Let me ask you this. Do you feel an enhanced stirring of patriotic pride with the advent of this St Andrew’s Day. No?

Mostly, I would imagine you pay little heed to the national day associated with Scotland’s patron saint. Perhaps a transient flicker of acknowledgement.

This is not for the want of endeavour by those whose task is to promote all things Scottish. The Visit Scotland website promises “a varied programme of events and festivals, featuring uniquely Scottish line-ups of music, dance, culture and more”.

Within that list, there is apparently to be a “Dundee Hooley”. I think I may have inadvertently attended such events in my distant youth.

But there is more. I found listed “Fun Facts” about St Andrew himself. Including details about his crucifixion on a diagonal cross.

Enough, Brian, enough. This information is aimed at inquisitive visitors, not at those lucky enough to live here. It is Caledonia light, a tentative glimpse through the curtain of our curious history.

However, it started me thinking. Scottish identity is real. Scottish patriotism exists, however modulated. But just how are these phenomena displayed? And what relevance do they have?

I am aware of St Andrew’s story. The legend that relics of the apostle were brought to Fife, engendering the cathedral that now bears his name. As a student there in the Middle Ages, this was a familiar, faintly Gothic narrative.

I am also alert to the other legend: that the Pictish king saw a cloudy saltire in the sky, the image derived from St Andrew’s cross. He duly defeated the Saxons in battle and adopted the saint and his banner in........

© Herald Scotland