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I am a Christian that is still learning. I have posed this question in several venues and have yet to receive an answer. Several places in the New Testament it is written that Jesus tells people to Take Up their Cross and to follow Him. I understand the Cross to be symbolic of Christ’s crucifixion thus symbolic of Christianity. Did the cross have a religious significance in the days of Jesus and if not, why would Jesus use the term “take up your cross”?

Well, it was normal practice for the Romans to make prisoners carry their own crucifixes to the hill of Golgotha, so I think the phrase would have been generally understood as a reference to that.

However, I think Jesus was also being prophetic. He knew from the start that He would be crucified, so even if the disciples didn’t understand the full significance of the phrase He was using, He knew that they (and we) would appreciate it later.

Did the cross have a religious significance in the days of Jesus and if not, why would Jesus use the term “take up your cross”?

The significance of the phrase "take up your cross" pointed to the the absolute conviction that the physical device required. The convicted prisoner carried their cross to Golgotha where they died. Jeshua told His audience that to follow Him required 100% conviction.

The same holds true for baptism. Although it was merely symbolic, partaking in the act required 100% conviction on the part of the one being baptized. The Jewish leaders watched those being baptized and would forbidden from attending the synagogue, which was the social and religious center of Jewish society.

Christ's teaching required nothing less than total commitment to Him and a separation of the old way.

In Jewish culture, one of the worst things was to be executed as a “criminal.” Christ was shocking them with this symbolism, confirming that Christians would be reviled and hated. Sort of a warning that the cost can be very high indeed to be a Christian.

As others have well noted, taking up one's cross refers to being willing to give up everything - up to and including one's life - in service to the King. It's not a reference to wearing symbols to demonstrate one's holiness, as the hypocrites did, "to be seen of men" (Mt. 23:5ff).

Take a look at this passage, and I bet you'll see what Jesus is getting at:

"Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." - Mt. 10:32-39

" Did the cross have a religious significance in the days of Jesus and if not, why would Jesus use the term “take up your cross”?"

First start at the beginning. Deuteronomy 21:23 "He who is hanged is accursed of God." Jesus took this curse of sin on Him for our sins. Crucifixion is an extremely painful humiliating way to die. Jesus voluntarily died in our place.
"Take up your cross" can be put another way. 1 Corinthians 15:31 "I die daily". Paul said he died every day he lived since being saved. Why? He died to self. He gave up selfish desires. He was in the world but would not partake of sinful activities such as gluttony, lust, greed and other things the world holds up for us to grasp. To live for Christ is to take up the cross.