ST. ANDREW'S DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 130, 29 November 1926, Page 9

ST. ANDREW'S DAY

TO BE OBSERVED TO-MORROW

SCOTLAND'S PATRON SAINT.

To-morrow, to those from tho land of heather and kilts, is an important occasion, for it is the feast of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. Banks in New Zealand observe it as a' holiday, but otherwise the wheels of industry pursue the even tenor of their way. All good' Scots arc popularly, but erroneously, believed on this day of days to toast their patron saint at ■ festive gatherings with a famous Scottish beverage and to consume vast quantities of the mystic haggis which is ushered in to the skirl of bagpipes. But Humour was ever a lying jade, and gatherings on this day cf Caledonian Societies and such bodies will be' found to be as decorous as any held by Englishmen, though, perhaps, more enthusiastic. About the year 740, so the legends state, relics of St. Andrew were brought under supernatural guidance from Constantinople to the place where now stands the modern St. Andrew's, and since that date St. Andrew has been adopted .13 tho patron saint of Scotland. The history of St. Andrew, who was the first of the twelve apostles, is -not known for certainty after the Crucifixion, Tradition has it that he preached the Gospel in Scythia, Northern Greece, and Epirus, subsequently suffering martyrdom on a cross at Patrae, in Achaia, in 62 or 70 A.D. A white saltire on a blue ground, to represent the cross on which he died, has been from an early date adopted as the national banner of Scotland. It is combined with the crosses of St. George and St. Patrick to make the Union Jack. In' Russia St. Audrew has always been held in the greatest veneration as the Apostle who/ according to tradition, first preached the Gospel in that country. The Russian Order of St. Andrew was founded by Peter the Great in 1698. It has always been hold in the highest esteem, being confined to the Imperial Family; princes and generals possess at least two other Orders. The Scottish Order of tho Thistle is sometimes known as the Order of St. Andrew-