St. Christoph Bruderschaft - Arlberg Hospiz (Mönchengladbach / Kaarst: Opitz / Wegner GmbH, 1987)

Kinda sorta obsessed with this song lately…

Willem Panneels - after Peter Paul Rubens - Saint Christopher (between 1628 and 1630)

St. Christopher, The Christbearer

Dog-man, Cynocephali Saint, christened by baby Jesus after helping him cross a river.

The Dogheaded people

They were seen by conquerors, explorers, evangelists and described in detail. Alexander the Great, Marco Polo, St. Augustine, Christopher Columbus all described these creatures. You also have Anubis the Egyptian god and St.Christopher who was converted to Catholicism and achieved Saint-hood by helping believers cross a river.

There were letters corresponding with the Vatican on whether or not these dog headed men could be saved or not. The Catholic church was not surprised and simply asked if their eyes were on the front of their heads or on the sides. Apparently dog headed men were nothing new to cultures around the world.

'Ratramnus’s Epistola de Cynocephalis, is a letter written concerning if dog headed men could be saved. The response was yes based on the evidence that they showed the ability to have free will; they wore clothes, kept animals, had relationships, and obeyed laws etc. So they could choose salvation and therefore could be worth ministering to.

( Canaanites = canines, described as cannibals and great fighters who did detestable things.)

In Tibet there was recorded history of over 200,000 living in a village. They lived in Parts of India along the Mountain Range, there are traces of them in the Celtic lands they lived in Ireland.

St. Christopher is the patron saint for travelers. Dog-headed people often have acted as guides, ferries and Shepards. I will cover this in a future post, which will feature Xolotl and Aztec Gods, including Anubis!

Canines are interwoven into human history.

On these mountains there live men with the head of a dog, whose clothing is the skin of wild beasts. They speak no language, but bark like dogs, and in this manner make themselves understood by each other. Their teeth are larger than those of dogs, their nails like those of these animals, but longer and rounder. They inhabit the mountains as far as the river Indus. Their complexion is swarthy. They are extremely just, like the rest of the Indians with whom they associate.  They understand the Indian language but are unable to converse, only barking or making signs with their hands and fingers by way of reply, like the deaf and dumb. They are called by the Indians Calystrii, in Greek Cynocephali (“dog-headed “). [They live on raw meat.] They number about 120,000.  Near the sources of this river1 grows a purple flower, from which is obtained a purple dye, as good in quality as the Greek and of an even more brilliant hue. In the same district there is an animal about the size of a beetle, red as cinnabar, with very long feet, and a body as soft as that of a worm. It breeds on the trees which produce amber, eats their fruit and kills them, as the woodlouse destroys the vines in Greece. The Indians crush these insects and use them for dyeing their robes and tunics and anything else they wish. The Cynocephali living on the mountains do not practice any trade but live by hunting. When they have killed an animal they roast it in the sun. They also rear numbers of sheep, goats, and asses, drinking the milk of the sheep and whey made from it. They eat the fruit of the Siptakhora, whence amber is procured, since it is sweet. They also dry it and keep it in baskets, as the Greeks keep their dried grapes. They make rafts which they load with this fruit together with well-cleaned purple flowers and 260 talents of amber, with the same quantity of the purple dye, and 1000 additional talents of amber, which they send annually to the king of India. They exchange the rest for bread, flour, and cotton stuffs with the Indians, from whom they also buy swords for hunting wild beasts, bows, and arrows, being very skillful in drawing the bow and hurling the spear. They cannot be defeated in war, since they inhabit lofty and inaccessible mountains. Every five years the king sends them a present of 300,000 bows, as many spears, 120,000 shields, and 50,000 swords. They do not live in houses, but in caves. They set out for the chase with bows and spears, and as they are very swift of foot, they pursue and soon overtake their quarry. The women have a bath once a month; the men do not have a bath at all, but only wash their hands. They anoint themselves three times a month with oil made from milk and wipe themselves with skins. The clothes of men and women alike are not skins with the hair on, but skins tanned and very fine. The richest wear linen clothes, but they are few in number. They have no beds, but sleep on leaves or grass. He who possesses the greatest number of sheep is considered the richest, and so in regard to their other possessions. All, both men and women, have tails above their hips, like dogs, but longer and more hairy. They are just, and live longer than any other men, 170, sometimes 200 years (Ctesias, “Indica”, from Photius I).

Which one could be my non-existent album cover?💅🏼😂

 sarah night at mr bojangles, nottingham, 1989! <3

Vintage German Wood Sculpture - St. Christopher and Baby Christ

Height: approx. 22"inches

Snowy Mount Hope

I was up to the Bayview/Eglinton E, area of Toronto, Monday March 13 & took a stroll through the Mount Hope Cemetery, which backs on to Bayview. I loved the snowcapped tombstones & statuary. As you can tell by the names it is a mix of Italian & Polish (?). From the number of crucifications & saints I guess it is Catholic. wiki confirms…

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Andre in the Guise of Saint Christopher

The legend of Saint Christopher quite clearly states that he was a giant. Not just a tall man, but a genuine giant of the beanstalk variety... Christopher's story seemed the ideal vehicle to feature another famous giant — the late Andre the.

from Prodigies: Anomalous Humans by James G. Mundie

As the story goes, it was his size that enabled him to easily transport the Christ child across a river and thereby secured his place as patron saint of travelers — that is, until the Church decided that the evidence for Christopher's very existence was entirely legendary and de-canonized him. Nonetheless, Christopher remains a popular though unofficial saint, and his image is fixed in our cultural psyche.

Christopher's story seemed the ideal vehicle to feature another famous giant — the late Andre Rousimoff, professional wrestler and actor (which amounts to the same thing).

Pen and ink, 9.5 x 6 inches, 2000

Cynocephalus St. Christopher, at the Byzantine Museum, Athens.

“Der heilige Christophorus”

Albrecht Kunne aus Memmingen, ca. 1490 

Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg

I'm not sure who to be, all I know is I can't stay here.

Michael Logen, St. Christopher

Simon Bening - Da Costa hours, detail of Christopher of Lycia Carrying the Christ Child (c. 1515)

Fear the Walking Dead 8x11: "Fighting Like You"

Fear the Walking Dead 8×11: “Fighting Like You” Directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour Written by Nick Bernardone, Jacob Pinion, & Kelly Jane Costello * For a recap & review of 8×10, click here. * For a recap & review of the series finale, click here. “Mississippi Queen” rings out into the wasteland. Zombies follow it, along with people carrying lanterns. Some zombies are collected by Troy and his…

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