Each year on 25 January
romanticists celebrate the birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns with a ‘Burns Night.’
Robert
Burns
(1759-1796), the Bard of Ayrshire, was born on 25 January. He is Scotland’s
national poet and lyricist, and is celebrated worldwide as a pioneer of the
Romantic movement. In 2009 he was chosesn as the greatest Scot by the Scottish
public in a television vote.
Burns is best remembered for
the song ‘Auld Lang Syne’ which is song on New Year’s Eve (Hogmanay). Other
famous poems include ‘A Red, Red Rose’ and ‘A Man’s a Man for A’ That.’
To commemorate his birthday,
people have a Burns Night or Burns Supper Night. This generally includes a
haggis – while reciting the Burn’s poem ‘Address to a Haggis’ (1787).
Haggis is a pudding or pie
made from minced sheep offal – heart, liver, and lungs. The minced offal is
mixed with onion, oats, suet, and spices, encased in the animal’s stomach or
artificial bag.
Haggis is usually served with
vegetables and mashed potatoes, and toasted with a glass of Scotch whiskey.
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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