St Andrew's Day In Ranfurly

A Saint Andrew’s Day church service has been held in the Maniototo Presbyterian Parish for the last three years on the first day of Advent. It started because newly-arrived minister Stephanie Wells wanted to combine the Scottish background of many of the congregation, the presence of an excellent local highland pipe band and the Presbyterian Churches historic ties to Scotland by celebrating this national day.

On the Sunday closest to St Andrew’s Day the church is decorated with tartan and other Scottish memorabilia from various parish members. People are encouraged to wear tartan which means anything from kilts to ties being worn. The highland pipe band begins by marching in and then provides all the music for the service. We have discovered a wide variety of music that uses the old Scottish tunes and strangely no-one complains about how loud the music is. The rest of the service has a fairly formal Presbyterian style with the sermon concentrating on St Andrew. Unfortunately the minister doesn’t have a Scottish accent but as much as possible is done by our Scottish speakers. For example on this day the bible readings are read in Gaelic and then translated into English.

After the service the band marches out and then we reconvene in the church for some more Scottish fun. That’s when we have highland dancing from some of our talented local girls, the haggis ceremony (with whiskey!) and morning tea.

The church is packed for this event with many participants not normally seen there on a Sunday. It has proved an excellent use of community resources with involvement from the highland pipe band, highland dancers, the local radio station for the advertising and people who provide the haggis ceremony. It also seems to be an easy introduction to church for many people. In fact, the St Andrew’s Day church service is quickly becoming a tradition here through the use of elements already important to the community.