Burns Night....

We were invited to a Burns night last evening, to Celebrate  the wonderful life of Robert Burns, Famous Poet  of the scottish land ...
Now, my sister used to live in scotland and i had been to a burns supper before so i kind of knew what to expect..
a potted description of burns night from a sassanachs point of view..
(in the rather shortened version of ceremonies, for the sake of the blog) Robert Burns.. writer of poetry,philanderer,father of many,lover of even more, revered worldwide .!
wrote inspiring pieces like, oh My loves like a red red rose, thats newly sprung in June... and also
When chapman billies  leave the street,
and drouthy neebours,neebours meet,
and market days are wearing late
and folk begin to tak the gate.... (nope i had never heard of this one either, tho it seemed MANY of the scotts amongst us had, and as steve and i were sat with 3 other scotts people, we didnt argue)

cue ~ bagpipes and the piping in of the haggis.... NOT just ANY kind of haggis but a goat haggis, as sadly the non halal dept in supersave were fresh out of real haggis!
the haggis is walked round the room and piped to the head table.. where a ceremonial grain drink was taken in its honour... then...the Haggis was dutifully STABBED with a rusty blade (actually for the health n safety concious amongst us it was a  very clean knife!)


Now english is my first language and i thought i knew a bit about the man himself, but had never actually seen his poetry written down..
but it incudes words like   skellum( rascal)  Bellum (babbler)  greet (cry) Ingle (fireplace) and many more..I found it fascinating..

there was then the eating of the said haggis... mmmm ... i have to admit it smelt yum, but my head wouldnt let me eat it... traditionally sered with mashed neeps (parsnips) and tatties (potatoes) (the Brunei version served with mashed pumpkin.. and tatties)


The evening continued  late into the night, with readings and replies, all with very good humour...

The Scottish society of Bandar seri Begawan do this man justice admirably by paying homage to the Mortal memory of Robbie Burns..