Lucky Charms

I first heard about St. Christopher as a high school student listening to a heavy metal album by The Bulletboys. It contained a song with the lyrics, “Hang on St. Christopher on the passenger side, open it up, tonight the devil can ride.” It was years before I found out that the line belonged to Tom Waits, but like a good Catholic-school girl I looked up St. Christopher right away. I found out that Christopher was a ferryman with very little personal history whose primary miracle was carrying a baby Jesus across a river even though the baby weighed as much as the sins of the world. In the middle ages, it was believed that a traveler could not die on the road in any day in which he set eyes on the image of St. Christopher.

When I first read about him, I wondered why a ferryman would agree to carry an unaccompanied toddler across a river. Apparently, in 1969 the Catholic church started to wonder about that too. Added t0 the fact that there is no evidence he ever existed, they reclassified Saint Christopher’s feast day, July 25, as a “local commemoration.” I took a liking to the demoted patron saint of travelers. When I found that in some traditions St. Christopher had the head of a dog, I could only like him more.

On my first major backpacking trip I found a Saint Christopher medallion in a flea market in Mumbles, Wales. Even though he had a beard and not a dog’s head, I bought it for three pounds. I put it around my neck, and didn’t take it off until I got home. Since then, I have worn my St. Christopher on every international trip I’ve taken, except for one time when I forgot St. Chris at home and ended up running away from that job in Japan.

A “jade” bead wrapped in silver wire shares the chain with St. Christopher. At the night market in Chiang Mai I spotted the little piece of jade among a bunch of crap on a table on the sidewalk. They were asking 300 baht. Fresh from India, I aggressively bargained the seller down to 80 baht. Proud of my prowess, I strung the auspicious bead on Christopher’s chain and continued down the street.

Three doors down, I entered a bead shop where I saw my new silver-wrapped bead in a bin with dozens of its kind marked 30 baht each. Now I wear it to remind me that saints’ powers of protection are limited and a traveler needs to watch out for herself. But also, since thirty baht was worth about forty-five cents, it reminds me not to take myself or my travels too seriously. When you travel, you make mistakes, and things go wrong, and it doesn’t really matter that they do.

This morning I put my lucky charms around my neck so I’d have one less thing to think about when I leave for the airport on Wednesday. This year, I’m doing St. Christopher’s feast day right, and I don’t want him to miss out.

Hang on St Christopher- we’re going for a ride.