St. Andrew’s Day is the feast day of Saint Andrew which is celebrated on the 30th of November. Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and St. Andrew’s Day is Scotland’s official national day. In 2006, the Scottish Parliament designated St. Andrew’s Day an official bank holiday. Although commonly associated with Scotland, Saint Andrew is also the patron saint of Greece, Romania, and Russia.

The “Order of Saint Andrew’’ or the “Most Ancient Order of the Thistle’’ is an order of knighthood which is restricted to the King or Queen and 16 others. It was established by James VII of Scotland
in 1687.

St. Andrew is said to have been responsible for spreading the tenets of the Christian religion though Asia Minor and Greece, according to tradition, St. Andrew was put to death by the Romans in Patras, Southern Greece, on a diagonal cross. This shape of the cross is the basis for the Cross of St. Andrew which appears on the Scottish flag today.

Scotland is one of the countries, together with Wales, England, and Northern Ireland, which form the United Kingdom (UK). Although part of UK, Scotland’s legal system continues to be separate from those of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The continued independence of Scottish law, the Scottish education system and the Church of Scotland have been three cornerstones contributing to the continuation of Scottish culture and Scottish national identity.

We congratulate the people of Scotland led by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and their Excellencies, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and First Minister Alex Salmond, and the United Kingdom’s Embassy in the Philippines headed by H.E., Ambassador Stephen Lillie on the occasion of St. Andrew’s Day.