The Burns' Supper Explained!

Ok, you know what a Haggis is, and you know who Rabbie Burns was. Now to find out what a Burns’ Supper is…

The tradition of holding a Burns Supper began in Ayrshire, three years after Robert Burns’ death. The first Supper was held by some of Burns’ old friends in memory of the bard, and the concept quickly spread across Scotland. The tradition has continued ever since, and suppers are held every year on Burn’s birthday, in places as far a field as America, India, China, Russia and Kenya.

The whole premise for the evening is the celebration of the life and works of Robert Burns. Though the exact format will vary, core components are poetry, pipers and of course the Haggis.

The evening starts with the Master of Ceremonies welcoming everyone to the supper, and reciting the Selkirk Grace:


Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some would eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Burns’ used the grace when visiting the Earl of Selkirk, hence its name.

fter the Grace comes the highlight of the evening: The piping of the Haggis! Everyone will be expected to stand, and should ensure they have a full glass to toast the Haggis. The Haggis will be bought into the room by the Chef (Perry?), accompanied by the bagpipes. Once the Haggis has arrived at the top table, Burns’ famous poem ‘Ode to a Haggis’ will be performed.


The poem is generally recited with much enthusiasm, and during the third verse, the performer will slice open the Haggis.

Once the Ode has been performed it will be met with rapturous applause (hopefully). The Master of Ceremonies will then lead a Toast to the Haggis. Basically you hold your glass of whisky in the air and say “To the Haggis!”.

Once the Ode and Toast have been performed, dinner is served.

After the meal, comes the entertainment. The exact format will vary, but you should expect to hear performances of the works of Burns such as "My Luve is Like a Red Red Rose", "Rantin', Rovin' Robin", "Tam O'Shanter", "To a Louse" or "For a' that and a' that".
The speaker will then describe the life of Robert Burns. This is typically a mixture of historical fact, and comic genius. The speech will conclude with a toast to Robert Burns "To the Immortal Memory of Robert Burns!".
Next comes the Toast to the Lassies (ladies). The toast will be delivered by a man, and will be a humorous toast designed to praise the role of women in the world today. Bonus points are awarded for including quotations from Burns in the toast. The toast concludes: "To the Lassies!"
Of course the lassies have a right to reply to the men’s toast. The luck lassie performing the toast will thank the men for their kind(?) toast – and will then attempt to upstage the men with an even more witty toast, again making use of the works of Burns.
At this point, when everyone is suitably fed, and alcohol has relaxed the guests sufficiently, the dancing will commence.

At the end of the evening, the Master of ceremonies will thank everyone for making the evening a great success, and will lead everyone in singing Auld Lang Syne, probably Burns’ most famous song.

Haggis Explained!

According to the legend, the haggis is a small four-legged Scottish Highland creature, which has the limbs on one side shorter than the other side. This means that it is well adapted to run around the hills at a steady altitude, without either ascending or descending. However a haggis can easily be caught by running around the hill in the opposite direction.

No, its no good, I can’t keep this up. The story you see above (or variations) are frequently told to the gullible tourist visiting Scotland. Should you carry on listening the teller would doubtless regale you with stories of the Haggis Hunt (when they are in season), and how much better wild haggis taste than their farmed counterparts. These stories are untrue: the Haggis is basically a sort of sausage.

A survey in 2003 found that a third of American visitors to Scotland believed the haggis was a creature. A quarter believed that you could hunt and catch it! The full story can be found on the link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3240190.stm

It is interesting to note that this rumour has spread into the internet age with this site offering live webcams where you can hunt haggis from the comfort on your own bedroom, an appeal to save the haggis here, and sightings of a heap of haggis in Nevada here (‘heap’ allegedly being the collective noun for haggises).

Many articles about the Haggis claim the plural of haggis is haggi. As the word is not from Latin this is incorrect – the plural is haggises.

Anyway, enough of this frivolity; what is haggis?

