18 January, 2022
It’s a brand new year and we’re kicking things off with a Burns Night bang!
But what exactly IS Burns Night, you may wonder?
Burns Night is a long-standing Scottish tradition honouring ‘National Bard’ Robert Burns, a poet, story-teller and songwriter whose lore is interwoven into the fabric of bonny Scotland.
He is recognised as one of the pioneers of the Romantic movement – the artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that reacted against the Industrial Revolution and Age of Enlightenment, glorifying emotion, nature and a nostalgic, chivalric past. Burns was also a huge inspiration to the founders of liberalism and socialism, and in his lifetime loudly opposed the shackles of the religious orthodoxy of the time, Calvinism.
Burns was an advocate for social and political change, and his work had huge popularity in the US as soon as it was reproduced by ‘pirate’ printers in 1787. He found favour in two of the most famous pioneers of the time, former slave and anti-slavery campaigner Frederick Douglas and President Abraham Lincoln. Both often quoted the “genius” of the Scottish poet, particularly how his egalitarian philosophy underpins his work.
Ol’ Rabbie Burns was born on 25th January 1759, and Burns suppers are traditionally held on this date each year to mark his birth, and celebrate his work.
The tradition can be traced back to one night in 1801, five years after Burns died in 1796, when a group of nine friends and patrons of the poet got together to mark the fifth anniversary of his death. The evening took place at his cottage in Alloway, and was such a success that they decided to make an annual tradition of it (moving the date to Burns’ birthday).
The organiser was a man named Rev’d Hamilton Paul, and kept such detailed notes of that first occasion that it lay the groundwork for the format that we use today. There was haggis (of course) which was “addressed” (more on that later), a toast to the memory of Burns, and recitals of some of his poems and songs.
Word caught on, and just one year later there were loose Burns Night clubs appearing in Paisley and Greenock. The 1800s was a time ripe with ‘clubs’, stretching from the hyper-formal, with membership fees and chains of command, to the informal familiarity of pub regulars. In this context Burns Clubs fitted in perfectly and spread quickly.
The Supper
The cornerstone of a Burns Supper is, of course, the meal. Haggis is the main event, accompanied by neeps (swede), tatties (mashed potatoes), and lashings of whisky.
Before food is served, the host delivers a few words and then the Selkirk Grace is spoken – this is a traditional Grace written by Burns, supposedly spoken before a meal hosted by the Earl of Selkirk:
‘Some hae meat and canna eat/ And some wad eat that want it;/But we hae meat, and we can eat,/Sae let the Lord be thankit.’
The starter is served (usually a traditional soup like Cock A Leekie or Scotch Broth), followed by the procession of the haggis, piped in to a standing ovation.
The host then delivers the Address to a Haggis, the famous poem penned by ol’ Rabbie to reflect his love of Scotland’s national dish.
After the food come the flurry of recitals and toasts: the Immortal Memory (the main tribute to Robert Burns), the Toast to the Lassies (originally given to thank the women for cooking the meal seeing as the initial Burns Clubs were exclusively male; now this toast is more a playful meditation on gender), and Reply to the Toast to the Lassies.
To finish off the Burns Supper, the host gives thanks and everyone stands to sing that most famous ode Auld Lang Syne.
Join us at a ceilidh!
Our Burns Night Ceilidhs for 2023 are sold out, but there’s still tickets left for our Spring Ceilidh on 18th March!
