It has recently come to my attention that today is St Andrew's day and also Scotland National Day. Tomorrow is Romania's. Or, since it’s unlikely I’ll finish this article and publish it today, subtract one day from all the temporal adverbs above. We will also learn here who put the ‘X’ in XXX.
The St. Andrew's Cross, Crux decussata, X-cross, X-frame or saltire cross is a common piece of equipment in BDSM dungeons. It typically provides restraining points for ankles, wrists, and waist. When secured to a saltire, the subject is restrained in a spreadeagle position.
The St. Andrew's Cross and the spanking bench are the most common pieces of BDSM furniture. Saltires are versatile and easy to manufacture. They are usually firmly attached to a wall, and some are attached to a central hinge, allowing the subject to be spun and inverted.
The attached photo, with St Andrew checking out model Monique’s weird shoes, worried that she’s in the midst of a fashion faux-pas, is made by combining two photos from Wikipedia, assumed to be in the public domain.
I thought I should share this with you because in my search, this was the first link that Google returned when I searched for St Andrew’s Cross:
St Andrew (an Apostle) was the first disciple of Jesus and the patron saint of several countries and their respective (mostly Orthodox) churches.
Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, Greece, Romania, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Saint Andrew, Barbados.
St. Andrew's Day (Scots: Saunt Andra's Day, Scottish Gaelic: Là Naomh Aindrea) is Scotland's official national day. In 2006, the Scottish Parliament designated St Andrew's Day as an official bank holiday. It is also a national holiday in Romania.
In Germany, the feast day is celebrated as Andreasnacht ("(St.) Andrew's Night"), in Austria with the custom of Andreasgebet ("(St.) Andrew's Prayer"), and in Poland as Andrzejki ("Andrew's (festivities)"), in Russia as Андреева ночь ("Andrew's night").
Here’s what’s going on in Romania. It’s cool to be a wolf on that day.
There are a few pre-Christian Romanian traditions connected to St. Andrew's Day, some of them having their origin in the Roman celebrations of Saturn. The Dacian New Year took place from 14 November until 7 December; this was considered the interval when time began its course. One of the elements that came from the Roman and Thracian celebrations concerned wolves. During this night, wolves are allowed to eat all the animals they want. It is said that they can speak, too, but anyone that hears them will soon die. Early on St. Andrew’s day, the mothers go into the garden and gather tree branches, especially from apple, pear and cherry trees, and also rosebush branches. They make a bunch of branches for each family member. The one whose bunch blooms by New Year's Day will be lucky and healthy the next year.
The best known tradition connected to this night concerns matrimony and premonitory dreams. Single girls must put under their pillow a branch of sweet basil. If someone takes the plants in their dreams, that means the girl will marry soon. They can also plant wheat in a dish and water it until New Year’s Day. The nicer the wheat looks that day, the better the year to come.
That’s pretty cool as it stands, but the Romanian Orthodox Church felt the need to get down with it.
The official stance of the Romanian Orthodox Church is that Andrew preached the Gospel in the province of Dobruja (Scythia Minor) to the Daco-Romans, whom he is said to have converted to Christianity. This theory is based in part on some ancient Christian symbols found carved in a cave near Murfatlar and in historical springs.
Hippolyte of Antioch, (died c. 250 C.E.) in his On Apostles, Origen in the third book of his Commentaries on the Genesis (254 C.E.), Eusebius of Caesarea in his Church History (340 C.E.), and other sources, such as Usaard's Martyrdom written between 845-865, and Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend (c. 1260), Saint Andrew preached in Scythia Minor. There are toponyms and numerous very old traditions (like carols) related to Saint Andrew, many of them having probably a pre-Christian substratum.
It seems that caves were quite a popular dwelling in those times – they were the condos of antiquity. Throw in a few bear skins (see why the bear has no tail) and you had a partee!
Also, note that Zalmoxis is also commonly represented with wolves and had a cave as his HQs.
But there’s more to St Andrew: he’s also the “Patron Saint of Lovers” (ftc-andr).
According to popular belief, St. Andrew’s Eve (November 30th ) is the first prognostication or fate day of the year. This day was especially propitious for having visions of one’s future true love. Other so-called fate days occurred soon thereafter and included Saint Thomas’ Eve (12/21), Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Popular tradition identifies St. Andrew as the patron saint of fishermen and lovers. How Saint Andrew became revered as the protector of lovers is a bit murky. It was perhaps his propensity to receive or induce his own revelations that inspired young maids to claim him as their own. And as Jesus’ appointed fisher-of-men, Andrew might have had a romantic appeal as the protector of those who would rather cast their nets for human prey.
There are purportedly many ways to celebrate St. Andrew’s Eve. The simplest way is to gaze into a fire or mirror and say a special Andrew prayer; then wait for the face of one’s true love to appear. Other methods involved throwing shoes or shirts and interpreting how they fall, praying to the saint fervently and then falling asleep to receive a vision of love or melting wax or lead, dropping it into water and interpreting the odd shapes. One tradition likens lovers to barking dogs. (Perhaps in the belief that where there is bark there is most likely a swain. ) Grimm’s Saga No. 115 explains this folk tradition best but also makes clear that like all things concerning love, auguring the future is not for the faint of heart.
With such a pedigree, it’s no wonder that Andrei is a perennial #1 in the most popular boys names top in Romania, followed usually by Alexandru, Ionut, Gabriel, Stefan, Mihai (Michael), David, Daniel, Marian and Florin. Here’s the 2013 top:
However, Andrei has become so popular only in the past few decades. A top of the entire male population reveals:
1. Gheorghe
2. Ioan
3. Constantin
4. Vasile
5. Alexandru
This is quite different from the rest of the world:
1. Luke (Lucas, Lukas)
2. Matheus (Mateo, Matheo, Mathieu)
3. Noah
4. Jacob (Jakob)
5. Ethan
I suppose I should be telling you more about Romania’s birthday, but the truth is, I’d rather discuss an issue about the recent presidential elections – an issue I touched upon but I have not really spelled out. Let’s see.
Sources / More info: wiki-stAbdsm, wiki-Andrew, ftc-andr
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