Burns Night!

There's a special reason I'm not posting on Saturday and that's because..... IT'S BURNS NIGHT TONIGHT! Burns Night is a big party in Scotland Celebrating the amazing Rabbie Burns and so, we party.

But first, a little background:

 

Robert Burns or Rabbie Burns is widely renowned as the National Poet of Scotland. He was born January 25th 1759 in Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland and died in Dumfries on July 21st 1796 and in that time he was credited with writing over 500 songs and poems (including Auld Lang Syne, a popular, New Years song).

A friend of Cyndi's, Jim (@ChauvinOn) posted this for last year's Burns Night and has graciously allowed me to repost for your reading pleasure:

Our Burns Night

A Burns supper is generally a fairly formal occasion in both dress and structure. 
Formal Scottish dress is normal for the gentlemen, for the ladies it is often an evening dress, although some will wear tartan skirts with a white blouse. With lots of formal structured, but often humorous speeches.

For us it is much less formal.

But the food is traditional and good: Scotch Broth to start, followed by Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, and of course a pudding – maybe Sticky- Toffee pudding. Since we don’t drink we have Scotland’s “other national drink” IRN BRU.

Piping in the haggis; is me with the iPod and speakers under my arm, playing “Scotland the Brave” or some other rousing tune. We never stick to the set speech format, but here are a few snippets.

I love “A Man’s a Man” because of its clear vision of a more just world.

Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.

And of course I always recite, “My Love is Like a Red Red Rose”, for my Juliet.

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

Unfortunately Burns was after Aiden’s time or I am sure he would have sung it to Lindsey. (Cyndi's note: Awwwww! I love that!)

And what better way to end than with the following excerpt from “Tam o’ Shanter”.
But pleasures are like poppies spread, 
You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed; 
Or like the snow falls in the river, 
A moment white-then melts for ever; 
Or like the Borealis race, 
That flit ere you can point their place; 
Or like the Rainbow's lovely form 
Evanishing amid the storm. - 
Nae man can tether Time nor Tide, 
The hour approaches Tam maun ride;    

Sounds fun right?

And of course what Burns Night would be complete without a little Scottish action. Not that kind; get your mind out of the gutter (although... http://aidensangels.blogspot.ca/p/fan-fiction_16.html). In cause you missed it the first time or wanted to read it again, here's the link to the Fake Scotsmen Twitter Chat that happened In November 2012: http://aidensangels.blogspot.com/2012/11/fake-scotsmen-twitter-chat.html

And as a special added bonus, Cyndi Tefft is giving away a signed copy of either Between or Hell Transporter (your choice) for filling out the form below.

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Burns Night Duckies!