crossing your heart in a secular society

I was reading Cecillia Manguerra Brainard, When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, and noticed a reference to the idea of "crossing one's heart" that made me stop and think.

Say "Cross your heart" to me, and I think PLAYTEX BRAS tm television commercials from the seventies or early eighties. Before women were trained to lift and smoosh together (the better to see you, my dear), we were told it was best to lift and separate. Hence that all-important "cross" between our breasts, or on our heart, was the shape of an "X".

Of course crossing your heart has always meant making a promise, but it's only now, in 2010, that it occurs to me that maybe the "cross" isn't an x  ...


P.S.  A thumbs up for the book, but not a very enthusiastic one; it seemed a bit contrived.

  The principal character was a girl who had a kind of spiritual connection to the Philippine 

creation/religious myths - in general, I liked her but didn't find her very convincing as a person.  The narrative
on the war and the Philippine ambivalence (often hatred) regarding  the U.S. was interesting for me and 
that's why the thumbs up.