, the Christian cross etc. highlights the age, the complexity of this symbol, the possibility to analyze it both synchronously and diachronically. Some levels of approach have been considered: symbolism, sacred-profane symbiosis, typology, interdisciplinary perspective. The cross, analyzed at the symbolic level, makes us think about the Tree of Life, about the axis of the world, about the Savior Jesus Christ Himself and implicitly about a cumulation of binaries: material-spiritual, microcosm-macrocosm, horizontal-vertical, earth-heaven. The cross becomes a point of connection between the sacred and the profane. The crosses situated in the churches, monasteries, the cross placed near a well, a border, a bridge, the shrine at the crossroads announce the sacred – profane dichotomy. The sign of the cross, the variety of crosses enhances the sacredness of this solar symbol. The correlation of the cross with important annual holidays, with certain saints announces the impact of this symbol on Christians. The cross, approached from an interdisciplinary perspective (art, ethnology, history, mythology, religion, etc.), enhances the multitude of critical angles of approach. The cross, no matter where it appears (on "hăizașul" [the roof] of the old churches and traditional wooden gates from Maramureş County, on the seal engravers, on traditional shirts, on traditional ornaments, etc.) is a unique symbol.

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