St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and his symbol is the X shaped cross. It is told that when he was sentenced to death by the Romans in Greece, he asked that the cross be diagonal as he did not see himself worthy to die on the same shaped cross as Jesus.

Bible accounts don’t give away too much as far as Christ’s disciples lives are concerned. History books may not give  details either but what we know is that Andrew was brother of Simon Peter,  former fisherman, former disciple of John the Baptist and fisher of men.

Later in the school year, we will explore the inspiration and motives behind starting St Andrew’s School, Turi at a time when even the Director of Education thought was the worst to start a school. Why name it after this particular disciple?

Almost 90 years after the school started, we continue to mark St Andrews Day at Turi on November 30^th (or the closest convenient date) alongside the people Scotland and others like Poland and Barbados.

It is not clear how he become the Patron Saint but legend has it that his relics were buried on the East Coast of Scotland (city now named St Andrew’s) by a monk, Regulus who weathered the perils of  medieval pilgrimage to bring the remains to Fife.

At Turi, we remember St Andrew through fun-filled activities- usually outdoors. This year was no different. At the Senior School, we had bike rides in the forest, canoeing at the reservoir while down at Prep we turned into Sumo wrestlers and had epic pillow fights, among other activities. There can be no St Andrew’s day without Tug-of-War- at both schools!

While it is the season to celebrate the birth of Christ, it is good that we also remember his life and those who continued his work. It is because of this fishermen and fishers of men that we have the privilege of hearing the gospel of Christ and spreading it.