‘Unhappy St Andrew’s Day’?

St Andrew’s day (30^th November), historically a feast day for Andrew the apostle, officially became a bank holiday in Scotland in 2007. Previous blogs have celebrated Scotland’s patron saint by looking at some of the earliest visual representations of St Andrew in the University’s Collections, including the University’s own medieval seal. In this blog we take a look at the celebration of the day in the history of the University.

The earliest University Calendars from the 1860s make no mention of St Andrew’s day being in any way significant, in fact the 30^th of November was often the meeting date for General Council.

Things were to change in 1920 when the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) suggested to Senatus that the day be recognised as a University holiday. Senatus and Court agreed on the proviso that the existing holiday in March be stopped (UYUY452/30, Minutes of Senatus 8 May 1920). After over 30 years of it being a holiday however, to accommodate teaching, Senatus made the decision to abolish the holiday in 1954.

The initial reaction of the student body was to boycott classes in 1955, though in a letter to Senatus the SRC stated this was not an organised boycott and a “foolish and ineffectual method of showing discontent”. By 1956, a more creative approach to show discontent was adopted.

In an article in the student newspaper Quorum, it was suggested the day should continue to be observed with the decorum of a funeral. Red gowns were to be replaced with dark clothes and arm bands, and as seen in these images captured by local press photographer George Cowie, a mock funeral procession was held along North Street ending at the entrance to the then student Union. The ashes of St Andrew’s day were then presented to the president of the Union.

With continuing unsuccessful petitions to Senatus and University Court, this observance continued until 1959, organised by the St Andrew’s Day Observance Society. By 1959, a silver urn had been acquired for the ‘ashes’ of the day which is now held in University Collections and available to view on our website.

The local press reported on the event saying the following:

On Monday a number of students wore symbolic black ties and black armbands in mourning for the loss of what was for them a few years ago an annual holiday. The University’s St Andrew’s Day Observance Society carried a casket containing the symbolic ashes of the St Andrew’s Day holiday to the Students’ Union, where they were handed over to the president of the Students’ Representative Council. In the expectation that the holiday will be restored some time, the students staged a revie in the Union under the title “High Hopes”. The Celtic Society marked the occasion with the traditional oration outside the Union at 8:15am followed by a piper-led procession through the town. When the procession returned to the Union the students danced eightsome reels.  

[St Andrews Citizen, 5 December 1959]

While the St Andrew’s Day Observance Society were not immediately successful in their aims, the day did become a University holiday once again in 1971. Communication with St Andrews Town Council agreed that there would be a joint effort to celebrate the day.

St. Andrew’s Day Celebrations – The Principal reported that the Town Council wished to mark St. Andrew’s day in future by a holiday in the town and the organisation of local celebrations. The Provost explained that this project was designed, among other things, to bring town and gown into closer association.

[Minutes of Senatus, 19 July 1971]

The festivities of 1971 included tours of the Preservation Trust Museum on North Street, the Department of Zoology and the Royal and Ancient Clubhouse. A brief catalogue of events was published in the St Andrews Citizen. An exhibition was also held in the University Library, then still on South Street. The report in the Alumnus Chronicle for the year revealed that the exhibition contained many archives and rare books from the collections highlighting both the history of the town and the University, including a 1722 edition of John of Fordoun’s Scotichronicon which includes an account of the arrival of Saint Andrew’s relics to the town.    

The day continued as a Town and Gown event until the mid-1990s with open days and activities planned across the town, including visits to the Botanic Gardens, the Bell Pettigrew Museum, and exhibitions at the University Library.

In more recent years, the day (when falling on a weekday) is often aligned with the University’s winter graduation ceremonies – a highlight of the academic year.

The Big Hoolie has been celebrated in the town since 2017, including an outdoor ceilidh, torch procession and fireworks display.

This Sunday, St Andrew’s Day, the BBC will be broadcasting two events from St Salvator’s Chapel, both featuring St Salvator’s Chapel Choir, Sunday Worship for Radio 4 and Carols around the Country for Radio 3.

Sarah Rodriguez
Muniments Archivist