St Andrew’s Day 2018 celebrations: How is St Andrew’s Day celebrated in Scotland?
ST ANDREW’S DAY is here, the Scottish national day which is celebrated in various Christian nations around the world. So how does Scotland celebrate?
Prince William gets VIRTUAL tour of St Andrews while in Norway
Saint Andrew is regarded in Christianity as the first apostle of Jesus and younger brother of St Peter. Saint Andrew's Day marks the beginning of the advent, the lead up to Christmas. The annual holiday falls on November 30 and is a bank holiday in Scotland.
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How is St Andrew’s Day celebrated in Scotland?
St Andrew is particularly significant to Scots as his bones were bought to their land to rest around 732 AD.
Different stories abound as to how this happened with some accounts suggesting he arrived via Constantinople where his remains were initially taken.
One of the strongest theories is that his remains were brought to St Andrew's by Acca, Bishop of Hexham, near the town of Newcastle.
The traditional celebrations of St Andrew’s Day are thought to originate from the reign of King Malcolm III, from 1034-1093.
Celebrations included a ritual animal slaughter, also marking the closing of the harvest season.
However, it was only in 2006 that St Andrew’s Day became a bank holiday in Scotland.
In modern times, St Andrew’s Day is marked with a celebration of Scottish culture with traditional Scottish food, music and dance.
Although festivities tend to last for a day, in St Andrew’s they can go on as long as a week
The day is also seen as the start of a season of Scottish winter festivals encompassing Saint Andrew's Day: Hogmanay and Burns Night.
In other country’s with Scottish connections, St Andrew’s Day is celebrated too.
For example, Barbados celebrates St Andrew’s Day as the national day of independence.
In parts of Ukraine, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Russia and Romania, a superstitious belief exists that the night before Saint Andrew's Day is especially suitable for magic that reveals a young woman's future husband or that binds a future husband to her.
The day was believed to be the start of the most popular time for vampire activity, which would last until Saint George's Eve in April.
In Poland, the holiday Andrzejki is celebrated on the night of the 29th through 30 November. Traditionally, the holiday was only observed by young single girls, though today both young men and women join the party to see their futures.
In Romania, it is customary for young women to put 41 grains of wheat beneath their pillow before they go to sleep, and if they dream that someone is coming to steal their grains that means that they are going to get married next year.
