Posts tagged Burns Monument

Waking to a Google Doodle celebrating Robert Burns Day and Burns Nicht was quite a treat this morning for many across the planet.

Robert Burns Google Doodle

As many prepare for a Burns Supper to mark the birth of Robert Burns in my hometown of Ayr in Scotland way back in 25 January 1759, I thought it would be useful to mark the occasion with some Burns (social) media.

Burns Suppers are usually commenced with the Selkirk Grace:-

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
And sae let the Lord be thankit.

…followed by the Address to a Haggis when the Haggis is brought in:-

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 of a grace
As lang’s my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a’ their weel-swall’d kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
‘Bethankit’ hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect sconner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither’d rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit:
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He’ll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow’rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!

For helpful translations, given that Google Translator cannot perform Burns to English, see this Rabbie Burns Tribute Page.

For more information on procedure, see this Robert Burns Wikipedia article.

Aside from the lyrical content above, there are two rather interesting pieces of news about Burns released recently.

First, the Scottish government released a new free iPhone app for fans of Burns, whereby Burns’ poetry can be searched for free; and

Second, an unpublished letter by Burns was found in a Borders castle recently. It is supposedly a 222 year old letter, which was discovered in Floors Castle in Kelso. As the Aberdeen Press and Journal reports, it is dated May 13, 1789, and is addressed to James Gregory, professor of medicine at Edinburgh University and head of the city’s medical school.

As for me, I’m off to have a Haggis Supper from the chippy. I leave you with a Burns classic, which may be more familiar to international readers on Hogmanay (for international readers, that’s 31st December )

Burns Monument by Brig O'Doon Ayr