Saint Andrew’s Day – November 30th.

Please see the following story on St. Andrew-The Patron Saint of Scotland.

PRESS RELEASE

Announcing the new year-round “Celtic Rainbow Gifts” located within the Maine Grind Building at 192 Main St in Ellsworth. The Bar Harbor store is closed for the season and will reopen in May 2007.

FREE GIFT WRAPPING!! And did I mention, we offer GIFT CARDS!

Let me help you create a Celtic Wedding and Bridal Registry, wherever you live! I have some beautiful wedding bands coming in from Ireland in mid-December.

With my location being within a coffee café, the space affords me the opportunity to put on some fun events throughout the year. In January I will have a talk about the CIE tours I offer to Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Italy. Also in the works, Surry resident Hugh Curran (teaches Celtic studies at U of Maine) will present a talk on Celtic Mythology. If you have any suggestions for events, drop me an email.

Enter the “Home to Ireland” contest to win an all expense trip for two to Ireland. Winner will be announced in April.

I’m still taking orders from my web site. However, the site has not been updated for awhile, but I have most items in stock: http://www.CelticRainbowGifts.com

If you’re looking for something you saw in the store but not on the site, let me know and we’ll figure it out. The wedding bands have increased in price due to the gold prices this year, call for an updated price. I’m looking into other options to rework the web page so it can be updated more often and offer limited specials.

I wish you all: Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain Fasi Mhaise Duit !

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


St. Andrew

St Andrew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples and he lived and worked as a fishermanin Galilee. He was the brother of Peter, another of Christ's disciples. After Christ's crucifixion, one version of the legend is that Andrew went to Greece to preach Christianity, where he was crucified for his beliefs at a place called Patras, on a cross in the form of an X. However, the X-shaped cross played little part in early legends of St. Andrew and indeed in early versions of the tale, Andrew was nailed to an olive tree, not a cross.

Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. It was very important in the early days of Christianity that the bones of saints, and other articles that had been closely associated with them, should be preserved. This helped people to understand that Saints were real people, no matter how extraordinary their lives had been. These objects were known as relics and often the relics of the saints would be split up and parts given to different churches.

One legend says that a man who later became St. Regulus (or Rule) carried the bones of St. Andrew to Scotland. His ship was wrecked on the Fife coast, and the spot at which the ship landed became the site of the town of St. Andrews. A cathedral was built there which was started in 1160 and took 158 years to build (the ruins can still be seen today) and the town became an important site of Christian pilgrimage.

Another legend has it that two monks from the North of England went to Rome and brought back the relics of St. Andrew. One of the monks passed the relics on to the reigning king in Scotland at the time - Angus McFergus who became king in 731.

Again there are different legends surrounding the use of the Saltire as Scotland's flag. Some people say that Angus dreamt one night that St. Andrew appeared to him and promised him a great victory. Angus was about to fight a battle with another king from the North of England, and this dream made him believe that the Scots would win. On the day of the battle a white cross appeared in the sky and Angus did win - this is why the flag of Scotland is sky blue with a white cross. The battle was at a place called Athelstaneford in the year 831.

One of the first times that Andrew is recognised officially as the patron saint of Scotland was at the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. This was a declaration signed by many of the Scottish noblemen, as well as Robert the Bruce, asserting Scotland's independence from England.

St Andrew's relics disappeared during the Reformation of the Scottish churches, when the Protestant Church came into being and broke away from the Roman Catholic church. Now there are few relics of Andrew in Scotland. A fragment is in St. Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh.


St. Andrew's Day

St Andrew's Day is celebrated on the 30th November. It tends to be more popular with Scots who live abroad and there are many St. Andrew's Societies in places where Scots emigrated to. The St. Andrew's Society in Boston, in the USA, was set up in 1657.

St. Andrew's Day used to be a very popular feast day in Scotland as well. It was a common custom for farm workers and laborers to go "St. Andra'ing". They would catch rabbits and hares and later on in the day would feast and drink. There have been debates on and off for some time now about making St. Andrew's Day a public holiday in Scotland.

Advent begins on the nearest Sunday following November 30th St. Andrew’s Day.

Many people wonder what they should eat on St. Andrew's day. Because Andrew was a fisherman, it seems appropriate to eat fish. Otherwise you could eat any traditional Scottish food. It used to be that a singed sheep's head was traditional!


Source: The City of Edinburgh Council, City Chambers, High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJ, Gen. Enq: 0131 200 2323, justask@edinburgh.gov.uk



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