cblj_backup | (no subject)

Well, my suitcase is packed with gifts and clothes, my netbook is charged and tucked up in my messenger bag, I've cleared the FAA hazards (two knives, one lighter) out of the pockets and replaced them with granola bars, and I've lost and re-found my travel documentation three times, so all the proper travel obsequies have now been observed.

Whenever I travel I wear a Saint Christopher medal mum bought me, because I'm not a Christian but I'm given to understand that Jesus loves me anyway. We joke about the medal because apparently Christopher is not technically a saint anymore, since one can't prove he existed or possibly he didn't perform enough miracles or something. Anyway, Mum always asks if I'm wearing my Mr. Christopher medal. Patron saint of travelers and those brought low by an uncertainty as to their existence, that's Mr. Christopher.

Frankly between him and Dysmas, all my favourite saints are of potentially fictional origin. Is anyone surprised?

Anyhow, I'm off into the wilds. Everybody stay safe and well-behaved and I'll post when I get into Austin around six tonight. (Or from my phone before then, if something particularly interesting happens.)

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What, no Saint Expeditus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Expeditus)?

And he's a saint we could really use, given the transportational cockups which happen around christmas!

Sam - is your St Christophere dog-headed?

I sometimes wonder if these saints were invented by Hermes. It would fit their patronages and their questionable backstories.

I'm guessing I'm missing something, but...no? Should he be?

:D In Anglo-Saxon religious literature and art, and I think in some Eastern depictions, but not in the rest of Western medieval hagiogrpahy, St Christopher is depicted as A Cynocephalus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christopher_icon.jpg). No one quite knows why, or why the Anglo-Saxons had picked up this representation and run with it, but there you go! Dog-headed St Christophers are cooler than other St Christophers, I tell you.

That is SO COOL and SO TERRIBLY STRANGE. Thanks for the info!

The patron saint of hackers! LOL!