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Traditions, Burns night

In celebration of the life and works of Robert Burns, Scotland's most famous poet, traditional suppers have been held annually on his birthday for about 200 years. Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759 in the village of Alloway near Ayr. He came from a relatively poor, tenant-farmer background, although he received a good education and read avidly as a youngster.

It is during his years as a teenager and young man working on farms that he developed some of the passions that would colour the rest of his life, poetry, nature, women and drink.

He is renowned worldwide as a great poet and songwriter. A keen social commentator, Burns wrote movingly about love, universal brotherhood and the human condition. He wrote from the heart and, to this day, his words are considered timeless.

The Burns Night supper ritual was started by close friends of the poet a few years after his death (in 1796) as a tribute to his memory. The basic format for the evening still follows the same pattern whether it is held in formal dining rooms or the local pub.

The ceremony begins when the designated "chairman" of the evening invites "the company" (guests) to receive the haggis - a traditional Scottish dish made of minced offal with suet, onions, oatmeal and seasonings.

In 1789 the poet became an Excise Officer, a fact that probably had many of his drinking partners choking on their ale and provided yet another of the contradictions that separated Burns's life from his poetry. However, supporting his wife and family required funds, so Burns had to balance his increasingly radical political views with the practicalities of life. He remained an Excise Officer until his death.