May Day Dip St Andrews 2022

Hundreds of students take part in traditional May Dip

Hundreds of University of St Andrews students gathered at the East Sands at dawn today (Sunday 1 May 2022) to take part in the traditional May Dip.

At sunrise on May Day students make their way down to East Sands and collectively run into the North Sea.

The Dip is a unique St Andrews tradition which is intended to bring good luck to students in their exams and cleanse any academic sins. The May Dip is also the only cure for the legendary curse of Patrick Hamilton.

The evening before the May Dip, students gather to take part in The Gaudie, a torchlit procession and pier walk in St Andrews.

The annual Gaudie takes place on the 30th April to commemorate John Honey, a student, who in 1800 rescued members of the crew of the Janet of Macduff which had run aground off the East Sands. Every year, students process by candlelight, led by a piper, to the East Sands where they lay a wreath at the site of the shipwreck.

This is the first time The Gaudie and the May Dip have taken place since 2019 due to Covid restrictions.