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Celtic Hist. Newsletter St. Andrew's Day
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hist-@historicgames.com
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Nov 02, 2008 07:42 PST
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The Celtic History Newsletter
Brought to you by
The Celtic Croft
http://www.kilts-n-stuff.com/
&
MacGregor Historic Games
http://historicgames.com
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St Andrew's Day
Saint Andrew was one of the original disciples of Jesus, the brother
of Simon Peter and said to have been a fisherman by trade. According
to the Gospel of John he was originally a follower of St.John the
Baptist until he was called to follow Jesus. After the crucifixion,
Andrew traveled widely in Greece and Asia Minor, preaching as he went
and making converts to the new Christian religion, and as a result
became a patron saint of Romania and Russia
Eventually he fell afoul of the Roman authorities who were trying to
stamp out the new religion, which refused to worship the Emperor as a
god. Early texts describe Andrew as having been bound, not nailed, to
a Latin cross of the kind on which Christ was crucified. But, a
tradition grew up that Andrew deemed himself unworthy to be crucified
on the same type of cross on which Christ was crucified.and requested
to be crucified on a cross of the form called Crux decussata (X-shaped
cross) and now commonly known as "Saint Andrew's Cross".
His story goes on that bout 300 years after his death the Emperor
Constantine decided to remove the Saint's bones to Constantinople, but
according to legend the monk St. Regulus was warned in a dream by an
angel, who told him to remove as many relics as he could to the "ends
of the earth" to keep them safe. As far as the Greeks and Romans were
concerned, Scotland was as near to the world's end as you could get,
so some of Andrew's remains were taken to Scotland. St. Regulus
brought the relics ashore at what is now St Andrews (some versions say
he was shipwrecked there) and a chapel was built to house the bones,
followed in 1160 by a cathedral. St Andrews eventually became the
religious capital of Scotland and an important place of pilgrimage.
Some scholars suggest that it is more likely that the Saint's bones
came to to Scotland because Acca, Bishop of Hexham, who was a renowned
collector of religious relics, actually bought the bones quite
legitimately and took them there in 733 AD. Unfortunately the his
relics have now disappeared, probably destroyed during the Reformation
when anything connected with "Catholic idolatry" was removed without
trace. The site where the relics had been is now marked by a plaque in
the ruins of the Cathedral in St Andrews.
One legend says that in 832 AD an army of Scots led by King Angus was
facing an army from the kingdom of Northumbria under Athelstan. The
Scottish king prayed to St Andrew for help, and the saltire, or Cross
of St Andrew appeared against the background of a clear blue sky. This
rallied the Scots and the battle was won, and the saltire is now the
national flag (reputedly the oldest national flag in Europe.) The
cross St. Andrew was adopted as the national flag of Scotland, and
later incorporated into the Union Flag of Great Britain.
November 30th is St. Andrew's Day and during the reign of James IV it
was celebrated by a dinner. According to Robert Chambers in the
"Domestic Annals of Scotland" there was an attempt to revive it during
the 17th century:
"There was also a kind of volunteer effort in certain classes to seet
up an observance of the day consecrated to the national saint,
November 30th, 1662, a Sunday. Many of our nobles, barons, gentry and
others of the Kingdom put on ane livery or favour of revenue thereof.
This being a novelty I thought it good to record it, because it was
never of use herto fore since the Reformation."
In other traditions country folk are said to have set traps for
rabbits and squrrels and set off "going Sanct Andra-ing" when they
went to collect their catch to bring home for St. Andrew's Day
feasting and drinking.
But much like Ireland's St. Patrick's Day it tends to be celebrated
more by people of Scottish heritage around the world than it is in
Scotland. St Andrew's Society in many parts of the world hold dinners
on November 30th to celebrate their heritage. So raise a shot of
Scotch (or cup of tea) the end of this month to Scotland and "St. Andy".
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