Today is St.Andrew's Day, Scotland's national day. Scotland has only had a national holiday since 2006, which surprised me. Which makes me wonder why a country's national saint doesn't get as much publicity as say a certain Irish saint. His feast day is celebrated around the world on March 17th. Even those with no links to Ireland seem to claim St.Patrick as their own on that day.
Like other saints, St.Andrew is claimed by lots of other countries too, with Romania, Greece, and Ukraine among the frontrunners. Even Barbados stakes a claim to him! In southern parts of Europe, on the day before St.Andrew's Day there's a superstition that a young lady sees her future husband. It also happens to be the most popular day for vampire activity. I trust the two aren't connected.
Anyway, back to St.Andrew. Why isn't he celebrated in the UK more widely? If the Irish can successfully market a Welshman as their own, why can't Scotland market one of the original twelve apostles? Heck! The Catholic Church never even formally canonised Patrick yet still is a saint!
Admittedly, Andrew didn't banish all snakes south of York. He didn't use the thistle to illustrate Christian thinking. In fact, there's precious little we know about him. Many books of the Bible don't even mention him. Andrew may have been a humble fisherman, so it is hard to find his unique selling point.
Perhaps that's it. He's just not as sexy as good old Paddy.
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