Happy St. Andrew’s Day!

Today is St. Andrew’s Day in Scotland. In honor of the day, I found this video of two very Scottish Scots, answering questions about Scottish language and culture.

In case you don’t already know who these fine blokes are – on the viewer’s left is Àdhamh ÓBroin, Gaelic consultant for Outlander, who translates the scripts into Gaelic, where requested, and then teaches the actors to speak their lines with authenticity and a sense of the culture they are portraying. Àdhamh has made it his life’s work to help revive Gaelic language and culture in Scotland.  In Season 1, he participated in a full bootcamp to get the actors ready to be 18th century Highlanders. For more on that, go to my interview with Àdhamh.  To contact, Àdhamh, or learn more about what he does, go to Àdhamh’s website. On your right, is Gillebride MacMillan, singer, native Gaelic speaker, and Gaelic teacher at the University of Glasgow. Gillebride graced us in Season 1 with his beautiful honeyed voice, as Gwyllyn the Bard. Gillebride MacMillan.

        

There is a Patron Appreciation Giveaway happening this week. If you are a Patron, or would like to be, for details, go to Patron Thank you Giveaway.     

Enjoy! *****NOTE – Some people are getting error messages on their phones when playing this video. It works on laptops, but not on some phones. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but we have not been able to resolve this yet. Will keep trying.*****

 

This video was made for the fan event – Fraser’s Ridge: A Homecoming, in 2018. 

Here’s more on St. Andrew’s Day, courtesy of The Scotsman (Thank you to @eva333pascoe on Twitter for tagging me with the article)

Excerpts:

Who was Saint Andrew?

A fisherman from Galilee, Israel, Andrew was one of Jesus’ twelve apostles, according to the Bible’s New Testament. He was called by Jesus to be one of his ‘fishers of men’ and gave up his life as a fisherman to follow Jesus and preach about his work. He is mentioned several times in the presence of Jesus in the new testament and is considered one of the most important disciples of Christ, along with his brother, Saint Peter (Simon Peter).

Saint Andrew was at the Last Supper and also on the Mount of Olives where he asked Jesus about the signs of Jesus’ return at the “end of the age”. It is thought he then devoted the rest of his life to traveling on his boat, preaching in various countries about the work of Jesus.

He was killed by the Romans in 60 AD, for preaching about Jesus. It is widely believed that he refused to be executed on the same shape of cross as Jesus as he did not feel worthy and was instead he was put to death on a diagonal cross, which is now used in the Scottish flag (the Saltire).

Why is he the patron saint of Scotland?

Relics of Saint Andrew were thought to have been brought to Scotland by Saint Regulus, a Patras monk, to the place now recognised as Saint Andrews, Fife. It is said that Regulus received a message from God in his dreams, telling him to take some of Andrew’s remains to ‘the end of the earth’ and wherever he was shipwrecked he would bury them. Regulus was stranded on the coast of Fife with the kneecap, an upper arm bone, three fingers and a tooth of Saint Andrew, but they are not there today.

The patronage of St Andrew then took place when Oengus II (King Angus) – a Scottish king of the picts in 832 AD – prayed to Saint Andrew to help his men succeed in battle and in return, he would make him the patron saint. Legend has it that on the morning of the battle, the saltire appeared in a cloud formation about the battle ground and, despite being outnumbered in men, the Picts won. Angus believed this was due to Saint Andrew’s divine intervention and honoured his pre-battle pledge.

The Scottish flag – a white saltire on a royal blue background – is thought to symbolise the shape of Saint Andrew’s diagonal crucifix in white clouds against the sky. In the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, Scottish noblemen wrote to the Pope to ask for Scottish independence from England – claiming conversion back to christianity through Saint Andrew. He became the official patron saint of Scotland that year.

There’s more – read the full article here: The Scotsman, St Andrew’s Day 2020.

May we all be filled with gratitude and love, today and always. xo

For Droughtlander material, of course, reread the books, catch up on our Seasons 4 and 5 Episode Discussions, or visit Reader Favorites.

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