Robert Burns has to be this week’s news and History with over a thousand Burns Clubs and it is estimated another two thousand Burns Suppers will take place this Saturday 25th January.
Robert Burns died in Dumfries of ill health in 1796, after which a group of nine friends and patrons got together to celebrate his life on his birthday in 1801. The event was held in Burns’ family home, Burns Cottage in Alloway, and even two centuries ago the Supper’s familiar checklist was already taking shape. With the Celtic Grace, the Address to a Haggis, lots of Whisky and often a selection of Burns songs and poems. Food for the evening will include the Traditional fare of: Haggis, neeps and tatties.
Today’s formal Burns supper includes: Piping in the guests, The Selkirk Grace, Address to the Haggis, The Immortal Memory, Toast to the Ladies, and Auld Lang Syne On Robert Burns death, he was at first buried in the far corner of St. Michael’s Churchyard in Dumfries; a simple “slab of freestone” was erected by Jean Armour. His body was eventually moved to a more suiting location in the same cemetery, the Burns Mausoleum, in September 1817. The body of his widow Jean Armour was buried with his in 1834.