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It's a totem and icon of the Christian religion, generally used to illustrate a fairly brutal and primitive form of capital punishment that had a degree of prevalence in the late Iron/early Middle ages. The figure on the device itself is a depiction of Jesus Christ, a Galilean Jewish preacher from the first century. Christian mythology draws heavily from earlier Jewish texts, but crucially and distinctly also holds that Christ was the human incarnation of the creator of the universe (the "messiah" or "savior" foretold in the earlier texts). Simultaneously embodying the father, son and "spirit" in a complicated narrative that stretches the limits of credulity by any modern measure, his followers believe he surrendered himself to human form to live a blameless life, traveling as an itinerant/apocalyptic preacher, occasionally performing supernatural acts of benevolence, compassion and healing that ultimately puzzle and upset the order of the competing political structures of the day (a youthful, burgeoning , and severely heavy-handed Roman Empire eager to make its mark at any cost, and more entrenched, community-oriented populations tightly knit with their own anachronistic traditions and absolutist faith). Arrested and sentenced on charges of sedition, heresy, and non-conformity under the provincial Roman government, in what is today southern Palestine, Christ was nailed - wrists and feet - to a cross-beamed timber staked into the ground, then run through with a spear and left to die. A good portion of the history of the world ever since - even to this day, shockingly - revolves around disputes of what did or did not happen next. Various natural and supernatural events are alleged to have occurred at the moment of his death, from solar eclipses and earthquakes, to the dead of the city rising from graves and greeting old friends in the streets. Christ's own alleged resurrection and ascension, ransoming and paying the debt of man's "sinful nature", is the cornerstone of Christianity.
This is convoluted stuff, yes. But eh, there's no accounting for taste, or folks' eagerness to be part of a larger "happy ever after" storyline.
Anyway, hope this helps clear up the "what's with the cross" stuff.
Lola Stroke it for me - SW369
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Lola wants you to stroke it for her
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