Patrick Hamilton was a Protestant Scottish martyr who became a preacher after traveling across continental Europe where he met reformation leaders. In 1528, Archbishop James Beaton tried him as a heretic and burned him at the stake in front of St Salvator's Chapel in St Andrews. Today, the letters "PH" mark the spot where he died. According to legend, students who step on the "PH" will fail their classes unless they do the "May Dip" on the early morning of May 1, and Patrick Hamilton's face is on the chapel tower next to the PH so that he can watch all the students who walk across and thus disrespect these letters.
Students traditionally stay up the whole night before the May Dip, so I joined my friends on Castle Sands where we had a bonfire. Around 4 am we could see the sunrise across the North Sea, so we then ran into the sea. I was glad we were some of the first ones to get in because there were hundreds of other students trying to get to Castle Sands in order to jump in. I later heard there was a problem because the tides had come in so far that there wasn't enough space for everyone to get in quickly. A lot of people had to jump into the North Sea via East Sands, which is only a couple minutes walk away from the castle.
Supposedly, the water is the coldest on this night, but I really didn't think it was that cold. In undergrad I used to do "cold plunges" into a freezing pool after sitting in the hot tub for fifteen minutes, and these plunges took my breath away. Since I had spent the whole night outside in the cold already, the May Dip didn't shock me the same way.
Where Patrick Hamilton died
Patrick Hamilton's face is in the
upper left-hand corner.
Hundreds of students jump into the North Sea
on May 1 in order to get rid of the curse.
A video from the night
Was it as cold as the springs in Austin?
ReplyDeletewater temperature was around 41º F and the outside temperature was about 37º F from what I've heard
ReplyDelete