Burn's Supper

Greetings everyone!

Jacob and I have been learning more and more about Scottish culture everyday that we are here. It is really an amazing experience! This past weekend we had another great chance to learn more about how the Scots to things. We attended a few Burns Supper celebrations. These suppers were gatherings of small communities to celebrate the memory of Robert (Robbie) Burns who is Scotland's national poet. Burns was born on the 25th of January 1759, and Burns Night is celebrated every year on and around his birthday all over Scotland and in Scottish communities all over the world. He wrote many poems, the best of which are written in old Scottish (sort of like the language Shakespeare used only for the Scots). We experienced many of these poems recited or sung during the Burns suppers, including but not limited to: "Address to the Haggis," "Tam O' Shanter," and "Will ye go Lassies, go."

 

 

You may not know about Robert Burns as a poet, but I would guess that most of you know at least one of his poems. I'll give you a hint, the New Years song. Yes, he wrote "Auld Lang Syne," the song sung all over the world on New Years, and at the end of almost every large get-together here in Scotland. Jacob and I will probably have the words to all four verses memorized by the time we get back. It is really rather fun actually. You stand around in a big circle holding hands. The speed of the song slowly increases as the verses go on. By the last verse, we've worked ourselves up to quite a tempo. If there is room by the last refrain, we start contracting and expanding the circle. Its slightly stressful, but mostly fun to run into the middle of a circle with the people across from you running right at you. It's a really fun last song to end these events and I wish I would have known about it before our wedding because that would have been the last dance. But oh well.

Anyway, back to talking about the Burns Suppers. Jacob and I attended two. The first was at the Catholic chaplaincy on campus, Turnbull Hall, and the other was at one of the Student Unions, Glasgow University Union (the men's union originally). The second Burns Supper was not really a supper, but just a Ceilidh dance with some Burns' quotes on the tables. Ceilidhs are always fun, but since we have already talked about those in the posts, I won't spend any more time on it. The Supper at the chaplaincy was much more formally structured and traditional.

 

 



 

The evening started off with the Piping in of the Haggis. The haggis, still inside the sheep stomach, was brought into the hall preceded by a bagpiper. It was marched around the room a few times before it was put on a special little table.

 



 

 

After the haggis had been piped in, it needed to be addressed; it was a very important part of the night apparently. A gentleman who had memorized quite a few Burns poems recited the "Address to the Haggis" poem quite nicely. For those of you who are interested, here are some of the best stanzas of said poem:

 

"Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!

Aboon them a' ye tak your place,

Painch, tripe, or thairm:

Weel are ye worthy o a grace

As lang's my arm...

 

His knife see rustic Labour dight,

An cut you up wi ready slight,

Trenching your gushing entrails bright,

Like onie ditch;

And then, O what a glorious sight,

Warm-reekin, rich!...

 

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,

And dish them out their bill o fare,

Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware

That jaups in luggies:

But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,

Gie her a Haggis"

 

Robert Burns

 

Full Poem Here!

 It really is lovely if you want to read the whole thing. You will appreciate haggis more, or maybe not. =)



 

 

Now that the Haggis had been rightly honored, it was time to eat. The haggis was taken out of the room to be cut open and its entrails spilled like the lovely poem above talked about. While this was happening, we got some lovely soup as our first course. Then we got to actually eat the haggis traditional-like with "neeps and tatties" (turnips and potatoes). You all may be surprised, but it was actually very good.

 

 

 

During and after dinner we were entertained by some of Burns' poems. The gentleman who had recited the "Address to the Haggis" recited two more famous poems. They would have been hard enough to understand with just the accent he had, but since they had been written in old Scottish as well, they were nearly incomprehensible to me. I did catch a familiar word or phrase here and there, and like a good foreign visitor, I laughed when all the others laughed even if I had no idea what was funny. ;) Other poems were put to music and the  band played and sang them for us. We were given a little packet with the words so we could sing along. This was fun, and I still have some of the songs stuck in my head.

 

After dinner there were some fundraising activities carried out by one of the societies connected with the church. They had a raffle for prizes such as: a wash and dry from a local salon, a little pewter statue, a dinner for two at a restaurant on Bank St., and a dinner for two with the priest, Father Ross. Jacob and I didn't win anything, but we only bought two tickets so the odds were not really in our favor.

 

The more interesting fundraising event of the night however was the Whisky Roll. For this activity someone had bought a very expensive bottle of single malt whisky (named after Burns fittingly enough). They put said bottle of whisky at the end of a long room. People then threw, slide, or rolled 1 pound coins at the bottle. Whoever got a coin to land closest to the bottle got to take it home. Jacob and I could not participate because Jacob had emptied all the coins out of his wallet just before we left. This was not so unfortunate, however, because, while it would have been fun, it would have been really awkward if we had won. What would we do with a whole bottle of whisky?

 

All in all, the night was really fun. It was just a good night of good Scottish culture. We had some good food, listened to some good music, met some good people, and had some good fun. And Jacob got to wear his kilt, yet again, which is always enough to make him happy.

 

 

Cheers! "Lang may yer lum reek!" (long may your chimney smoke)

 

Jessie and Jacob Wilkerson