Okla-homey
1/25/2008, 06:43 AM
Jan 25, 1759: Robert Burns' birthday
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/9222/2004488896593616721_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004488896593616721)
249 years ago, Scottish poet Robert Burns is born in the village of Alloway in Ayrshire. The day is still celebrated by Burns fans across the English-speaking world, with high-spirited "Robert Burns Night" feasts, featuring haggis and other Scottish delicacies, as well as enthusiastic drinking, toasting, and speechmaking.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/9464/2004491904499950355_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004491904499950355)
Burns' cottage in Alloway
Burns, the son of a poor farmer, received little formal schooling but read extensively. He and his brother worked the family farm until publication of his book of verse became a huge hit in literary circles.
A restless, dissatisfied spirit, he fell in love with a young woman named Jean Armour in the mid-1780s but refused to marry her when she became pregnant.
Under 18th cent. Scottish law, a baby daddy could be deemed "constructively" married to the mother of his child under principles of equity. He could be ordered to provide for their support, but mom, as plaintiff, had to be willing to file the lawsuit in the chancery court. [See kids, back in the days of old, you had two choices on where to file suit; courts of law if you had a statute and/or controlling legal precedent on your side; chancery courts (of equity) if it was more a matter of your seeking fundamental fairness and asking the chancery judge to smite the person "who did you wrong," even if that person broke no law on point.]
The pair engaged in a legal struggle, at the end of which the court declared Burns legally single and stopped short of declaring him married to Armour --but he later married her anyway. Eventually, the couple had nine children, the last one born on the day of Burns' funeral.
Burns loved the ladies and by all accounts, they loved him back. He probably sired illegitimate children by several other women during his relatively short lifetime. In short, he was an eighteenth century playa of the first order.
Burns published his first poetry collection, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, in 1786, and he quickly became the darling of elite Edinburgh intellectuals.
To this day, around the world, Burns admirers gather for a simple supper, whisky, dancing and Burns poetry recitals. Your correspondent has attended them in many locales. The coolest one he attended was put on by Scots RAF officers -- I still have no idea precisely how I got home from that one.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/10084/2004428729423478736_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004428729423478736)
Typical Burns Supper fare. The brown stuff is Haggis (sausage made from organ meats and oatmeal boiled in a sheeps stomach and later cut open and dipped onto the plate), the white stuff are mashed potatoes (aka "tatties") and the orange stuff are mashed turnips (aka "neeps")
http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/8882/2005802141898025040_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005802141898025040)
You can roll your own haggis
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/8897/2004468579630720127_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004468579630720127)
Kickin it Rabbie Burns-style
The last years of Burns' life were devoted to penning great poetic masterpieces such as The Lea Rig, Tam O'Shanterand [My Love Is Like a] Red, Red Rose. In Tam O'Shanter, a fleet-footed witch who wore a short nightie (aka: a cutty sark) could outrun a mounted man. That poem inspired the name for a great clipper ship, which in turn inspired the name of a brand of blended Scotch whiskey.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/10185/2005018690271719058_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005018690271719058)
The scantily clad witch (wearing her cutty sark) chases Tam
http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/11251/2005001245853416728_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005001245853416728)
The great clipper ship "Cutty Sark' which set many a oceanic crossing record in the final days of sail
http://aycu19.webshots.com/image/8058/2005023685458818920_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005023685458818920)
Decent stuff if you are a blended whisky fan. Personally, I prefer "Famous Grouse."
Burns died at 37 of heart disease exacerbated by the hard manual work he undertook when he was young. His death occurred on the same day his wife Jean gave birth to his last son, Maxwell.
On the day of his burial more than 10,000 people came to watch and pay their respects. However, his popularity then was nothing compared to the heights it has reached since.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/9222/2004476378464092963_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004476378464092963)
Piping in the haggis at a Burns Supper
Perhaps more famous for his lively lyrics in the Scottish dialect than for his longer, more literary poems, Burns is still beloved and celebrated today as the author of the New Year's anthem, Auld Lang Syne.
Please note, Burns did not write Gaelic poetry. He wrote Scots poetry in the "lowland" Scottish dialect -- which is sort of a blend of pidgin English and certain Gaelic words which form a rich patois. It can be tough to understand when written, but easier to follow when heard spoken.
