1 Have porridge for breakfast. With salt, of course.
2 Download a St Andrew's Day ringtone for your mobile phone from the Red Hot Chilli Pipers. Their version of 'Auld Lang Syne' is available from
www.scotland.org/standrewsday/ringtone 3 Meet St Andrew himself - or at least his shoulder. In 1879, the Archbishop of Amalfi gifted a large portion of the apostle's shoulder to the Catholic Church in Scotland and it can be seen today at the National Shrine in St Mary's Cathedral, at the top of Leith Walk in Edinburgh.
www.stmaryscathedral.co.uk/standrew.html 4 Do your patriotic duty and help solve Scotland's population crisis.
5 Decide to take at least one holiday in Scotland next year, and book it now. A cottage on Mull at Easter? A break at the Barra festival? Surfing in Tiree? A walk along the West Highland Way? Why would you want to go anywhere else? What's a bit of rain and a few billion midges to the true Scot?
6 Listen to your kids sing with Sheena Wellington, perhaps the country's greatest traditional singer, as she picks some children's favourites. Dundee Central Library at 3.30pm on November 30. Part of city celebrations that include local soul bands, concert parties in old folks' homes and a ceilidh in City Square.
www.dundeecity.gov.uk/standrewsday/events.htm 7 Climb 4,406ft to the top of Scotland's highest peak, Ben Nevis, starting from the shores of Loch Linnhe.
www.visit-fortwilliam.co.uk/mf_bennevis.html8 Make friends with a New Scot. We like to think ourselves as the most welcoming nation on earth - now it's time to prove it. Make a point of speaking to that new English guy at work. Or the young Polish couple in the flat upstairs. Or the Somalian woman who has moved in down the road. A smile and a friendly word cost nothing.
9 Have yourself a Tunnock's Teacake. Then have another. And put one aside for later.
10 Create your own St Andrew's Day celebration. Call it a ceilidh if you like, but the only necessary ingredients are a few friends, a few laughs, a few stories and a few drinks. And at some point in the evening there must be a toast: to Scotland. Songs and dancing are optional.
11 Stop being ashamed of sounding Scottish. Don't avoid the use of Scots words, or modify your Scots accent out of some misplaced belief that standard English is somehow more polite or respectable. Take pride in your linguistic heritage. Celebrate your glo'al stop.
12 Read a Scottish poet who isn't Rabbie Burns. Try Robert Crawford's 'Scotch Broth' ('A soup so thick you could shake its hand / And stroll with it before dinner'); or some aphorisms from Don Paterson's Book Of Shadows ('After a long period of reflection, he decided that he was in fact right yet again.'); or ponder the meaning of love with Carol Ann Duffy's 'Rapture' ('When did your name / change from a proper noun / to a charm?').
13 Dance! Help create the world's largest ever Dashing White Sergeant. As part of a weekend of events in West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, the record-breaking attempt will take place on Sunday, December 2, at 3.30pm, with the help of ceilidh band The Porridge Men.
14 Resolve to learn a Gaelic word a week, courtesy of Murdo MacLeod's regular Gaelic column in Scotland on Sunday (this week on page 18).
15 Find the Saltire poster you got free in your copy of Scotland on Sunday a few weeks ago, and put it in your window.
16 Relive Scotland's sporting glories. Replay James McFadden's goal in the France v Scotland match on September 12 a few dozen more times. Or go back to 1990 and Scottish rugby's Grand Slam triumph.
www.youtube.com17 Have a dram. Go on, you know you want one.
18 Party! City centre events across Scotland will offer the chance to dance and drink and generally make merry to celebrate Scotland's national day. In Glasgow, The Shindig In The Square takes place in George Square from 4pm to 10pm. Bands include The Vatersay Boys. In Edinburgh there's The Jig In The Gardens, 1pm to late, in marquees in West Princes Street Gardens, with world fusion band Salsa Celtica heading the bill. Both cities have a full supporting bill of events over the St Andrew's Day weekend. Dundee, Aberdeen, Stirling and Inverness have their own celebrations. Full details on www.scotland.org/standrewsday
19 Get down to your local record shop and pick up some Scottish music. If you're in a mellow mood, singer-songwriter Jo Mango's album, Paperclips & Sand is worth a listen. If you like your rock loud and with Scottish accents, then it has to be Biffy Clyro's Puzzle. For the best in contemporary folk music, Kris Drever's Black Water.
20 Get in the car and head for the sea. Drive to a Scottish coastal town you've never been to before. Enjoy a stroll, some sea air and a pub lunch. Crail, in the East Neuk of Fife? Isle of Whithorn, on the Solway Firth? Plockton, in the north-west Highlands? The fishing port of Eyemouth? Take your pick and enjoy.
21 Sample Scotland's heritage for free. Go to see the Honours of Scotland - also known as the Scottish Crown Jewels - on display along with the Stone of Destiny at Edinburgh Castle, where admission will be waived on November 30. Or choose one of 60 other historic castles, abbeys, museums and gardens that are open for free for the day, from Orkney to Jedburgh. scot
land.org/standrewsday/visit-for-free
22 Treat yourself to the Joan Eardley retrospective at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh and immerse yourself in the work of one of Scotland's best-loved artists, famed for her paintings of Glasgow street urchins and the rugged coast at Catterline, near Stonehaven. www.
nationalgalleries.org
23 Ignore the usual generic cheese at the supermarket and sample some of Scotland's superb artisan cheeses. Ian Mellis has shops in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and does mail order. www.
ijmellischeesemonger.com
24 Go 'doon the watter' on a day trip on a Clyde ferry and marvel once more at the drama of the Scottish landscape. www.calmac.co.uk
25 Fit like? Chavin awa? Celebrate the culture of the north-east of Scotland at a Doric Cabaret Evening in a marquee in Union Terrace Gardens, Aberdeen. Featuring a variety of local entertainers including musicians, dancers and storytellers. It's gyan aheid on Saturday, December 1, at 8pm. Admission £3.
26 Leave the country. Celebrate St Andrew's Day at one of the many events planned around the world, from China to Hungary to Australia to Argentina and New Zealand. Details on: www.scotland.org/standrewsday/aroundtheworld/index.html
27 Add a classic novel by Sir Walter Scott or Robert Louis Stevenson to the pile of books on your bedside table.
28 Ditch Jamie and Nigella and instead cook a St Andrew's Day dinner with recipes from the recently published Maw Broon's Cookbook. Anyone for Cullen skink, stovies and clootie dumplin?
29 Get a ticket for Our Scotland, a celebration of Scotland's multi-cultural society told through film, music, dance and narration. Featuring a samba band, a Gaelic choir, break-dancers with a bhangra soundtrack, musicians from Ghana, Chinese dance, contemporary dance with a Scottish/African fusion and an Irish ceilidh band, together with Polish, Yiddish and Italian music. At the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on November 30. Box office: 0131-248 4848.
30 Connect with Scotland's bloody past at Culloden Battlefield, near Inverness. A day of activities on St Andrew's Day includes Gaelic music and pipes, the raising of the Saltire, a guided tour of the battlefield and living history displays. From 11am-3pm. www.nts.org.uk/Culloden/Home
