ROBERT BURNS

SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL POET

BORN JANUARY 25, 1759

Robert Burns was born on 25 January 1759 in Alloway in Scotland and died on 21 July 1796.   In his short life he made a tremendous impression on many people in Scotland, so it was only natural that they should want to mark his life and works with some sort of celebration. The first recorded Burns supper was in 1801 in Alloway when a group of his friends gathered, not in January but in July to mark the fifth anniversary of his death. Some of the traditions which have grown up were established on that first occasion - haggis as the main course and whisky with which to mark the many toasts. The haggis was addressed at that first meal, after all the poet himself had provided the perfect words with which to do so in his poem "Address to a Haggis". Since those early beginnings, the custom of holding a "supper" to the immortal memory of Rabbie Burns has become a world-wide phenomenon - anywhere that lovers of Scotland and its culture are gathered.

LINKS:

Burns Country
The Bard
World Burns Club
Burns Encyclopedia
*Address to A Haggis

Robert Burns Scottish Dance Connections

RETURN TO SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING AND MORE

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This page maintained by Dianna Shipman.

Page updated January 15, 2008.