The birth of Scottish poet Robert Burns was celebrated Fort St. James style on January 25 with poetry, some Scotch whiskey and dancing.
Music on the Mountain Society hosted a night in honour of the famed Scottish poet and lyricist at the Fort St. James branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.
The night was kicked off by the presentation of the poem Address to a Haggis in the Scottish dialect by Lionel Conant in his traditional kilt.
Haggis is a traditional dish which nowadays may sound more like the subject of a dare because it is made of sheep heart, liver and lungs made into a sausage or liverwurst-like pudding with spices, oatmeal and onion and then simmered in a sausage casing (the original way would have been to encase it in the animal’s stomach) for a number of hours.
The old-fashioned dish is associated with the poet after Burns wrote the Address to a Haggis in 1787.
After the requisite poem recitation, a meal of roast beef, haggis, “neeps and tatties” (turnips and potatoes), and salad was served for the event.
Once the dinner was done, Prince George musicians Raghu Lokanathan and Scott Dunbar performed for the crowd.
It didn’t take long for the dance floor to fill and the night was a testament to the spirit of Robbie Burns, may his poetry live on.
