This Side of Lost

Today is the feast day for St. Andrew, the first-called apostle and patron saint of Scotland. I also share his name, in case you didn't notice. So happy name day to me. Here's some more info on my namesake and his feast day:

• A BBC report about the first minister of Scotland's vision for St. Andrew's Day 2005.
• More about St. Andrew from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
• A page of Christian apocrypha and early Christian literature, including the Acts of Andrew, and the Acts and Martyrdom of Andrew.
• St. Andrew's Cross is a saltire or decussate cross (x-shaped), signifying the shape of the cross he was supposedly martyred on. The Scottish national flag has this cross in white on a blue background.
• St. Andrew's Lutheran in Mahtomedi, MN was the church of my youth. I always thought it was cool that I had the same name as my church. (Special organ link for David.)

And finally, single women, take note! St. Andrew's Day holds the key to your future. Here are some "peculiar marriage-related superstitions" that have attached themselves to this day:

• An old German tradition says that single women who wish to marry should ask for Saint Andrew's help on the Eve of his feast, then sleep naked that night; they will see their future husbands in their dreams.
• Another says that young women should note the location of barking dogs on Saint Andrew's Eve: their future husbands will come from that direction.
• On the day after Andrew's feast, young people float cups in a tub; if a boy's and a girl's cup drift together and are intercepted by a cup inscribed "priest", it indicates marriage.

Oops. Looks like the good ones were for last night. Oh well. If you consider yourself a "young person," try the cup floating trick tomorrow and tell me how it turns out. And also where you happened to get a cup inscribed "priest." 'Cause that just sounds cool.