Auld Lang Syne. (trans: Long Times Since)
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp, [pint-stowp: pay for your pint]
And surely I'll be mine,
And we'll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine, [pou'd gowans; pulled daisies]
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit,
Sin auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn [we two have waded in the stream]
Frae morning sun till dine, [from morning til suppertime]
But seas between us braid hae roar'd [braid; broad]
Sin auld lang syne.
And there's a hand my trusty fiere, [fiere: buddy]
And gie's a hand o thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught, [goodwill drink]
For auld lang syne.
Your correspondent's favorite Burns poem is "A Man's a Man for A' That" which addresses the notion that all men are created equal -- which was popular across the Atlantic in the infant US, but pretty revolutionary in Britain.
[B]A Man's A Man for A' That.
Is there for honest poverty
That hings his head, an a' that? [hings; hangs]
The coward slave, we pass him by -
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an a' that,
Our toils obscure, an a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The man's the gowd for a' that. [gowd: gold]
What though on hamely fare we dine, [simple food]
Wear hoddin grey, an a' that? [cheap clothing]
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine -
A man's a man for a' that.
For a' that, an a' that.
Their tinsel show, an a' that,
The honest man, tho e'er sae poor,
Is king o men for a' that. [honest common men are superior to well dressed noble jerks]
Ye see you birkie ca'd 'a lord,' [birkie: fellow]
What struts, an stares, an a' that?
Tho hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a cuif for a' that. [cuif: fool]
For a' that, an a' that,
His ribband, star, an a' that,
The man o independent mind,
He looks an laughs at a' that. [good common men laugh at pretentious nobility]
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an a' that!
But an honest man's aboon his might [honest men are above nobles]
Guid faith, he mauna fa' that!
For a' that, an a' that,
Their dignities, an a' that,
The pith o sense an pride o worth.
Are higher rank than a' that.
Then let us pray that come it may
[As come it will for a' that],
That Sense and Worth o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree an a' that.
For a' that, an a' that,
It's comin yet for a' that,
That man to man, the world, o'er
Shall brithers be for a' that. [this stanza says that the day is coming that , the common honest man will be acknowledged as higher than any noble or royal crook and all good men are brothers]
http://aycu06.webshots.com/image/8565/2001238325019621421_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001238325019621421)
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/9222/2004488896593616721_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004488896593616721)
249 years ago, Scottish poet Robert Burns is born in the village of Alloway in Ayrshire. The day is still celebrated by Burns fans across the English-speaking world, with high-spirited "Robert Burns Night" feasts, featuring haggis and other Scottish delicacies, as well as enthusiastic drinking, toasting, and speechmaking.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/9464/2004491904499950355_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004491904499950355)
Burns' cottage in Alloway
Burns, the son of a poor farmer, received little formal schooling but read extensively. He and his brother worked the family farm until publication of his book of verse became a huge hit in literary circles.
A restless, dissatisfied spirit, he fell in love with a young woman named Jean Armour in the mid-1780s but refused to marry her when she became pregnant.
Under 18th cent. Scottish law, a baby daddy could be deemed "constructively" married to the mother of his child under principles of equity. He could be ordered to provide for their support, but mom, as plaintiff, had to be willing to file the lawsuit in the chancery court. [See kids, back in the days of old, you had two choices on where to file suit; courts of law if you had a statute and/or controlling legal precedent on your side; chancery courts (of equity) if it was more a matter of your seeking fundamental fairness and asking the chancery judge to smite the person "who did you wrong," even if that person broke no law on point.]
The pair engaged in a legal struggle, at the end of which the court declared Burns legally single and stopped short of declaring him married to Armour --but he later married her anyway. Eventually, the couple had nine children, the last one born on the day of Burns' funeral.
Burns loved the ladies and by all accounts, they loved him back. He probably sired illegitimate children by several other women during his relatively short lifetime. In short, he was an eighteenth century playa of the first order.
Burns published his first poetry collection, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, in 1786, and he quickly became the darling of elite Edinburgh intellectuals.
