The 30 November is celebrated in Scotland as St Andrew’s Day. In Scotland it is an official national day. In 2006, the Scottish Parliament passed the St. Andrew’s Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007 .

Scotland shares St Andrew with many countries he is patron saint of :Cyprus, Scotland, Greece (City of Patras), Romania, Russia, Ukraine, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, San Andres Island (Colombia), Saint Andrew (Barbados), Tenerife (Spain), and Chamoson (Switzerland).

Saint Andrew’s Day is an official flag day in Scotland.

The Scottish Government‘s flag-flying regulations state that the flag of Scotland (the Saltire or Saint Andrew’s Cross) shall fly on all its buildings with a flagpole.

Andrew was a fisherman and the first disciple of Jesus Christ and the brother of Peter. In the Gospel According to John, Andrew is the first Apostle named, and he was a disciple of St. John the Baptist before Jesus’ call. He preached the Gospel in the lands around the Black Sea and in Greece and was eventually crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras.

In Scotland there are many events held around and on St Andrew’s Day. This includes the exhibition ‘Portraits for Peace’ held in the Northlight Gallery, Stromness as part of Fair Saturday Scotland, which used to be known as St Andrew’s Fair Saturday.

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