49 Burns Night!!

Burns Night is a celebration for Robert Burns who was a poet born in Scotland on the 25th of January 1759 and unfortunately died on the 21st of July 1796. Robert was well known for a lot of his writing and his poems are still floating around over 200 years later.

Robert also wrote the famous song which is sung particularly in Scotland on New Year’s Eve with everyone crossing their arms over and holding the hands of the person on each side and shaking like you would when you meet for the first time. Most people will know the name without thinking too much as it is a fairly popular song. The song is called Auld Lang Syne.

Burns night celebrations previously were held on the 21st of July, making the anniversary of Robert’s death but were changed to the 25th of January to mark his birthday instead making it a happier celebration. These celebrations can be informal or formal it is completely up to you, it can be judged using personal preference as it wouldn’t make a difference either way

During the evening a meal is often served to consist of Haggis Tatties and Neeps as the Scots would say, with a little Scotch whisky to wash it down with. Haggis is a Scottish dish made of the parts of a sheep that is not commonly eaten otherwise and held together in a ball like a bag made of an animal’s stomach. Tatties is just simple mashed potatoes and Neeps is Swede which is sold at most local supermarkets but for those of you that aren’t in the UK, you will most likely find Swede in your groceries stores.

Traditionally it was generally only Scotland and Northern Ireland that celebrated Robert with him being Scottish but recently celebrations have spread globally and it is now celebrated in various countries. Some of the countries that have join the celebrations include Australia, Canada, England, and United States. There are other countries that do celebrate but those four are the ones that have many celebrations for this particular occasion.