To this day, around the world, Burns admirers gather for a simple supper, whisky, dancing and Burns poetry recitals. Your correspondent has attended them in many locales. The coolest one he attended was put on by Scots RAF officers -- I still have no idea precisely how I got home from that one.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/10084/2004428729423478736_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004428729423478736)
Typical Burns Supper fare. The brown stuff is Haggis (sausage made from organ meats and oatmeal boiled in a sheeps stomach and later cut open and dipped onto the plate), the white stuff are mashed potatoes (aka "tatties") and the orange stuff are mashed turnips (aka "neeps")
http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/8882/2005802141898025040_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005802141898025040)
You can roll your own haggis
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/8897/2004468579630720127_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004468579630720127)
Kickin it Rabbie Burns-style
The last years of Burns' life were devoted to penning great poetic masterpieces such as The Lea Rig, Tam O'Shanterand [My Love Is Like a] Red, Red Rose. In Tam O'Shanter, a fleet-footed witch who wore a short nightie (aka: a cutty sark) could outrun a mounted man. That poem inspired the name for a great clipper ship, which in turn inspired the name of a brand of blended Scotch whiskey.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/10185/2005018690271719058_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005018690271719058)
The scantily clad witch (wearing her cutty sark) chases Tam
http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/11251/2005001245853416728_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005001245853416728)
The great clipper ship "Cutty Sark' which set many a oceanic crossing record in the final days of sail
http://aycu19.webshots.com/image/8058/2005023685458818920_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005023685458818920)
Decent stuff if you are a blended whisky fan. Personally, I prefer "Famous Grouse."
Burns died at 37 of heart disease exacerbated by the hard manual work he undertook when he was young. His death occurred on the same day his wife Jean gave birth to his last son, Maxwell.
On the day of his burial more than 10,000 people came to watch and pay their respects. However, his popularity then was nothing compared to the heights it has reached since.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/9222/2004476378464092963_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004476378464092963)
Piping in the haggis at a Burns Supper
Perhaps more famous for his lively lyrics in the Scottish dialect than for his longer, more literary poems, Burns is still beloved and celebrated today as the author of the New Year's anthem, Auld Lang Syne.
Please note, Burns did not write Gaelic poetry. He wrote Scots poetry in the "lowland" Scottish dialect -- which is sort of a blend of pidgin English and certain Gaelic words which form a rich patois. It can be tough to understand when written, but easier to follow when heard spoken.
Auld Lang Syne. (trans: Long Times Since)
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp, [pint-stowp: pay for your pint]
And surely I'll be mine,
And we'll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine, [pou'd gowans; pulled daisies]
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit,
Sin auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn [we two have waded in the stream]
Frae morning sun till dine, [from morning til suppertime]
But seas between us braid hae roar'd [braid; broad]
Sin auld lang syne.
And there's a hand my trusty fiere, [fiere: buddy]
And gie's a hand o thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught, [goodwill drink]
For auld lang syne.
Your correspondent's favorite Burns poem is "A Man's a Man for A' That" which addresses the notion that all men are created equal -- which was popular across the Atlantic in the infant US, but pretty revolutionary in Britain.
[B]A Man's A Man for A' That.
Is there for honest poverty
That hings his head, an a' that? [hings; hangs]
The coward slave, we pass him by -
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an a' that,
Our toils obscure, an a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The man's the gowd for a' that. [gowd: gold]
What though on hamely fare we dine, [simple food]
Wear hoddin grey, an a' that? [cheap clothing]
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine -
A man's a man for a' that.
For a' that, an a' that.
Their tinsel show, an a' that,
The honest man, tho e'er sae poor,
Is king o men for a' that. [honest common men are superior to well dressed noble jerks]
Ye see you birkie ca'd 'a lord,' [birkie: fellow]
What struts, an stares, an a' that?
Tho hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a cuif for a' that. [cuif: fool]
For a' that, an a' that,
His ribband, star, an a' that,
The man o independent mind,
He looks an laughs at a' that. [good common men laugh at pretentious nobility]
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an a' that!
But an honest man's aboon his might [honest men are above nobles]
Guid faith, he mauna fa' that!
For a' that, an a' that,
Their dignities, an a' that,
The pith o sense an pride o worth.
Are higher rank than a' that.
Then let us pray that come it may
[As come it will for a' that],
That Sense and Worth o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree an a' that.
For a' that, an a' that,
It's comin yet for a' that,
That man to man, the world, o'er
Shall brithers be for a' that. [this stanza says that the day is coming that , the common honest man will be acknowledged as higher than any noble or royal crook and all good men are brothers]
http://aycu06.webshots.com/image/8565/2001238325019621421_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001238325019621421)