A toast for St Andrews
St Andrew always seems to me to be an ideal patron saint for Scotland.
A simple working fisherman; hard working and not afraid of standing up for the right; a loyal, trustworthy man and above all, plain spoken. He travelled far from his birthplace and some of his remains found their resting place on the coast of Scotland that bears his name. But most of all, he shared in Jesus' first miracle – turning the water into wine – how that would appeal to the average Scot!
For centuries, his feast day – St Andrew's Day or Andermass – was celebrated by Scots folk on 30 November – thanking our saint for his patronage and intervention since the defeat of the Angles at Aethelstaneford in 832 AD, when the dawn's blue sky was criss-crossed by the saint's own symbol – the white saltire – a miracle foretelling victory on that day and ever since then the design of our proud flag.
In the Reformation, while many good things happened, over zealous iconoclasm cast the saint's relics and his feast to the winds, and the tradition of the patron saint's day fell by the wayside at home, decried as mere superstition.
However, one of the defining characteristics about our heritage is that so many of us found our way to prosperity outwith Scotland. In England, Ireland, France and Sweden, communities of émigré Scots were found, and after the Union, increasingly the sinews of Empire were the arms of Scots men and women resident across the globe.
In establishing a new life or a business abroad there is always the risk of bad luck, hardship or ruin and our community ethic saw the creation of mutual societies where we Scots would band together raising a common fund to support each other in times of crisis. From the Scots Box in London in 1603 (still serving as Scotscare now) to the St Andrew's Societies across North America, Asia and Australasia you'll often find that the oldest functioning charity in a given locale was founded by the Scots. And it's often called the St Andrew's Society.
Charity can be dry work, and so the convivial life was built around the charity meetings, culminating in the annual festival on St Andrew's Day every 30th November. Drams and Alms.
The format predates the Burns Supper in invention, but you can recognise many similar elements in the fun. I was privileged to address the 250th Anniversary banquet of the St Andrew's Society of The State of New York in 2006 and that's a good night out!
The top table are piped in with rousing marches and the audience stand to applaud as kilties carry in the Saltire, The Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack. The three national anthems are sung: God Save The Queen (with the traditional diffidence); hands on hearts for The Star Spangled Banner and a rugby cheer for Flower of Scotland (with the traditional grumbles from those who prefer Highland Cathedral, Scotland The Brave or perhaps Donald Where's Yer Troosers).
Cheers all round and then a pause for Grace – remembering those who are short of the good gifts we share this night in our party dress with a full glass in one hand and a menu in the other.
Starters come along straight away – a warm bowl of cock-a-leekie soup (to some titters from American guests over the name) and then the great ceremony begins.
This is the bit that has changed most over the years. Since the First World War the next course is a Haggis – suitably addressed and dispatched with gusto and a flashing dirk. But the haggis really belongs to January and to the feast of our patron non-saint – Robert Burns. The real way to celebrate St Andrew in November traditionally called for a sheep's heid as the feast.
Yes. You heard. A good meal of sheep's heid and all the trimmings. If you've eaten recently, look away!
My Granny used to get a choice fat head from the butcher and take it up to the stamp works so that the nice man could singe off the hair in his big furnace. You then have to cut out the tongue (please keep) and pop out the eyes (please do not keep) before boiling the head, tongue and four cleaned trotters with some wee turnips and onions untill ready. Then split the head, scoop out the brains (to make the sauce!) and arrange on a bed of parsley with the halved trotters, a generous helping of cold boiled eggs and the veggies. Mind you, not many people ate the veggies.
At a big dinner, this would be paraded in just like the haggis and toasted at the top table before the poor diners got their share.
So no more complaints about haggis! To add a bit of theatre to the November night nowadays, Burns's much-loved Address To The Haggis is performed. A love song to an oatmeal sausage is a difficult thing to have to explain, particularly when it gets violent in the middle. It's a symbol though (albeit slightly tongue-in-cheek) of how simple fare and a hard life make the Scots the folk we are.
Rather than feasting on either a head or a haggis, a more modern main course is common now (often good Scots produce like Salmon or Aberdeen Angus beef) although, our traditional puddings (crannachan or Athol brose) and local cheeses are coming back into fashion again.
The evening's speeches look at the connections between us and our home or homes. First, let's drink a toast to Scotland (in New York they propose 'To The Land Of Cakes – commemorating the simple oatcake that was our staple diet) to commemorate our shared heritage and after that, a second toast – ‘To The Land We Live In' to recognise and give thanks to our adopted home and hosts. Add some songs or poems or entertaining party pieces and round off in good style with Auld Lang Syne before three cheers for St Andrew and for Scotland are the cue to sprachle back up the brae to a good bed.
You'd find these dinners, or sometimes ceilidhs in all sorts of corners of the globe – but see them rarely in the villages, towns and cities of Scotland. It is wonderful news that we have come full circle and Andermass is home again as a new holiday across Scotland from this year.
Whether 30th November turns out to be a well deserved day's rest on our national holiday for you, or if you hear the Red Hot Chilli Pipers' special St Andrew's ring tone on your phone as your cousin in NSW calls to say hello, or it might be more of a quiet drink with friends, or an outing to a concert or a gala dinner, whatever the form of your day, it's a real chance to reflect on who we are as a people and a nation and, more importantly, to celebrate a long history of being a community, both here on Scotland's soil and wherever that much loved, pale blue flag with its white cross flies.
Happy St Andrew's Day!
Clark McGinn
Clark McGinn is a banker by trade and he now lives in London. He is one of the most active after dinner speakers on Scottish subjects, notably Burns and his first book: 'The Ultimate Burns Supper Book' is published by Luath Press at £7.99/$14.95. He is currently finishing a second book on Scotland. See more on www.seriousburns.com.
