Scots welcome the winter with a celebration of their patron saint on 30 November. St. Andrew’s Day is a voluntary bank holiday and cèilidhs take place the length and breadth of
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length and breadth of:
a lo largo y ancho de
the country. Cèilidhs are social gatherings
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gatherings:
celebraciones
that feature traditional food, drink, music and dancing.
Official national day of Scotland
Who Was Saint Andrew
Not a lot is known about the Saint Andrew. Ironically, he never set foot
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to set foot:
poner pie
in Scotland. He and his brother Simon Peter were fishermen from Galilee and the first of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. In 60AD, he was martyred for his beliefs: he was crucified by the Romans in Patras, Greece. It is said that he thought himself unworthy
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unworthy:
indigno, no merecedor
of dying in the same way as Jesus. He was therefore bound
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to bind:
amarrar
to an X-shaped
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X-shaped:
en forma de equis
cross, known as a ‘saltire
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saltire:
cruz de San Andrés
’. The cross of the saltire became his symbol and the day of his crucifixion became his saint day.
Relics
Some of his relics — a kneecap
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kneecap:
rótula
, arm and finger bone — arrived in Scotland after his death and were housed in a chapel in Kilrymont, later renamed St. Andrews. It became a site of pilgrimage
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pilgrimage:
peregrinación
, and in 1158, a cathedral was built to house the reliquary. In 1320, the Declaration of Arbroath officially named him Scotland’s patron saint. Both cathedral and relics were destroyed during the Reformation. The Archbishop of Amalfi — who shares the same patron saint, along with Barbados, Cyprus
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Cyprus:
Chipre
Greece, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Tenerife — donated a piece of Andrew’s shoulder blade
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shoulder blade:
omóplato
. The relics now reside in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh.
Scottish Victory
The flag of Scotland also features the saltire cross in white against a blue background. According to legend, St. Andrew appeared to King Angus the night before a battle against the Angles
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Angles:
anglos
in 862, promising him victory. The next day, the armies saw a cross-shaped cloud formation against a blue sky and, though outnumbered
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outnumbered:
superados en número
, the Scots won. It is the oldest flag still in use in Europe.
Immigrants
Celebrating St. Andrew’s Day became popular among immigrants in America in the 18th century, to honour their Scottish roots. It then took hold in the ‘home country’. While festivities are more low-key
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low-key:
de perfil bajo
than during Hogmanay
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SPEAK UP EXPLAINS
Se trata de la celebración de Nochevieja típicamente escocesa, una de las festividades más importantes de este país. Comienza –obviamente— el 31 de diciembre y puede durar varios días. Además de música y baile, entre sus tradiciones destaca el first footing, que consiste en visitar amigos con un regalo, por lo general whisky con el que brindar, pan, sal u otras ofrendas.
or Burns Night
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SPEAK UP EXPLAINS
En la noche del 25 de enero se celebra el aniversario del nacimiento de Robert Burns (1759-1796), considerado como el poeta nacional de Escocia, y admirado también por sus valores humanísticos y su conciencia social. En la Noche de Burns, los escoceses de todo el mundo se reúnen para celebrar la vida y la obra de Burns con una cena tradicional en su honor, y para leer sus poemas y cantar sus canciones.
, St. Andrew’s Day is still one of Scotland’s most important holidays.