In fact, it's a logical food for people who once had to feed families on tight resources. Each winter, a farm family would sacrifice an adult sheep or two so the sparse grazing land could support the spring lambs. They'd kill an animal and use every part. The haggis is made with a sheep's stomach as a casing. It is filled with oats, onions, spices and the other edible organs that are cooked first and then chopped up. These are called "pluck," -- things plucked from the sheep carcass -- and include the "lights," or lungs. The haggis is basically a big, round, spicy sausage.

Variations include ‘Mock Haggis’ which is basically all of the ingredients above fried up in an open pan, rather than being stuffed into a sheep’s stomach, and Battered Haggis (Haggis in Batter) which is available with chips in Scottish Fish and Chip shops (ask for a haggis supper)

Vegetarian Haggis is readily available, and recipes can easily be found on the internet.

Haggis is traditionally served with mashed neeps ‘n’ tatties.
Neeps = turnips
Tatties = potatoes

I think we are all clear on what a potato is, but what is a turnip? Over to the Times newspaper for an explanation:

The Times published this letter from Dr Nick O'Donovan, of Havant, Hampshire:"Sir, Here on the South Coast, when I go to my local vegetable shop and ask for swede I am given a large, orange- fleshed vegetable. If I ask for turnip I receive a much smaller, whitish vegetable with a green top. When making the same request for these vegetables when staying at my in-laws¹ in Middlesbrough, the orange vegetable is proffered when requesting turnip and the smaller green-topped vegetable when requesting swede. I wonder at which junction of the M1 this nomenclature changes, and why?"That letter drew these replies from other readers:
"A survey of the company tearoom suggested the border to be Yorkshire, with Nottinghamshire and Cheshire clearly in the 'South'. Lancashire is divided, with Manchester supporting the South but other areas applying the northern interpretation. Middlesbrough and Tyneside clearly follow the northern option but the Central North and Cumbria revert to southern ways. On very small samples the Irish Republic and New Zealand appear to follow the northern pattern while the US opted for southern. Australia is apparently too dry to grow either vegetable. ." Mark Wilson, c/o Delta Biotechnology, Nottingham.
"Here in the far South West we receive a large orange vegetable when asking for a turnip. I understand that if you require what in my youth in the South East was called a turnip you have to ask for a 'white turnip'. Incidentally, turnip of the orange variety is an essential ingredient of a Cornish pasty." - Mrs Ruth Parker, Mousehole, Penzance, Cornwall
"Alas, I cannot answer Dr O'Donovan's question. But perhaps he should note that in Northern Ireland the big orange thingy is a turnip, the small whitish one a white turnip, and a Swede is the England football coach. - Peter Tray, London N12.
So there you have it. Glad we cleared that one up. I guess we will just have to wait and see what gets served up on Saturday….

Boxing day explained!

So, what is Boxing Day?

First we need to get our Bibles out, open them about halfway through and take a peek in the Acts of the Apostles. Here we learn all about Saint Stephen. It’s a fairly brief story – and at risk of ruining the story for you – he ends up being stoned to death. He is patron saint of a fairly eclectic mix of things, including casket makers, coffin makers, deacons, masons, stone masons and horses! The church established a feast day for St Stephen on the 26th December. Back in the Middle Ages, when horses were the only form of transport available, farmers would bring their horses to church on St Stephen’s day where they would be blessed by the priest.

As if all of that was not excitement enough, Churches historically opened their charity/alms boxes on St Stephen's Day and gave the money to the poor, and the day became associated with giving to the poor and needy. Ever heard of a Christmas carol called Good King Wenceslas? It is all about the king of Bohemia and how he invited a poor bloke in from the snow and fed and clothed him.

