Burns Night Celebrations
- louise coome
- Jan 25, 2021
- 3 min read
Burns night is a Scottish tradition celebrating the life of poet and storyteller Robert Burns (aka ‘Rabbie’ or ‘the ploughman poet’), Burns is celebrated globally, there is said to be over 2500 Burns night events in over 150 different countries. You can find a virtual map here.
Fun fact; if you Exclude Queen Victoria and Christopher Columbus, burns has the most non-religious statues dedicated to him globally. Camperdown in Australia have one of the oldest statues, it was carved in 1830’s and shipped over in the 1850s.
Burn’s night is usually celebrated over supper, with the best Scottish whiskey, haggis, lots of tartan, and their traditional bag pipes and dances.
Background
Burns was born in Ayrshire, Scotland in 1759. He was one of seven born into a life of farming. The family were a hard-working family yet would fall into the bracket of ‘poverty’. His official work status was a farmer, which over the years had caused him many health issues including back damage, which would affect him for the rest of his life. At the age of 15 he became the principal labourer on his family’s farm, and would write poems to the girls who caught his eye.
Burns father passed away exhausted and bankrupt in 1784, this was the fuel behind the fire to rebel against social order and other aspects of religion and political issues. Burns did receive some formal schooling, and excelled at reading and writing.
He developed as a poet throughout 1784 and 1785, Burns used poetry to express his emotions of love, friendship, and social issues. His entries into the commonplace book which he started in 1783 spoke of problems of versification,. When the farm was in trouble he thought about emigration but, before he was to leave he wanted to have a go at showing Scotland what he was made of. He released his first volume of poems in Kilmarnock, ‘Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect’ (1786), it was a huge success and his carefully selected poems and songs gave him the impression of a noble peasant. These poems included: ‘The twa dogs’, ‘Scotch drink’, ‘The holy fair’, ‘An address to the devil’, ‘The death and dying word of poor maillie’, ‘To a mouse,’ and ‘To a louse’.
Given his success he moved to Edinburgh, and a few other places before settling in Ellisaland, Dumfriesshire. He released a second bout of poems in 1788. Although, While he had spent time in Edinburgh, he had met John Johnson, a collector of Scottish music. Burn’s began working for Johnson helping to find, edit, improve, and rewrite songs. Burns work made up a good bulk of Johnsons ‘the scots musical museum’ (1787-1803) and the first 5 volumes of ‘Thomson’s a select collection of original Scottish airs for the voice’ (1793-1818). These songs included Auld lang syne, I’m o’er young to marry yet and, green grow the rashes. Although, the full extent as to what songs and how many Burns worked on is unknown.
Once he left Edinburgh, he wrote a few personal poems but the only one that came to light was ‘Tam o’shanter’ (1791) which was based on a folk legend.
How can you celebrate!
The first burns night was in 1801 and is celebrated over supper with whiskey, haggis, toasts and poetry. Of course! But, with this being 2021 and were in the middle of a pandemic this year is a little different. There is some places that may hold an event which you can find here.
However, there are a few things that we could all get involved with:
- Cook a traditional Scottish meal
- Crafts with the kids, as well as learning a little history
- learn more with the #TaeTheBard Podcast Series
- you could join SBH Scotland, Grant’s Haggis, Endura, Chisholm Hunter at 7pm on 25/01/2021 for the Biggest ever burns Night
- or follow Janey Godley’s guide to a perfect Big Burns supper
I’ll definitely be joining in here in the UK, I may leave the haggis and stick with the scotch though 😉
Happy Burns Night!
I would love to see your photos of you celebrating.
References
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