People across the world will be celebrating their Scottish heritage this weekend.
People across Scotland and beyond will be celebrating St Andrews Day this weekend(Image: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
This Sunday is St Andrew’s Day, which is easily one of the most significant days in Scotland’s calendar. The historic feast day takes place every year on November 30.
Also referred to as the ‘Feast of Saint Andrew’ and ‘Andermas’, the annual celebration is dedicated to Andrew the Apostle—Scotland’s patron saint. The holiday serves as Scotland’s national day.
Millions across the nation, and globe, will be honouring their Scottish roots this Sunday. This usually takes the form of enjoying traditional food and music.
While most Scots are familiar with St Andrew’s Day, the full understanding of its significance or who St Andrew was might not be clear. To mark the occasion, the Daily Record has compiled some essential information.
Continue reading for all you need to know about St Andrew’s Day as we get ready to celebrate Scotland’s national day.
What is St Andrews Day?
St Andrews Day is often celebrated with ceilidhs (Image: Colin McPherson/Corbis via Getty Images)
St Andrew’s Day is observed every year on November 30, and is believed to be the anniversary of St Andrew’s martyrdom. While St Andrew has been acknowledged as Scotland’s patron saint for centuries, the day itself has only been officially celebrated since around the 18th century.
Since 2006, St Andrews Day has been a bank holiday in Scotland—allowing many Scots to enjoy a day off in celebration. In honour of the holiday, Scots all around the world celebrate their heritage by attending ceilidhs and savouring traditional foods such as haggis and Cullen skink.
Who was Saint Andrew?
Saint Andrew serves as Scotland’s patron saint, and has been honoured for more than 1,000 years across the nation. He officially gaining this status in 1320, when Scotland declared independence.
The first Apostle to be named, he served as a Disciple and died as a martyr. Andrew is thought to have worked as a fisherman in Galilee and may have initially followed St John as a disciple.
He was Saint Peter’s older brother, and received Jesus’s call to become a “fisher of men”. This explains why many artistic representations show Andrew holding a fishing net.
A key figure in Jesus Christ’s story, Andrew is said to have participated in many pivotal moments of Jesus’s ministry. Perhaps the most notable was the Last Supper.
In his later years, Andrew is thought to have spread his message as far as Romania, Ukraine, and Russia. This explains why these nations also regard him as their patron saint.
He eventually met his end through martyrdom in Patras, a city in western Greece, around AD 60. Here, Roman Emperor Nero’s persecution led to his death by crucifixion.
Patras in Greece(Image: Didier Marti / Getty Images)
Relics of Andrew are thought to be distributed amongst the various nations that honour him as their patron saint. One of them is a fragment of his shoulder blade housed at St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh.
Throughout the centuries, St Andrew has become deeply woven into Scotland’s heritage and national identity, with the country’s flag bearing the name St Andrew’s Cross.
The flag of Scotland, also known as St Andrew’s Cross or the Saltire(Image: Peter Burnett / Getty Images)
According to folklore, in 832 AD, the Pictish king Óengus II led a combined force of Picts and Scots into battle. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Óengus pledged in a pre-battle prayer that if they were victorious, he would make Saint Andrew the patron saint of Scotland.
On the day of the battle, clouds formed an X shape in the sky and Óengus interpreted this as a sign as it symbolised the cross on which the Saint was crucified. As a result, he honoured his prayer—appointing Andrew as our patron saint after emerging victorious.
In time, the Saltire was adopted as the Scottish flag. Many have attributed its design to the white clouds against the blue sky that Óengus witnessed.