Giving alms to the poor was only the start though – in the 17th century the custom was extended to apprentices. Their masters would collect money for them in pottery containers (possibly the original ‘piggy banks’) and the apprentices would smash them open on St Stephen’s day. Suddenly, it seems, everyone wanted in on the action. In 1710 Jonathan Swift had a bit of a rant in his diary about being expected to provide Christmas boxes to, “carriers, policemen, lamp-lighters, scavengers, butchers' and bakers' boys, tradesmen's carmen, etc”

In Victorian times the day had become popularly known as Boxing day, and Johnathan Swift’s rant was echoed by Charles Manby Smith in Curiosities of London life: “We can hardly close these desultory sketches of Christmas- time without some brief allusion to the day after Christmas, which, through every nook and cranny of the great Babel, is known and recognised as "Boxing Day," - the day consecrated to baksheesh, when nobody, it would almost seem, is too proud to beg, and when everybody who does not beg is expected to play the almoner. "Tie up the knocker - say you're sick, you are dead," is the best advice perhaps that could be given in such cases to any man who has a street-door and a knocker upon it”
It also became tradition to allow household servants to have a holiday on Boxing Day: they would serve the household on Christmas day, but would be allowed Boxing Day to themselves. In 1871, Boxing Day was made a public bank holiday, meaning no one would be expected to work.

Nowadays the origins of Boxing Day are mostly forgotten, but the holiday remains. It is a day for family get togethers, horse racing (St Stephen’s influence?) and of course, a great opportunity to snap up a bargain in the post-Christmas sales.

Christmas Trees Explained!

Why do we have Christmas trees? This site covers the history for better than I could: http://www.christmasarchives.com/trees.html

Wearing Poppies Explained!

Remembrance Day is the day Britons remember those who have died in war.
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the First World War ended. Since then, 11th November or Armistice Day, has been a day to pause and remember those who have given their lives for the peace and freedom.
The tradition of wearing a poppy in Remembrance stems from a poem written by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. He was working in a dressing station on the front line to the north of Leper, Belgium, when he wrote In Flanders Fields:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flanders fields.

In 1918 Moira Michael, an American, wrote a poem in reply, We shall keep the faith, in which she promised to wear a poppy 'in honour of our dead' and so began the tradition of wearing a poppy in remembrance. Poppies were first sold in England on Armistice Day in 1921 by members of the British Legion to raise money for those who had been incapacitated by the war, and this tradition continues today.

Links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/remembrance/history/
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/

Bonfire Night Explained!

Bonfire Night is celebrated throughout the UK on the 5th of November. The date marks the aniversary of an attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 by Guy Fawkes and a group of co-conspiritors.
Guy Fawkes and his group were Catholic extremists who were unhappy with the way Catholics were treated by the (Protestant) state and wanted to return the country to the Catholic faith. They hatched a plan to blow up parliament, killing everyone in gevernment and the King (James 1st).
The plot was uncovered because one of the conspirators sent a letter to a friend in the Houses of Parliament warning him to stay away from the House on the day the attack was supposed to take place. The letter was intercepted and handed to the king.
Meanwhile, Guy Fawkes and friends, having formulated their plan, known as the 'Gunpowder Plot', had rolled 36 barrels of gunpowder into the cellars of the Houses of Parliament, and were waiting for the king to arrive when guards broke in and arrested them. They were tortured and executed.
The government of the time used the whole event as a bit of a propoganda tool to help justify severe anti-Catholic legislation and as justification for hunting down Jesuit priests throughout the UK. Bonfire night was introduced to mark the anniversary of the failed coup. It is worth noting that originaly an effigy of the Pope was burned and it was not until two centuries later that people switched to burning effigies of Guy Fawkes instead.
The extent of the celebrations and the size of the bonfire varies from one community to the next. Lewes, in the South East of England, is famous for its Bonfire Night festivities and consistently attracts thousands of people each year to participate. Nowadays bonfire night is generally considered a bit of a quirky tradition, and the religious and political aspects are largely ignored.

For those who want to firn out more, this site contains a lot of information on the plot itself and the politics of the time.