Ozelenela popotna palica svetega Krištofa

Abstract

Christians have venerated St Christopher since the Middle Ages. His walking stick, used while crossing the river with the Christ Child on his shoulders, later sprouted and grew into a giant tree. Scholars prevailingly interpret the stick’s greening as a religious symbol. In this paper, I suggest a biological explanation, underpinned by the abilities of revitalisation inherent to many lignin plants species. Additionally, I show that planting the seemingly dry branch on a riverbank might hold environmental instructions about how to mitigate human-caused erosion or similar changes in nature. Being a patron of travellers, the ecological Saint Christopher might serve as a model for the needed greening of the fast-growing tourism industry.

Keywords

• legend
• story-telling
• heritage
• saint christopher
• revitalisation
• traditional knowledge
• nature
• preservation