Burns Night: a trip to Scotland via the songs and poems of Robert Burns
How to host a Burns Night supper? You really just need a bit of love like a red rose, some mental images of banks and braes, several sweetest hours, a 'sonsie' haggis, a few cups of kindness, a wee dram or two, and some online poetry. Through these ingredients (and a few others), it's possible to travel to Scotland for wherever you are – all the while celebrating a revered poet and lyricist and even delving into poetic pursuits of your own, should you wish.
Held on the birthday (January 25) of Scotland's National Bard, Robert 'Rabbie' Burns (1759-1796) since 1801, the event includes traditional food, drink, and poetry. After receiving an email from Visit Scotland on how to host a Burns supper at home, I planned an in-person supper with friends here in Brisbane as well as a virtual, Zoom-based brunch with my parents, who live overseas.
The main dish in any Burns Night supper is haggis, a savoury pudding of sheep’s heart, liver, and lungs plus onion, oatmeal, spices, suet, and salt, encased in the sheep’s stomach or in an artificial casing. As a pescatarian, it’s not something I’d ever try, though I have sampled vegetarian haggis in Scotland – a tasty combination of oatmeal, lentils, nuts, beans, spices, and other veggies, served with ‘neeps’ (swedes or turnips) and ‘tatties’ (potatoes).
Vegetarian haggis, served with neeps and tatties, at the Loch Lomond Arms Hotel in Luss, Scotland.
Order o' events
After reciting Burns' Selkirk Grace (‘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 haggis (vegetarian or otherwise) is piped in to the song, ‘Brose and Butter’.
Someone then reads Burns’ poem ‘Address to a Haggis'. Afterwards, everyone toasts the haggis (with a wee dram of whisky, in many cases) and proceeds to devour it, the tatties, and other accompaniments.
Dessert (often cranachan, a concoction of whipped double cream with heather honey, whisky, and toasted oats, layered with raspberries and raspberry puree) is served before a recital of one of Burns’ poems or songs.
My homemade cranachan was a hit.
Next, ‘the Immortal Memory’ (a few words in honour of Burns) is given, followed by the ‘Toast to the Lassies’ (a funny speech written and delivered by a guest), and the ‘Reply to the Toast to the Lassies’ (another humorous toast written and delivered by a female guest). After more recitals, the evening draws to a close and everyone stands and sings ‘Auld Lang Syne’.
A sonsie supper
My Burns supper more or less followed this script, but with a few tweaks. I forgot to pipe in the veggie haggis, so I took my guests’ untouched plates away from them and pranced around the table to a YouTube clip of ‘Brose and butter’ before returning them. As I don’t care for neeps, I replaced them with broccoli and added a side of grilled salmon … in case my guests didn’t care for my homemade haggis. (A good call – they weren’t haggis fans.) We served dessert after all the recitals and toasts, as we’d have fallen asleep at the table had we’d waited ‘til after. And, though everyone usually joins hands at the line, ‘And there’s a hand, my trusty fere!’ during ‘Auld Lang Syne’, we kept our socially-distanced hands to ourselves.
The best parts of the evening were when a friend delivered a reading of ‘To a Mouse’ with an attempted Scottish accent that had us in stitches. And when my husband (who doesn’t speak Italian) decided to deliver an Italian translation of ‘Scots Wha Hae’. What can I say? Whisky had been poured.
Whisky and chocolates at Dalwhinnie Distillery, Scotland.
A poet's reach
To assist with my basic and brief ‘Immortal Memory’ tribute, I did a wee bit of online research. I learned Burns was born into a poor tenant farming family in Alloway and, thanks to his father, was well-educated and a voracious reader. Initially labouring on farms and composing as he worked, he honed his writing skills over time, and became famous at the age of 27, when he published his first collection, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. He went on to compose hundreds of songs and poems and was passionate about collecting and preserving Scottish songs. He died at age 37, at his home in Dumfries, Scotland.
This statue of Robert Burns stands in the centre of Dumfries by Greyfriars Kirk. Photo credit: Visit Scotland / Kenny Lam
His impact and influence on Scotland and beyond is profound. The title of John Steinbeck’s 1937 novel Of Mice and Men comes from a line in Burns’ poem ‘To a Mouse’, and Bob Dylan named ‘A Red, Red Rose’ as the lyric or verse that had the greatest impact on his life.
I selected the latter poem for our first Burns recital, and couldn’t help but get teary as I read it aloud:
‘O, my Luve’s like a red, red, rose,
That’s newly sprung in June;
O, my Luve’s like the melodie
That’s sweetly played in tune.
As fair are thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my Dear
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run
And fare thee weel, my only Luve!
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile!
-Robert Burns, 1794
Taking cups o' kindness virtually
For the next day’s virtual brunch event, I suggested we each write a poem or song to share, in addition to the regular festivities. After all, one reason to embrace a poet and poetry is to help inspire creativity, is it not?
I wrote a ballad celebrating nature.
My husband crafted a beautiful poem, which we also reworked into a song.
My Dad penned a humorous poem that honoured the Ploughman Bard as well as a heartfelt toast to his own lassies, plus he recorded himself playing Burns' tender ‘The Banks o’ Doon’ on the fiddle.
And my Mom wrote a partly jesting, partly serious reply to Dad’s toast as well as a sweet poem called ‘Dinna fash’ (Gaelic for ‘Don’t worry’), which made me cry.
This was the first meal we’d shared in more than a year, and that alone was special. Plus, celebrating Burns Night – in person with friends and virtually with family – made me feel as if we’d travelled far beyond our home, beyond where we usually let our minds wander. And that, in a pandemic time when days of international travel were 'old long since', meant a lot.
More:
VisitScotland’s Hold Your Own Burns Supper Guide
Robert Burns’ poetry and songs
Big Burns Supper 2021, a free YouTube event featuring Burns readings, songs, and entertainment
Celtic Connections 2021, a paid musical event, exclusively online this year and running through February 2
Dougie MacLean’s performance of Burns’ song, ‘Green grow the rashes’
Eva Cassidy’s performance of ‘My love is like a red, red rose’