Churches back St Andrew’s Day holiday
-29/11/04
Churches in Scotland are backing an MSP
Churches back St Andrew’s Day holiday
-29/11/04
Churches in Scotland are backing an MSP’s bid to make St Andrew’s Day a national holiday.
Independent politician Dennis Canavan is proposing a backbench bill in the Scottish Parliament to make 30 November a day of Scotland-wide celebration.
Mr Canavan said he already had cross-party support for the proposal from more than 50 MSPs.
Amongst others the campaign has the backing of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, who said the country’s patron saint had been “taken for granted”.
Very little is known about St. Andrew himself. He was thought to have been a fisherman in Galilee, along with his elder brother Simon Peter.
St. Andrew is said to have been responsible for spreading the tenets of the Christian religion though Asia Minor and Greece, and tradition suggests he was put to death by the Romans in Patras, Southern Greece by crucifixion.
The diagonal shape of his cross is said to be the basis for the Cross of St. Andrew which appears on the Scottish Flag.
The Member of the Scottish Parliament, Dennis Canavan, wants a public holiday which would stand as a “celebration of Scotland’s multi-cultural and multi-ethnic traditions”.
“St Andrew is our patron saint and also an international figure, a unifying figure and therefore I think the celebration of St Andrew’s Day could be a national celebration of Scotland’s identity.”
He wants to see MSPs in Scotland’s devolved parliament take the initiative and introduce a new public holiday.
It was revealed last week that three quarters of those questioned in a survey for Scottish whisky distiller, the Glenlivit, backed the move.
A similar poll of 1,000 people in 2001 showed 68% support, suggesting growing approval of the idea.
Mr Canavan said: “Scotland is one of the few countries in the world which does not have a national holiday.
“We are also at the bottom of the European league in terms of the number of public holidays.”
Mr Canavan said a bank holiday was the nearest thing Scotland had to a national holiday and he hoped the Scottish Parliament would respond positively to the appeal. The Scottish executive is said to be lukewarm to the idea.
The idea is traditionally resisted by sections of the business community who fear it could damage trade and believe there are already sufficient public holidays.
Churches back St Andrew’s Day holiday
-29/11/04
Churches in Scotland are backing an MSP’s bid to make St Andrew’s Day a national holiday.
Independent politician Dennis Canavan is proposing a backbench bill in the Scottish Parliament to make 30 November a day of Scotland-wide celebration.
Mr Canavan said he already had cross-party support for the proposal from more than 50 MSPs.
Amongst others the campaign has the backing of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, who said the country’s patron saint had been “taken for granted”.
Very little is known about St. Andrew himself. He was thought to have been a fisherman in Galilee, along with his elder brother Simon Peter.
St. Andrew is said to have been responsible for spreading the tenets of the Christian religion though Asia Minor and Greece, and tradition suggests he was put to death by the Romans in Patras, Southern Greece by crucifixion.
The diagonal shape of his cross is said to be the basis for the Cross of St. Andrew which appears on the Scottish Flag.
The Member of the Scottish Parliament, Dennis Canavan, wants a public holiday which would stand as a “celebration of Scotland’s multi-cultural and multi-ethnic traditions”.
“St Andrew is our patron saint and also an international figure, a unifying figure and therefore I think the celebration of St Andrew’s Day could be a national celebration of Scotland’s identity.”
He wants to see MSPs in Scotland’s devolved parliament take the initiative and introduce a new public holiday.
It was revealed last week that three quarters of those questioned in a survey for Scottish whisky distiller, the Glenlivit, backed the move.
A similar poll of 1,000 people in 2001 showed 68% support, suggesting growing approval of the idea.
Mr Canavan said: “Scotland is one of the few countries in the world which does not have a national holiday.
“We are also at the bottom of the European league in terms of the number of public holidays.”
Mr Canavan said a bank holiday was the nearest thing Scotland had to a national holiday and he hoped the Scottish Parliament would respond positively to the appeal. The Scottish executive is said to be lukewarm to the idea.
The idea is traditionally resisted by sections of the business community who fear it could damage trade and believe there are already sufficient public holidays.