Haggis, Whisky and Poetry .. means only one thing "Robbie Burns"

Robert Burns’ birthday is remembered today, 25 January, with a celebratory Burns Night supper – they were originally held on the anniversary of his death in July, but now the traditional suppers occur on or around the 25th .. I might just scrape into the 25th, but I’m not celebrating, though we used to in South Africa – and I can tell you a heavy Burns Night meal is not the best thing for a hot January evening south of the equator.

Mind you here on a cold January day in England a supper of Scotch Broth, Haggis, Neeps and Tatties (above), and Cranachan (or a Tipsy Tart) sounds quite good to me. I have just celebrated his birthday with a piece of Scottish Shortbread and some tea!

Scotch broth, that quintessential soup from north of the border, traditionally made with barley, meat and vegetables, gives a full and hearty broth. Now haggis – that is another matter – an offal dish, with the ingredients minced up with onion, oatmeal, suet, and flavourings producing a sausage style dish.

The cranachan dessert also made from the ubiquitous oatmeal, raspberries, malt whisky, runny Scottish honey and double cream – sounds wonderful. Then to finish off - some cheese and biscuits, a decent coffee and another glass of whisky to settle the meal: sounds good to me (sans the whisky).

Cranachan – taken from Scottish Recipes

The Glen Garioch whisky featured here, is because I liked the colour .. not because I like whisky – I don’t; however the distillery is one of the oldest in Scotland dating back to1797. The location chosen in Aberdeenshire was in the celebrated ‘Valley of the Garioch’ (The Granary of Aberdeenshire) famous for producing the finest barley in all of Scotland, an indispensible ingredient in the making of whisky. The distillery has been through difficult times, but now incongruently is owned by a Japanese company!

Glen Garioch

As time unfolds and descriptions get attached to people they give us something of their background, and this is so true of Burns (he is also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland’s favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, the Bard of Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply The Bard). So from these depictions we can deduce he is a poet and lyricist, a man of the soil, where he grew up and the fact that he is Scottish and cannot be claimed by another nation.

He had a tough life, as a self-educated farmer’s son, who schooled his own children in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and history, and also wrote for them “A Manual of Christian Belief”. In due time he would be grateful for his father’s education as Burns at one point trained and became a tax collector (an exciseman), which is probably not that well known.

His casual love affairs did not endear him to the elders of the local kirk and created for him a reputation for dissoluteness amongst his neighbours, which certainly would not have helped in promoting his writings. Burns was incredibly short of cash, or credit, and was encouraged to publish his works to fund his proposed passage to the West Indies. The success of this publication was immediate, and soon he was known across the country.

His reputation made, he was able to move to Edinburgh and became an accepted member of Society and it was during this time that he collaborated with James Johnson, a struggling music engraver and music seller with a love of old Scots songs and a determination to preserve them. Burns shared this interest and became an enthusiastic contributor.

The best-known portrait of Burns (1759 - 1796)

So Burns as well as writing magnificent romantic poetry, also made original compositions, collected folk songs from across Scotland and wrote in English as well as a “light” Scots dialect that was soft on the ears and easier to understand around the world. At least one of his poems and songs you will definitely have heard of – Auld Lang Syne, which is usually sung on at Hogmanay, the last day of the year.

So if you are celebrating a Burns Night sometime this week – then enjoy .. enjoy the poetry, enjoy the bagpipes, enjoy the ceremony (as there’s bound to be one!) and above all drink a toast to that celebrated Scotsman – Robert Burns.

The Bagpiper, by Hendrick ter Brugghen (17th Century, Netherlands).

It always amazes me how much our ancestors could achieve – Burns’ father educating all his seven children, as well as attempting to farm the land in very tough conditions; Burns’ dissolute life that still enabled him to rise up the ranks and become accepted by the establishment, while continuing to write, record and compose so many works that we continue to love to this day.

Dear Mr Postman .. yesterday was lovely, but today another grey damp January day .. one day nearer Spring I suppose! My mother is still not so good, but is improving very slowly.

Hilary Melton-Butcher
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