SCOTLAND DAYS
St Andrews Day
30 November
Scotland's official national day, and is is thought to originate from the reign of Malcolm III (1058–1093)
The Saltire or St Andrews Cross
St. Andrew, also called Saint Andrew the Apostle, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and is the patron saint of Scotland.
St Andrew was named as the patron saint of Scotland for several reasons:
the Scots were able to appeal to the Pope in 1320 (The Declaration of Arbroath) for protection against the attempts of English kings to conquer the Scots.
Many of his traits were admired by the scots: friendly, helpful and compassionate.
Circa 800AD, King Angus of the Picts, facing a larger army of Saxons, had a dream before the battle. The message he was given was that he would see a Cross in the sky and would conquer his enemies in its name.
The following morning King Angus looked into the rising sun and saw the Saltire Cross in its blinding light. This filled him and his men with great confidence and they were victorious. From that time Saint Andrew and his Saltire Cross were adopted as the national symbols for an emerging Scotland.
Both William Wallace and King Robert the Bruce appealed to Saint Andrew to guide them in times of national emergency.
Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion at the city of Patras in Achaea, in AD 60. Bound on a cross of the form called crux decussata (X-shaped cross, or "saltire") — supposedly at his own request, as he deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus had been.
Burns Night
25 January
Burns Night is considered the second national day in Scotland, is celebrated on Burns's birthday, and is more widely observed in Scotland than the official national day, St. Andrew's Day.
Portrait of Robert Burns by Alexander Nasmyth, 1787
A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), the author of many Scots poems.
Robert Burns is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. In 2009, Scottish free-to-air TV station ran a public vote on who was "The Greatest Scot" of all time. Robert Burns won, narrowly beating William Wallace.
His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country.
After guests are seated, grace is said, usually using the Selkirk Grace (It came to be called the Selkirk Grace because Burns delivered the 17th century verse at a dinner given by the Earl of Selkirk):
Some hae meat an canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.
Ode to a Haggis:
Tartan Day
US: 6 April
Australia: 1 July
Tartan Day is a North American celebration of Scottish heritage, the date on which the Declaration of Arbroath was signed in 1320.
There are an estimated 6 million people in the US who claim Scottish descent.
In Australia it celebrates the anniversary of the repeal of the 1747 Act of Proscription that banned the wearing of tartan.
Three million Australians are either Scottish or of Scottish descent
This is not a ‘thing’ in Scotland. Yet.
In Scotland, Angus Council, whose region includes Arbroath, established the first Tartan Day festival in Scotland on April 6, 2004, and has since joined other regional councils in attempting to develop its potential as a global celebration.
The chief; John Michael Bailie-Hamilton Buchanan in the Buchanan of Leny Tartan
Hogmanay
New Years Eve
Scottish New Year's Eve marks the arrival of the new year, with origins reaching back to the celebration of the winter solstice among the Vikings with wild parties in late December.
Customs vary throughout Scotland, and usually include gift-giving and visiting the homes of friends and neighbours, with special attention given to the first-foot (the first guest of the new year).
Saint Andrew
From the Christian perspective, Saint Andrew was the Galilean fisherman who was singled out to be Christ's first disciple who preached the Gospel in the lands around the Black Sea and in Greece and was eventually crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras.
The travels on his mission explains the balalaika - for Andrew is indeed the patron saint of Russia and of Greece as well as Scotland.
His association with a land he never set foot on is based on a number of conflicting legends, the most colourful of which is the story of St. Rule.
Three hundred years after Andrew's martyrdom the Roman Emperor Constantine, himself a Christian, ordered that the Saint's bones should be moved from Patras to his new capital city of Constantinople.
Before the order was carried out a monk called St. Rule (or St. Regulus) had a dream in which an angel told him to take what bones of Andrew's he could to 'the ends of the earth' for safe-keeping.
St. Rule duly took what he could, presumably in a swift and frantic raid on the tomb, and after an epic journey with the skeletal assortment, he was shipwrecked on the east coast of Scotland.
The Voyage of St Rule from Greece to Scotland indicates an obvious devotion to Saint Andrew - from St Rule and the six nuns and monks who took the long sea-journey with him, to bring the Good News to Britain.
St. Rule's Tower still stands among the ruins of St. Andrew's Cathedral, which in its heyday was a great centre of Medieval pilgrimage. But the whereabouts of the relics is unknown.
As Scotland slowly became a nation it needed a national symbol to rally round and motivate the country.
Saint Andrew was became the obvious choice and the early Picts and Scots modelled themselves on Saint Andrew and on one of his strongest supporters - the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.
In 1969, Pope Paul VI gave further relics of St. Andrew to Scotland with the words "St. Peter gives you his brother" and these are now displayed in St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh.
The Saltire
While the truth of this ancient legends could be questioned, the Saltire (St Andrews Cross and flag of Scotland) is without doubt based on the cross of Andrew's crucifixion and maybe the significance we should take today is that Andrew.
The Saltire Cross became the heraldic arms that every Scot is entitled to fly and wear. However, its colour was not white at first but silver (Argent), as in heraldry white stands for silver.
The first time the colour of the Saltire is mentioned is in the Acts of Parliament of King Robert II in July 1385 where every Scottish soldier was ordered to wear a white Saltire.
If the uniform was white, then the Saltire was to be stitched onto a black background.
Both William Wallace and King Robert the Bruce appealed to Saint Andrew to guide them in times of national emergency and conflict.
The Saltire was flown on Scottish ships and used as the logo of Scottish banks, on Scottish coins and seals and displayed at the funerals of Scottish kings and queens - that of King James VI for example and of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots.
At the Union of the Crowns in 1603, London was treated to the spectacle of Saint Andrew and Saint George on horseback, shaking hands in friendship. When King George IV visited Edinburgh in 1822 he was presented with a Saltire Cross made of pearls on velvet, within a circle of gold. It is said this is why the Scottish flag has the X-shaped cross on it, as it is St Andrew's.
King Angus of the Picts
Another story says that in the 9th Century, King Angus in Scotland was preparing for a battle against the English.
St Andrew appeared to King Angus in a dream promising him victory and on the day of the battle, an X symbol appeared in the sky, which was the symbol of St Andrew.
He vowed that if they won, St Andrew would be made the patron saint of Scotland - and that is what happened.
Saint Andrew's Day marks the beginning of the Christian Advent devotion of the Saint Andrew Christmas Novena.
While Scotland celebrates Saint Andrew's Day (Scots: Saunt Andra's Day, Scottish Gaelic: Là Naomh Anndrais) is Scotland's official national day, it is a national holiday or celebration in other countries.
Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Cyprus, Greece (City of Patras), Romania, Russia, Ukraine, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, San Andres Island (Colombia), Saint Andrew (Barbados) and Tenerife (Spain).
The Celebration
In countries with Scottish connections, Saint Andrew's Day is marked with a celebration of Scottish culture, and with traditional Scottish food and music.
In Scotland St Andrews Day is seen to be the commencement of the season of Scottish winter festivals including Saint Andrew's Day, Hogmanay and Burns Night.