Video: St Andrew’s celebrations at Edinburgh Castle

IT MAY have been a bitterly cold night in Edinburgh on Sunday but it takes more than freezing weather to discourage the average Scot from a celebration of any sort.

Given the local climate, our reputation for enjoying a party wouldn’t have persisted otherwise.

Those who gathered on Edinburgh Castle’s Esplanade to celebrate an evening of Scottish culture and achievement in honour of St Andrew were prime examples of this hardy stock.

Celebrations of St Andrew’s Day on home ground may still have some way to go to match the gusto with which other nations mark their national holiday - the Irish and St Patrick being the most notable example - but if events like Sunday night’s are a mark of what’s to come, the future of Scotland’s saint’s day is in safe hands.

St Andrew’s weekend celebrations on this scale are a fairly new concept, which only adds to the enthusiasm with which they are staged. While in coming years St Andrew’s Day will no doubt be hijacked by some enterprising national drinks manufacturer, and as such become a powerful marketing tool, at the moment the opportunities are still there to enjoy large-scale St Andrew’s Day events in their relative infancy, and innocence.

The Esplanade was illuminated by a large Saltire projected on to the castle walls, as children from local primary schools took part in a lantern procession, accompanied by a local pipe band.

This was then followed by a film projection covering all aspects of Scotland’s greatness - past, present and future - as a narrator and a lone piper added atmosphere to proceedings.

The ceremony then concluded with what the Scottish capital does best - fireworks. And they, as ever, didn’t disappoint.

In case you missed it, we filmed the celebrations. Happy St Andrew’s Day to all our readers.