Time to buy haggis, neeps, and tatties! Make the Cullen Skink and Clootie pudding! And don’t forget a good bottle of Scotch! On January 25th, the world celebrates all things Robbie Burns with a traditional Burns’ Night Dinner.
The person chosen for the Address has the most difficult role of the evening. Recited just before the main course, it honours this humble sausage, a traditional source of sustenance for the poor. It is too too late to expect anyone to master the the Harry MacFayden performance below. Even just reading the “more” English version will challenge many.
Usually the host makes a few welcoming remarks followed by the saying of grace:
Some hae meat an canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.
The Selkirk Grace
He is more than Auld Lang Syne. Born January 25,1759, Robert (“Robbie”) Burns was the oldest of seven children. His father, William, home-schooled them all in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and history. Burns later studied French, Latin, and mathematics at parish school. As the the son of tenant farmers, he knew poverty and hard labour. Both contributed to a weakened constitution and his death at 37.
Note: Robbie is the anglicized spelling of Rabbie.
He wrote his first poem for fourteen year-old Nelly Kilpatrick. He was 15. O, Once I Lov’d a Bonny Lass would become a bit of an anthem as he loved many a bonny lass. Between 1785 and 1788:
This three or four year period of amorous activity ended with his eventual marriage to Jane Armour in 1788. She had given Burns a set of twins in 1786. So, six relationships and four children in three to four years.
BBC lists 716 works by Burns. This includes over 200 songs. Also, Burns compiled a vast archive of traditional Scottish folk songs. His works include Auld Lang Syne, To a Louse, and Tam O’Shanter. Many turns of phrase now in common usage come from his poetry. Consider To a Mouse:
But, Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
From the Burns poem
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
A Red, Red Rose is one of the most beautiful love songs. Its lyrics had the biggest impact of any on Bob Dylan’s life. The Scotland is Now advertising campaign uses it to celebrate cultural diversity in Scotland.
A complicated man born in poverty, clover, a poet – Burns celebrated around the world more than 225 years after his death. So now, you have four days to get ready to celebrate all things Rabbie Burns.
Oh! If a party erupts, Robbie would be proud.
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