Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Lady Kate Kennedy Day Parade

The University of St Andrews and the town of St Andrews have a wealth of traditions between them.  Most are not shared by ‘Town and Gown’ alike, but one in particular seems to be a cherished tradition by all.  The Lady Kate Kennedy Day Parade, which has taken place every spring since 1926 and dates back to the 15th century in what it celebrates.  Kate Kennedy was supposedly the niece of Bishop Kennedy, who founded St Salvator’s College, the first college of the University.  Kate was said to be the ‘fairest of them all’ and known for her charitable works; though today no record exists that Lady Kate ever lived at all.

Nevertheless, Lady Kate is remembered every year in her very own Memorial Parade.  But the parade is about much more than the Fare Dame.  It is actually a collection of over 100 historical figures each with a significant connection to the University, town or country since the 15th century. 

It is always led by St Andrew himself:

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and includes people like:

John Knox

(the church in the photo above is the church in which Knox preached his famous ‘down with the Catholics sermon’),

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Mary, Queen of Scots,

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Tom Morris (famous golfer),

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Bonnie Prince Charlie,

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Some guy that looks like a Musketeer,

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and a whole slew of others, including famous martyrs, bishops, popes, presidents of colleges, Andrew Carnegie, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Scott.

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The many characters in the parade are all wonderfully spectacular, but the fairest of them all is the Lady herself, always carried in a carriage covered in daffodils and seated next to her uncle, Bishop Kennedy. 

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And always, Lady Kate is represented by a first year male student whose identity is never revealed until just moments before the carriage enters the crowds.  

In fact, until last year, every participant in the parade was a male student since the Club’s 1926 inception as a male-member only organization.  This was changed just last year, making this year’s parade a historic event as the first Kate Kennedy Parade in which women are dressed in drag just as much as the men.  Quite fitting in this university town. 

Here’s a clip of the 1936 parade!  Not much has changed.

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