IT’S St Andrew’s Day, the nearest thing that Scotland has to a national day of celebrating our Scottishness, and this year the Scottish Government is hoping that every Scot will "make someone’s day" with an act of kindness or two.
The Government has issued the following rallying cry: “This year we want you to mark St Andrew’s Day by showing you care and #MakeSomeonesDay! The people of Scotland have a world-renowned reputation for friendliness and inclusivity and to celebrate our national day this year, we’re encouraging everyone to carry out a small act of kindness. If everyone does one small thing this St Andrew’s Day, together we can make a huge difference.
“Even a small act of kindness can have a massive impact on another person’s life.”
READ MORE: How you can do a good deed on St Andrew’s Day this year
There are events planned across Scotland and there’s plenty of information on the internet about happenings in every locality with Visit Scotland promoting St Andrew’s Day as well – check out the following link.
Meanwhile a group of MSPs and their associates have formed a St Andrew’s Day Committee to better promote November 30 as Scotland’s national day. Convened by SNP MSP Tom Arthur, the group’s secretary is Dennis Canavan who has long promoted the cause of St Andrew’s Day and was the MSP behind the bill that eventually saw St Andrew’s Day become a Scottish bank holiday.
Canavan’s strongest contention is that St Andrew’s Day should be a national school holiday – local authorities vary on whether to have the day as a school holiday with just three councils committed to it, though they may take it on the Friday or Monday following the actual day.
Speaking on the Alex Salmond Show on RT yesterday, Canavan said: “The cross-party group of MSPs for St Andrew’s Day was set up just a few weeks ago with Tom Arthur MSP as convener and I am the secretary.
“Our aims are fairly simple. First of all to get wider recognition of the St Andrew’s Day holiday and secondly to promote the celebration of St Andrew’s Day, and that means trying to give all the people of Scotland inclusively the opportunity to celebrate our national identity, our cultural diversity and our membership of the international community.”
It’s a task Canavan relishes: “The legislation was eventually passed unanimously after a great deal of effort and is now the St Andrew’s Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007…but it doesn’t oblige any employer, not even the banks, to give their workers the day off.”
Recognition of the holiday is still very patchy, says Canavan, who feels the key issue is to make it a national school holiday.
He said: “I firmly believe that if it was a school holiday, there would be huge increase in the recognition, because most parents would want to take the day off to celebrate with their children and that in turn would put more pressure on employers, both in the public sector and the private sector, to give more recognition for the holiday.”
Canavan added: “When you look at the international comparison, Scotland is near the bottom of the international league in terms of the number of our public holidays.
"We are one of the few countries in the world that does not have a national holiday.”
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