Today, November 30th, is the Feast of the Holy and First Called Apostle Andrew. St. Andrew has a special place in my heart as he is the patron saint of Scotland as well as Romania so in St. Andrew we see my birth culture and my adopted culture coming together.
Much has been written about St. Andrew and a simple Google search will take you to many of those places so I am going to go in a different direction and focus on some traditions that have started around the feast of St. Andrew.
Last Saturday night I attended the 356th St. Andrew’s Day Celebration sponsored by the Scots Charitable Society of Boston. The Scots Charitable has the distinction of being the oldest Scots Group in the United States being founded in 1657. The main purpose was to provide aid for needy Scots, “after proper investigation” and today the Scots Charitable funds a Scholarship that provided much needed aid to college students from the area.
I enjoy reading history and I was presented with a copy of the Constitution and By Laws of the Scots Charitable at last week’s dinner and I really have enjoyed thumbing through it. The opening pages reveal the reasons for the starting of such a group and I quote it here, in the original Scots:
At a meeting of the 6 of January 1657 we whose names are underwritten being all or the most part present did agree and conclude for the releefe of our selves and any other for the which wee may see cause.
And with that the Scots Charitable Society of Boston was formed and continues the work of bringing relief to those in need and also continues to keep the spirit of philanthropy and the traditions of our Nation and that of Scotland alive in New England.
