Saint Andrew's Day

St. Andrew's Day is the feast day of Saint Andrew. It is celebrated on the 30th of November.

Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, and St. Andrew's Day (Scots: Saunt Andra's Day, Scottish Gaelic: Latha Naomh Anndra) is Scotland's official national day. In 2006, the Scottish Parliament designated St Andrew's Day as an official bank holiday. It is also a national holiday in Romania.

Although most commonly associated with Scotland, at least in the English-speaking world, Saint Andrew is also the patron saint of Greece, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Saint Andrew, Barbados.

In Germany, the feast day is celebrated as Andreasnacht ("St Andrew's Night"), in Austria with the custom of Andreasgebet ("St Andrew's Prayer"), and in Poland as Andrzejki ("Little Andrews",  diminutive), in Russia as Андреева ночь ("Night Andrew").

In Scotland, and many countries with Scottish connections, St Andrew's Day is marked with a celebration of Scottish culture with traditional Scottish food, music and dance. Schools across Scotland hold special St Andrew's Day events and activities including art shows, Scottish country dancing, lunchtime ceilidhs, dance festivals, storytelling, reciting and writing poems, writing tall tales, cooking traditional Scottish meals, and bagpipe-playing. In Scotland the day is also seen as the start of a season of Scottish winter festivals encompassing St Andrew's Day, Hogmanay and Burns Night. In Edinburgh, there is a week of celebrations, concentrating on musical entertainment and traditional ceilidh dancing. A ceilidh is a social event with couples dancing in circles or sets (groups of eight people). In Glasgow city center, a large shindig, or party, with traditional music and a ceilidh are held. In Dumfries, songs are performed in the Burn's night tradition.