Keep your fingers crossed

Why talk about crossing one’s fingers at Lent? Because that simple gesture has a lot of meaning behind it and, ultimately, one of the earliest uses was by Christians.

I’ve never understood why, on the one hand, we “cross our fingers” for good luck and then, on the other, when crossed behind one’s back, crossed fingers means that nullifies whatever statement or promise you’re making.

I researched and found that crossing one’s fingers, by curling the middle finger over the index, is thought to bring good luck. I couldn’t find out what curling the index over the middle finger meant, however. It’s thought this dates back to when crossed fingers were used as a gesture to ward off witches and others considered to be or possess evil spirits. It was also seen as bad luck to cross your fingers on both hands.

While I haven’t asked our German friends yet, I was told that Germans don’t “cross fingers,” but “press our thumbs” (tucking them into our other fingers) as a similar sign.

The most unique explanation I found for why children cross their fingers behind their backs is not that it “allows” them to tell a lie, but it is in hope that they’ll not be asked to prove what they are saying. So they’re crossing them for luck.

So our world uses crossed fingers either as a sign of luck or as permission to lie. Don’t you think that’s a strange combination?

Crossed fingers have a Christian usage as well. Yet even here there is a divergence of opinion as to its exact meaning or origin.

While most agree that it was a “secret sign” employed by Christians when Christianity was illegal there is a divergence of opinion as to what it evolved from. Some today suggest it is a version of a cross (two fingers “crossed over” each other, thus symbolizing a cross). Yet I have trouble with that suggestion.

For the earliest Christians, when this symbol’s usage first developed, the cross was not as common as a symbol as the fish for Christianity. Since the cross was a depiction of a purposely painful and gruesome method of public execution its usage was less common in the first century and came into use as early as the second century.

The fish, however, has a much earlier usage by Christians. ICHTHUS is a Greek word, which means fish. Christians used the word as an acrostic, meaning “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” There are early examples of a fish scribbled in places associated with Christians-used as a sign to identify one Christian to another. Many suggest that crossed fingers were a simple fish sign one Christian would use to identify them to another.

It amazes me that the simple symbol of crossed fingers can be used in so many different ways-as a symbol for good luck or giving the user the ability to lie. Yet for us the most important usage would be a symbol of the Christian faith. It either is the symbol for the cross (possible) or a symbol of a fish (more probable, in my opinion). As a symbol for the fish it’s a profession of faith-saying that the user believes that “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, (is the) Savior.”

Since that is a key belief we process especially during the Lenten season, it’s a pretty good symbol for Lent, don’t you think?

Regards, in Christ,
PJKreft