In 1989, President George H.W. Bush revived the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation Ceremony at the White House, wherein the president would “pardon” a turkey from being “executed”.
The Christian Sign of the Cross is made with two gestures:
- A top-to-down vertical stroke: “In the name of the Father”
- Then a left-to-right horizontal stroke: “And of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen”
Out of respect for the centuries-long Christian practice, no one makes the sign with the left hand. But yesterday, accompanied by his two daughters, Obama “pardoned” the turkey by using his left hand to make a mockery of the Sign of the Cross over the bird.
Not only did Obama use his left hand, his hand gestures also were not the true Sign of the Cross. I replayed this video several times to make sure I accurately saw what he did with his left hand:
Using his left hand, Obama first made an up-down vertical stroke, then a right-to-left horizontal stroke, then another up-down vertical stroke.
In other words, instead of the Sign of the Cross
†
Obama made a sign of the doublecross:
H/t FOTM’s Maziel and Canada Free Press.
~Eowyn
