Burn's Night - Robert Burns

Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, and widely regarded world wide was born on January 25th, 1759 and lived to 37. He is regarded as a Pioneer of Romantic movement. He was born in Southwest Scotland into a poor farming family. At 27, Robert published his first volume of his poetry. It was a huge success, and he went to Edinburgh to arrange a second edition.

His most famous poems include To A Mouse, Auld Lang Syne and Tam O’Shatner. He was married to Jean Armour, and had 12 children. His parents were Williams and Agnes. 

On what would have been Robert’s birthday, the 25th January, the world  celebrates Burns Night with the traditional Scottish dish of Haggis! Made from lamb offal  (heart, liver, lungs), the dish is often served with neeps and tatties (swede and potato mash).

Dinner is followed by one minute of silence to remember Robert Burns’ life and accomplishments. The night continues to the sound of bagpipes and dancing. At the end of the night, everyone joins hands in a circle and sings “Auld Lang Syne”. Robert was said to have adapted Auld Lang Syne from an old folk  song.

Over the past several hundred years, Tartan has been worn by Scottish inhabitants. It can be referred to as ‘mottled’, ‘marled’ and ‘sundrie coloured’, but most commonly the Gaelic word breacan,  meaning chequered. Tartan was used to make clothing such as the philabeg, or kilt, and the trews. Early tartans were checks of two or three colours. The colours were extracted mainly from dye-producing plants, roots, berries and trees local to a specific geographic area.

Just a day after my parents Anniversary, was his birthday.