Five years after Robert Burns died, a group of his friends got together to
remember him and his poetry. The tradition became established and now, every
year on his birthday, 25th January, Scots all round the world celebrate Burns
Night with a Burns Supper which follows a format similar to the original dinner
(often with much toasting and drinking of whiskey!) We've got more details of
some well-loved Burns Night traditions for you to read about, plus some family-friendly ideas
for your own Burns Night celebrations - everything from recipes through to printables of the Selkirk Grace and Address to a Haggis, colouring pages, and lots more, and this year you can even learn how to draw Robert Burns! Explore below. New this year we have a fun set of printables and colouring pages for younger children, which you could combine to form a mini-project, folder or notebook.
Format for A Burns Supper
At a grand dinner, guests are piped in (by
bagpipes) to
take their places at the dining table. The guests are welcomed by the host, who
declares the celebrations open. The Selkirk Grace (see below) is read, and supper begins with a soup
course (often the Scottish favourite Cock-A-Leekie soup). Now the
haggis, a
traditional Scottish dish (not for the faint-hearted!) is piped in from the
kitchen while the guests stand and clap the haggis in. The host or an invited
guest reads Burn's famous poem, Address To A Haggis, cutting open the haggis
with a large knife when they reach the line "an cut you up wi' ready slight"!
The haggis is eaten with mashed tatties and neeps (potatoes and
turnip, swede or rutabaga.) Then there will be dessert (often sherry trifle) and
oatcakes and cheese.
After dinner there will be a toast to the Queen, and one of the guests will give
a short speech about Burns called "The Immortal Memory". A man makes a "Toast to
the Lassies" and a lady makes a toast in reply. Guests will take turns reading
Burns poems, singing Burns songs and possibly doing some Highland dancing! The
party will close with everyone singing Auld
Lang Syne (scroll down).
NB: Children should not browse video sharing sites unsupervised.
Ideas For Your Family Burns Night
Why not include the kids in your Burns Night celebrations, or hold a family
Burns Supper? We have lots of ideas for Burns Night activities for kids below,
as well as suggestions for food and printables to help your celebration go
smoothly!
Would you have liked to have met Robert Burns? What was he famous for? A fun worksheet for younger kids... Robert Burns worksheet - colour NEW! Robert Burns worksheet - black and white NEW!
Burns Night Printables
Something different! Print our step by step drawing tutorial and learn to draw the Scottish poet. Learn to draw Robert BurnsNEW!
A Robert Burns poster for younger kids, to put up in the classroom for Burns Night or perhaps to use as the front page of a Robert Burns project. Robert Burns posterNEW!
Perhaps kids could use our Robert Burns writing page for their own poetry, or for writing about the poet and the day on which we commemorate him... Robert Burns writing page - colour NEW! Robert Burns writing page - black and white NEW!
Decorate the house or table with the Scottish flag, try a Scottish flag jigsaw - or colour in some Scottish
flags. Make bunting! Print out a map of Scotland, or try your hand at some
acrostic poems with many different Scottish themes! St Andrew's Day printables
Write about Robert Burns and other famous Scots using our writing frames / notebooking paper or our foldable mini booklets... Famous Scots Notebooking Pages
This page (outside Activity Village)
will give you a translation of Address To A Haggis, as well as some extra information about the haggis and why Robert
Burns chose it as the subject of a poem.
"If I had my life to live over I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains." Erma Bombeck
"Whoever you are, there is some younger person who thinks you
are perfect. There is some work that will never be done if you
don't do it. There is someone who would miss you if you were
gone. There is a place that you alone can fill." Jacob M. Braude
