A traditional Robbie Burns Supper was held at the Innisfail Legion last Friday that gave participants the chance to experience Scottish culture right here in Canada.
The supper is held every year in Scotland to celebrate the birthday of a great Scottish poet and is a celebration that has begun to spread all over the world.
“We celebrate his birthday because he is very well known in Scotland, mostly because of his poetry,” said Jean Ford, who moved to Canada from Scotland just over 40 years ago.
“He wrote a lot about love, he was known as kind of a womanizer but his one great love was Jean Armour.”
Many of Burns’ poems were written to his love Jean, such as Of A’ The Airts The Wind Can Blaw and It Is Na, Jean, Thy Bonnie Face, both of which were recited by Michael McLetchie during last weeks Burns’ Supper.
One of Burns’ most well known pieces which was made into a song is, Auld Lang Syne, which is often sung in English speaking countries at the stroke of midnight to bring in the New Year.
“There was some controversy over whether he wrote Auld Lang Syne, but now they say that yes it was him,” said Ford.
The song is also sung to conclude the Robbie Burns’ Supper.
Burns is also known for bringing a lot of attention to the Haggis, a dish traditionally made from the leftover otherwise thrown away parts of a sheep, minced with onion oatmeal and spices and cooked in an animal’s stomach. Today the haggis is more of a sausage or savory pudding and may be cooked in a casing instead of a sheep’s intestine.
“Burns was brought up in not a lovely part of the country and they did not have a lot of money, but haggis was a cheap and healthy meal,” said Ford.
“So he brought attention to the meal and made it sort of a celebration for the Scottish people.”
The Haggis is a big part of the Robbie Burns’ Supper and is usually piped in at the start of the meal. Next, the Selkirk Grace is said, which is a prayer said before a meal and has been attributed to Robbie Burns.
Then comes the traditional address to the Haggis, a poem recited by the host during which the haggis is cut open and is often considered the highlight of the ceremony.
Live music featuring the bagpipes, highland dancing, and the recital of poetry are all included in the celebration of one of Scotland’s most famous men.
“I love the bagpipes and I love when they bring the haggis in and do the address to it,” said Ford, of her favourite part of the evening.
Ford has been to a number of Burns suppers in Calgary since being in Canada but for the last few years has attended here in Innisfail.
“It was very well done, it is nice to see it still going in a small town.
Robbie Burns’ actual birthday is January 25, and Burns suppers normally take place on or around that day.
