Like sands through an hour glass, once again it's Robby Burns' birthday. The second of the two Scottish holidays this month.
My sole Scottish connection is through my daughter. Her father in law has accepted my unworthy self into their clan, McIntyre, just my luck them using an Irish spelling for a Scottish name. I am deeply proud none the less, and shall celebrate the day festooned in my most festive Blackwatch jacket.
Fortunately for me too. Burn's poetry has always left me cold, I have long preferred my new kinsman, Duncan ban MacIntyre's poetry, at least in translation. It's hard enough to be a poet, especially difficult if you are unable to read or write as Duncan was. He wrote primarily about the beautiful rugged highlands, its flora and fauna,and had the particular Celtic gift of poetically sticking it to the man.
But the good Scots deserve a day of feasting, any country which celebrates their second greatest export, which has loosened many a tongue of their greatest poets, on their currency, is one I am glad to be any part of.
I'm not a Scotch drinker, but I do believe in taking nourishment with the Gin that made Scotland famous, washed down with a bit of Drambuie.
Brother Scots we celebrate you on this day. Go forth and celebrate in peace. Remember, you have no idea where that haggis has been.
Toad
photo: aroundlochawe
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11 comments:
My husband's roots are Scottish . . . . perhaps that's why he likes the single malts! Known in Scotland and England simply as "whisky"! We always toast Robbie Burns on his birthday and have even thrown a Robert Burns party complete with bagpiper and haggis.
A Happy Robbie Burns Day to you, too!
Is haggis on the menu for this evening? If not, and if you're not out and about amongst the glens celebrating, try cranachan - a delicious mixture of raspberries, oatmeal, whisky and cream ... take a cup of kindness yet, for the sake of auld lang syne.
Oh my! Now I must go google cranachan...
A Happy Robbie Burns Day to you!
Toasting with you, scotch, gin or Drambuie are all welcome in my glass!
As a gal with Scottish ancestry and a BA in English, I thank you kindly for this post.
We went to a Burns Day dinner in St. Andrews a few years ago....a toast to the haggis!
Hi Mr Toad! I did a post on Rabbie Burns too today :O) Being from Scotland this is an important day! I'm surprised my husband isn't in his kilt right now!
Yes Sir! My best friend in high school was a MacIntyre. A Gunn and a MacIntyre to be exact....
Now, married into the Clanranald of MacDonald, these days mean a lot more to me. Well that and my father-in-law's 300 + Single malt collection... Your health Toad!
The key to a successful Burns Night is simple: "lubricity."
Absent that, the food is unbearable, the poetry unreadable, the company plausibly dodgy. (Imagine, if you can, a Burns Night celebrated by Scotch Presbyterians.)
With it, however, the repeated toast "To Burns!" makes everything delightful -- if mildly disturbing to those underage.
The Ancient - That's just rude. You obviously havn't been to a decent Burns Night.
You know, I meant to write about Burns Night, in fact I thought I had. And I had. It's sitting right there amongst all the other drafts waiting to be managed. Oh well, there's always next year.
Have to say, in my experience, whiskey is always a main player in a Burns Night, Presbyterians included.
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