Dig It - 3/10/25

Hello again, fellow Seekers. You know old Lonesome just loves a good cross necklace, and this one here is pretty damn good. I guess I shouldn’t swear around crosses. I think one of the things I really like about them is the dual meaning of the double bar cross. In European Christian tradition, it represents the cross Jesus was crucified on. The shorter upper bar represents the plaque the Romans put at the top with the letters INRI, representing "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews." In the 12th century, the double bar cross was adopted by the Knights Templar and later in 1431 by the Dukes of Lorraine, which is why it is called the “Cross of Lorraine” today. 

Now to the Native Americans, especially the Pueblo Indians, this double-barred cross represents the dragonfly, which is an ancient Pueblo symbol for water and all the good that water brings to the arid Southwest, such as corn, beans, and squash. To me, this double-barred cross shows the resiliency of Native American culture by adopting a symbol of an oppressor like the Spanish Catholic Church and turning it into your own symbol with a meaning that reflects your beliefs. This cross necklace is circa 1900 to the 1920s and is available for purchase.