25/01/2025
A Virtual Burns Night Celebration
Our January meeting gave our members a virtual taste of haggis, tatties and neeps by going through a traditional running order for Burns Night.
If you missed out, then here are the links you need to catch up:
1. Piping in the guests - to bagpipe or traditional music
Watch this video on the history of the Scottish Bagpipes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl69jZRq2NE
2. Reciting of the Selkirk Grace
The Selkirk Grace is a short prayer of thanks, delivered before a meal:
Some hae meat an canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.
The modern English translation is as follows:
Some have meat but cannot eat,
Some have none that want it;
But we have meat and we can eat,
So let the Lord be thanked.
3. Piping in the haggis - guests stand to welcome the haggis to the table
And to hear what this can sound like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ALW_kI6RYo&t=26s
4. Toast to the haggis - honouring the most important ingredient of the meal with a recitation of Address to a Haggis
This is a video of the poem being recited during a lockdown Burns Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJjPeDRClkk
How to cook a meal of Haggis, Tatties and Neeps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXttgt3H8Kk
5. The Immortal Memory - an account of the life of Robbie Burns, followed by Burns' songs and poems
A cracking 7 minute talk delivered by “Robert Burns”
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=453469079789684
6. Toast to the lassies - a traditional thank you to the women involved in the preparations, and the women in Burns' life and writing
For this, we listened to tips from a World Champion of Public Speaking on giving a toast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZc2l3Pm2Sk&t=26s
7. Chair's vote of thanks, and the finale with Auld Lang Syne
Ever wondered what it really means? Find out and singalong here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr4i845MUM0&t=7s
And of course it wouldn't be a WI meeting without a quiz, this time, on all things Scottish:
1. What title is given to the Scottish equivalent of a mayor?
2. Which famous Scottish battle took place in 1314?
3. In which Scottish town was marriage by declaration abolished in 1940?
4. After being arrested in 1605, who said that he wanted to blow the Scots back into Scotland?
5. Which Scottish inventor give the first public demonstration of television?
6. Where would you find a chanter and a drone?
7. What is the name of the Pouch worn in front of a kilt?
8. Which Scottish phrase was the title of a number one song in 1958?
9. Which stick-and-ball game resembling hurling, is popular in the Scottish Highlands?
10. Which Scottish mathematician invented logarithms?
11. Of all the teams in the English and Scottish football leagues, which is unique in having a letter in its name which no other club has?
12. What is the Scottish equivalent of the Coroner?
13. Who is the most capped Scottish footballer of all time?
14. Lollius Urbicus was responsible for building a defensive wall to keep out Scottish tribes, what was it called?
15. What is Scotland’s longest river?
16. True or false: Scotland Yard was originally the name of a medieval house used by Scottish Kings visiting London?
17. Which body of water in Scotland contains more water than all the English and Welsh lakes put together?
18. Which Scot played for Torino in 1961-62?
19. What Scottish foodstuff was addressed in poetry as the Great Chieftain o’ the puddin’ race?
20. Who was the Scottish schoolteacher created by Muriel Spark?
ANSWERS (see comments for these)
Piping in the Haggis at the Burns Supper held by Edinburgh-based space company, Skyrora.
