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Pipers lead a march through Edinburgh to mark St Andrew's Day, which is increasingly celebrated by Scots abroad.
Picture: Colin Hattersley
Working to make St Andrew's Day specialPETER MACMAHON SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT EDITOR
Key points
• Ministers plan celebrations around world but refuse national holiday
• Executive supporting St Andrew's Day festivities in US, Japan, and Russia
• Ceilidh in Edinburgh planned to mark day and celebrate national diversity
Key quote
"Scotland and the rest of the world will host a great mix of celebrations, including the ceilidh hosted by the Executive which is the first national celebration of St Andrew's Day to be held in the capital" - Tom McCabe, minister for finance and public service reform
Story in full THEY will be doing The Dashing White Sergeant in Denmark and The Gay Gordons in Gambia. There might be an eightsome reel in Boston. And there will definitely be a military two-step in Edinburgh. The world is about to celebrate St Andrew's Day. But there will still not be a public holiday in Scotland.
The plans for ceilidhs and Highland balls across the globe were part of an ambitious programme of global celebrations of 30 November announced yesterday by ministers.
In a sign that the Executive is stepping up efforts to mark St Andrew's Day, the Executive announced that it will for the first time host festivities in Edinburgh. A "One Scotland Ceilidh" will feature bands playing at an open air stage and in an indoor venue in the capital.
And the ceilidh - to be held at the Lawnmarket and the Hub in Edinburgh - will have the Executive's One Scotland Many Cultures campaign on ethnic diversity as its theme. Artists including Dougie Maclean, the Tartan Dholies, the Peatbog Faeries, the Wild Cigarillos Ceilidh Band and Croft 5 will be performing .
The programme also includes a performance of songs in the tradition of Robert Burns in Dumfries, the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards in Edinburgh celebrating the best of Scottish talent and a Taste of Scotland reception in Brussels.
In all the Executive is supporting 41 St Andrew's Day events, with celebrations taking place as far afield as Australia, the US, Africa, Japan, Russia and Peru as well as all over Europe.
According to a list of events released yesterday the British ambassador in Denmark will attend a Caledonia Society St Andrew's Day Ball on 30 November. There will be a St Andrew's Day event in Gambia, and celebrations for the Scottish diaspora in Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and Latvia.
Tom McCabe, the minister for finance and public service reform, said: "I believe it is the most ambitious range of St Andrew's Day events ever held.
"Scotland and the rest of the world will host a great mix of celebrations, including the ceilidh hosted by the Executive which is the first national celebration of St Andrew's Day to be held in the capital."
Mr McCabe said the day held a special place in the heart of Scots. He added: "It gives us the opportunity to celebrate together what we value about our national identity and the modern diversity of our communities.
"We are determined in future years to put in place an even more ambitious series of St Andrew's Day events which can be promoted abroad and crucially which communities across Scotland can all be part of."
The announcement of the programme came just weeks after Holyrood rejected a proposal by Dennis Canavan, an independent MSP, to make St Andrew's Day a public holiday, with Jack McConnell, the First Minister, arguing that he was not convinced by the move.
Murdo Fraser MSP, Scottish Conservative Enterprise spokesman, said: "Tom McCabe is absolutely right when he said 'St Andrew's Day holds a special place in the heart of Scots', but if he really believes this then why on earth did the Scottish Executive kick the recent St Andrew's Day Bill into the long grass?"
Michael Matheson, the SNP spokesman on culture, said: "This demonstrates the hypocrisy at the heart of the Executive over the St Andrew's Day holiday. They are happy to globe trot around the world to help promote St Andrew's Day, but here in Scotland they have refused to even allow a national holiday to celebrate our national day."