Highland Cathedral

Another taste of Scotland for St Andrews Day:

The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond

A toast for St Andrews Day:

May the best ye’ve ever seen
Be the worst ye’ll ever see
May a moose ne’er leave yer girnal
Wi’ a tear drap in his e’e
May ye aye keep hale an’ he’rty
Till ye’re auld eneuch tae dee
May ye aye be jist as happy
As we wish ye aye tae be

 

Now’s the day . .

This quote from Robert Burns is apposite both because it’s St Andrew’s Day and because the National Party will have a new leader today.

Now’s the day and now’s the hour. – Robert Burns

St Andrew’s Day celebration concert

In recognition of my tartan genes :

P.S.

November 30 is also celebrated as the name day for people named for Saint Andrew, apropos of which, happy name day Andrei.

 

Scotland The Brave

Flower of Scotland

Music for St Andrew’s Day:

 

St Andrew is probably best known as the patron saint of Scotland.

He’s also the saint of:

Greece, Russia, Italy’s Amalfi and Barbados. As well as other countries, he’s the patront saint of singers, spinsters, maidens, fishmongers, fishermen, women wanting to be mothers, gout and sore throats. St Andrew is also the patron saint of the Order of the Thistle, one of the highest ranks of chivalry in the world, second only to the Order of the Garter. . . 

 

Saturday soapbox

Saturday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

Happy St Andrew’s Day

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)

A change from the older Scottish songs I choose to celebrate St Andrew’s Day, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers:

Highland Cathedral

Celebrating St Andrew’s Day with Highland Cathedral from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards:

Donald where’s your troosers?

Happy St Andrew’s Day to all Scots and those like me with tartan blood.

One of our uncles gave us a record player when my brothers and I were kids and a whole lot of 78s among which was one with Andy Stewart singing Donald Where’s Your Troosers?

P.S.

Happy name day to Andrei too.

 

1,000 pipers

My father and my maternal forbears were all Scottish.

In memory of them and for everyone else with tartan genes who celebrates St Andrew’s Day:

P.S. And for Andrei, whose name day it is and who I know appreciates and knows a lot about music, though I’m not sure if that extends to the pipes.

Scottish is

For St Andrew’s Day:

Scotland The Brave

It’s St Andrew’s Day.

Probably best known as the patron saint of Scotland, his patronage also covers of Ukraine, Russia, Sicily, Greece, Romania, Diocese of Parañaque, Philippines, Amalfi, Luqa (Malta) and Prussia; Diocese of Victoria, fishermen, fishmongers, rope-makers, golfers and performers.

You can find 10 more facts about him here

In recognition of my tartan genes and in memory of my father who would have been 99 a couple of weeks ago, here’s Scotland the Brave:

P.S. While searching YouTube for a clip to post I came across this one of the Black Watch march past in Dundee, which was Dad’s home town, and on another clip this comment:

There’s an old scottish saying…

We’ll play the bagpipes until the english love ’em!

P.P.S. It’s also Andrei’s name day.

St Andrew’s Day

In honour of St Andrew’s Day and in memory of my father who was a Scottish soldier (20th Batallion NZEF) and would have been 98 a couple of weeks ago:

Andrei  noted  last year that Andrew is also patron saint of Russia & the Ukraine and that today is his (Andrei’s) name day.

Scotland the Brave

Because it’s St Andrews Day

(and because I usually post a music video for singers who have a birthday today but a quick trawl through YouTube for something from Billy Idol came up with nothing I liked).

St Andrew’s Day

The appeal of whisky escapes me and I’m not very keen on porridge.

But it’s St Andrew’s Day and I’ve got tartan genes which require me to acknowledge Scotland’s patron saint and the country’s national day.

St Andrew’s Day

If there’s such a thing as genetic memory, it kicked in when we got to Scotland eight years ago.

It wasn’t a feeling of coming home, that’s definitely New Zealand, but there was a sense of familiarity and recognition.

The prosaic explanation for this could be similarities in the landscape which made me realise why the Scots felt at home in the southern South Island. But the romantic in me put the sense of connection down to the knowledge that this was the land from which my forbears came.

My mother’s grandfather and all her great grandparents were Scottish. My father was born and brought up there and although he moved to New Zealand in his late 20s and spent nearly three quarters of his life here and loved the land he chose, he also retained a close affinity to the land of his birth.

In many ways he became more Scottish as he aged. The kilt which was worn only when he went to Scottish Country Dancing when my brother and I were children, became a staple part of his wardrobe and his clothing of choice for semi formal and formal occasions. Even now, nearly nine years after his death I meet people who tell me they remember Charlie in his kilt, greeting them at the church door on Sundays or addressing the haggis on Burns night.

For all the great inventions and distinguished people that have come out of Scotland, St Andrew’s Day doesn’t get the recognition that St Patrick’s Day does. While I’m quite happy that it hasn’t been commercialised my tarten genes called for a post in recognition of Scotland’s patron saint.