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miércoles, 30 de noviembre de 2011

St Andrew's Day

November 30th is St. Andrew's day. On this video you can listen a brief history of the saint and how he became Scotland's patron saint.

If you want to listen the history of the saint in a more serious way and with a Scottish accent, you may like to watch the Scottish government's video .

Summing up,here you are ten facts about St. Andrew.1. Andrew was a Galilean fisherman working in the Black Sea before he and his brother Simon Peter became disciples of Jesus Christ.

2. He was crucified by the Romans on an X-shaped cross at Patras in Greece and, hundreds of years later, his remains were moved to Constantinople and then, in the 13th century, to Amalfi in southern Italy where they are kept to this day.

3. Legend has it that a Greek monk known as St Rule or St Regulus was ordered in a vision to take a few relics of Andrew to the ‘ends of the earth’ for safe keeping. He set off on a sea journey to eventually come ashore on the coast of Fife at a settlement which is now the modern town of St Andrews.

4. In 832 AD Andrew is said to have appeared in a vision to a Pictish king the night before a battle against the Northumbrians in what is now the village of Athelstaneford in East Lothian. On the day of the battle a Saltire, an X-shaped cross, appeared in the sky above the battlefield and the Picts were victorious.

5. The Saltire, or Saint Andrew’s Cross, was subsequently adopted as the national emblem and flag of the Scots.

6. Andrew was first recognised as an official patron saint of Scotland in 1320 at the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath an appeal to the Pope by Scottish noblemen asserting Scotland’s independence from England.

7. The presence of Andrew’s relics in Scotland – a tooth, a kneecap, arm and finger bones – meant that St Andrews became a popular medieval pilgrimage site although they were destroyed in the 16th century during the Scottish Reformation.

Many events will be held in Scotland and other parts of the world where you will see some men wearing the kilt.

Once in Scotland, you may eat some haggis.

Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish made up of sheep's pluck (the heart, lung and liver) mixed with suet, oatmeal and seasonings and stuffed into a sheep's stomach. It is usually served with mash potatoes or "tatties".