Burns Night!

January 25 is the birthday of Scotland's beloved poet and songwriter Robert Burns who lived from 1759-1796. Even if you don't have a bit of Scottish blood in you, you certainly have been affected by Robert Burns in one way or another. If nothing else, you've sang (or at least heard) Burn's best known song "Auld Lang Syne" on New Year's Eve when the clock strikes twelve.

The celebration of Robert Burns is a big event in Scotland and other Celtic-influenced lands. Traditionally, a "Burns Supper" or a "Burns Night" is held. As Bennett Fischer states, Burns Suppers/Nights "range from stentoriously formal gatherings of esthetes and scholars to uproariously informal rave-ups of drunkards and louts." However, as Fischer notes, "most Burns Suppers fall in the middle of this range, and adhere, more or less, to some sort of time honoured form which includes the eating of a traditional Scottish meal, the drinking of Scotch whisky, and the recitation of works by, about, and in the spirit of the Bard."

I'll leave it up to you, dear readers, to determine the most appropriate way for you to celebrate Robert Burns birthday.

To conclude, I leave with you with one of the Bard's most beautiful poems.

A Red, Red Rose (1794)

O my Luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June:
O my Luve's like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!
And fare-thee-weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile!