St. Andrews Day

miniature accessories
© F H Powell 2008

The feast of Saint Andrew is celebrated on November 30th. Though feted in a number of counties in Europe (Austria, Germany and Poland to name a few) Scotland is synonymous with St Andrew. St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and since 2007 St Andrews day has been given the status of Bank Holiday in Scotland (a voluntary rather than statutory Public Holiday) by the Scottish Parliament. Scotland’s national flag, the Saltire, is the cross of St Andrew.

St Andrew, a fisherman, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ and was thought to have been crucified diagonally as represented by the cross on the saltire. The connection to Scotland is believed to have come from the removal of some of St Andrews bones and transportation for safe keeping to Scotland. Whether transported to Scotland by a monk called St Rule, the Bishop of Hexham, or by any other means, the resting place for the bones is still marked today by a plaque in the ruins of St Andrews Cathedral though the whereabouts of the bones themselves is unknown.

We have quite a few Scottish items in 1:12th scale on our web shop from bagpipes to kilt hose, and traditional Scottish knitting patterns. We also have a variety of items suitable for a fisherman.

In addition we have a free knitting pattern for a 1:12th scale Scottish Highland Broad Bonnet (shown in top left of photo above) on our Ravelry store