Burns Supper

Saturday night  (Jan 25), we were blessed to be able to attend the Burns Night Activity at Bingham Ward, and it was great. A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, the most famous Scottish poet, who was born on 25 January 1759. His birthday is widely celebrated in Scotland. We enjoyed a very traditional evening starting with the "Piping" of the haggis when everyone stands as the haggis was paraded around to bagpipe music.

This was followed by a recitation of the Address to a Haggis, a Burn’s poem, which starts:

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie {jolly} face,

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

Aboon {above} them a' ye tak your place,

Painch {stomach}, tripe, or thairm {intestine}:

Weel are ye wordy {worthy} o' a grace

As lang's my arm.

Just before we ate, someone said the "The Selkirk Grace" (attributed to Robert Burns):

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

And sae let the Lord be thankit.

The dinner was haggis, neeps (mashed turnips) and tatties (mashed potatoes) with cheese, crackers and shortbread for dessert. The one traditional drink that was missing was Scotch whisky.

A recent convert and her YSA daughter with their haggis, neeps and taddies. 

After dinner we had the Toast to the Lassies, a poem from a man about women, amusing but not offensive. This was followed by a Toast to the Laddies , a poem from a woman about men, also humorous but not offensive.

 This was followed by Ceilidh dancing. Several of the Elders participated as partners with each other.   

Three Elders along with the Bishop and his granddaughter during the Ceilidh.

 In a very nice gesture, the six young missionaries were brought up and asked to read Scottish sayings  such as “It’s a bra bricht moonlicht nicht the nicht” (It is a nice, bright moonlit night tonight).

They were then  given certificates signed by the Bishop declaring them to be honorary Scots. It was a wonderful evening.

Several of the Ward members came dressed in their kitls.

As our Stake President would say, "Good stuff!"