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If you would like an evening of eating, drinking, talking, poetry, singing and dancing, a Burns Supper may be just the ticket, even if it has to be at home this year. Here, Alistair Mills explains how to organise and prepare your own Burns Supper.
Ever since Robert Burns’ death in 1796, Burns’ Suppers have been a part of Scottish culture.
Celebrated on Burns’ birthday, January 25, Burns’ Night is an evening of good food interspersed with speeches, dancing, and recitations of the bard’s poetry and singing his songs.
Starter and main course
The most famous part of the Supper is the piping in, and the address to the haggis. The opening verse of the address is below in the original and in standard English.
It’s quite a sight to see the haggis brought into the room with the sounds of the pipes playing “Scotland the Brave” and everyone cheering on the chef! Someone then recites the Address to the Haggis. At the end of the address, the knife is plunged into the haggis to the words “O what a glorious sight, warm-reekin’, rich”.
The company then sets about the meal itself, usually cock-a-leekie soup followed by haggis, champit tatties and bashed neeps (mashed potato and turnip).
The Pudding
The entertainment
Following a comfort break, the evening’s entertainment begins, starting with a speech to propose a toast to the Immortal Memory of Robert Burns.
The programme then continues with a mixture of poetry, music, dancing, and toasts. Burns was a man who loved women, and a toast to the lasses and a reply are usually delivered with good-natured banter.
Nowadays haggis is usually shop-bought, with a favourite being Macsweens of Edinburgh. They make both traditional and vegetarian haggis which are available in many supermarkets. Here in the Lambourn Valley, Neil Richards the butcher in the High Street in Lambourn has Macsweens Haggis in stock, end he also has the potatoes and turnip. For the whisky, you have to go to the Co-op across the road.
For those who prefer to order on-line, Macsweens have links to their on-line suppliers, some of whom can also provide clapshot, napkins and a book on the subject.
With the body fed with haggis, and the soul fed on good Scots poetry, it’s time to end the night with a rousing rendition of “Auld Lang Syne“.
Address to the Haggis
“Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o’ a grace
As lang’s my arm.”
Standard English
Fair on your honest smiling face,
Great Chieftain of the sausage race,
Above them all, you take your place,
Kidneys, tripe, and giblets warm:
Well are you worthy of a grace
As long as my arm.
Auld Lang Syne
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
And there’s a hand,
my trusty fiere!
and gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak’ a right gude-willie waught,
for auld lang syne.
Standard English
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old times passed.
And there’s a hand,
my trusty brother!
and give’s a hand of yours!
And we’ll take a right good draught,
for old times passed.