800 St Andrews students take the plunge for the May Day Dip
ByThe Courier Reporter
Students take part in the May Day dip on the East Sands in St Andrews as the sun comes up.
An estimated 800 St Andrews University students braved the chilly waters at the East Sands early Wednesday morning for their annual May Dip.
The dip is supposed to cleanse the souls of any undergraduate who has accidentally stepped on the PH marked in the cobbles outside St Salvator’s Chapel in North Street.
According to superstition, undergraduates will fail their degree if they step on the initials of Protestant martyr Patrick Hamilton, who was burned at the stake on the site of the cobbles in 1528.
Bathing on May 1 is the traditional way of reversing the curse against those students’ ability to graduate.
800 St Andrews students take the plunge for the May Day Dip
