St Andrew’s Day takes place on Sunday 30 December. Every year on 30 November, people in Scotland celebrate St Andrew, the country’s patron saint. Patron saints are people who have lived lives of great faith ad virtue and are regarded as heavenly advocates of a nation. They are chosen as special guardians over all areas of life. St Andrew, also known as Saint Andrew the Apostle, was a Galilean fisherman who was singled out to be Christ’s first disciple.
St Andrew preached the Gospel in the lands around the Black Sea and in Greece. His efforts to introduce Christianity in the first century CE were opposed, and he was sentenced to die on the cross because he refused to acknowledge pagan gods. After two days, during which St Andrew preached to an increasingly sympathetic crowd, his would-be executioners tried to untie him, but their hands were paralysed and Andrew’s desire for martyrdom was fulfilled so that he died wrapped in divine light.
St Andrew’s Day is an important date in the Scottish calendar, as it follows Burns Night and Hogmanay, and marks the start of Scotland’s Winter Festival. It is observed in various ways, including with a celebration of Scottish culture, traditional food, music, and ceilidh dancing. We wish our Scottish students and staff who are celebrating, a happy St Andrew’s Day!