we used an ad hoc pairing with modular symbols to convert the Godbillon-Vey class [δ 1 ] ∈ HC 1 (H 1 ) into the Euler class of GL + (2, Q).In this paper we provide a completely conceptual explanation for the above pairing and at the same time extend it to the higher weight case. This is achieved by constructing out of modular symbols H 1 -invariant 1-traces that support characteristic maps for certain actions of H 1 on A Q , canonically associated to modular forms. Moreover, we show that the image of the Godbillon-Vey class through these characteristic homomorphisms, obtained by the cup product between [δ 1 ] and the invariant 1-traces, transgresses to secondary data. For the projective action determined by the Ramanujan connection the transgression takes place within the Euler class, in a manner that ressembles the K-homological transgression in the context of SU q (2) [5], and leads to the classical Rademacher function [23]. For the actions associated to cusp forms of higher weight the transgressed classes implement the Eichler-Shimura isomorphism. The actions corresponding to Eisenstein series give rise by transgression to higher Dedekind sums and generalized Rademacher functions ([28, 20]), or equivalently to the Eisenstein cocycle of [28].Generalized Dedekind sums have been related to special values of L-functions in the work of C. Meyer on the class-number formula [18,19], and higher Dedekind sums appear in the work of Siegel [25,26] and Zagier [29] on the values at non-positive integers of partial zeta functions over real quadratic fields. Eisenstein cocycles were employed by Stevens [28] and by Sczech [24] in order to compute these values more efficiently. The fact that these notions can be interpreted as secondary invariants is reminiscent of the secondary nature of the regulator invariants (cf. e.g. [10]) that are involved in the expression of the special values at non-critical points of L-functions associated to number fields (see e.g. [16], [30]).