Saltire Celebration

It's not nearly as famous as March 17, but Nov. 30ith is the feast day of one of the three patron saints of nations on the British Isles -- St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. Several other nations also claim Andrew as their own particular patron.

Andrew, the apostle who introduced his older brother Peter to Jesus, was not thought to have visited the island himself, even in the most obscure church traditions. His relics, however, were brought there sometime around the 9th or 10th centuries and he was said to have intervened in a battle won by Scot king Óengus II in 832 after a prayer by that king for a sign of victory. He saw an X-shaped cross in the clouds when the sun came up the next morning.

Tradition says that Andrew was crucified in Greece on an X-shaped cross since he did not believe he was worthy to die on the kind of cross used in Jesus' execution. His brother Peter is supposed to have made a similar request and was crucified upside-down as a consequence. This cross, called a "saltire," forms the basis of the flag of Scotland and it joins the cross of St. George to make the English national flag. One of the questions that cropped up during the Scottish independence referendum a couple of years ago was whether England would change its flag should the measure pass.

There is no known connection between Andrew and bagpipes -- but since pipes are awesome, there dinna really need t' be, d'ya ken, laddie?