Burns Night

Burns Night

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Finally a Saturday to ourselves...well kind of.  The morning and afternoon were ours to enjoy, but then in the evening we were invited to attend the Burns supper that was being held at the castle.  To be honest I wasn't looking forward to this at first, and was kind of worried about haggis, as people told me what it was.

What is Burns Supper/Night you may ask?  Well Burns supper is a night in which people come together to celebrate the life and poetry of the Scottish poet Robert Burns.  Although this supper was not held on the traditional date, January 25, the birthday of the poet, it was still quite the celebration. 

And as far as the haggis, what is that exactly?  Well trust me once I describe it, you will have the same initial reaction that I had...it sounds terrible!  Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish containing the sheep's pluck, or as we know, the heart, liver, and lungs, mixed with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, stock and then simmered in the animals stomach for 3 hours.  It is more commonly described as a type of sausage which is cooked in the casing of the sheep's intestine, like most sausages are prepared.  I know, I know, you're disgusted right?! I will explain how it actually tastes in a bit...

Us students plus some homestays and people from the town of Alnwick came dressed up to help celebrate this event at the castle.  (Some people even showed up in kilts!)  We entered into the big dining hall in the castle and sat down while some Scottish music was being played.  We found our seats and looked over the menu which described our dinner.  I'm going to be honest with you, I started to regret my decision of agreeing to eat the haggis. 

My table mates : Liz, Sarah, Rachael, Larissa, and Zeb

Mike and Manuell

Liz and I

The students at my table and I all were talking about what to expect from the dinner when we were brought shots of Scottish Whiskey and told not to drink it till advised.  Gross, whiskey and I=not too good of friends, one more thing for me to worry about.  However I didn't get too much time to sit and worry about the shot, as a man came to the front of the room and started reciting some of Robert Burns's poetry.  At the end of the poem, we all raised our shots of whiskey and cheers and took it.  I've got to be honest, not so bad, but definitely not my favorite!  And with that, I had one of my worries out of the way, now time for the haggis...

Our dinner came out in 3 courses, the first a type of dumpling soup which was very delicious.  So far so good, then...it arrived. 


Oh haggis, you have such a bad reputation!


My haggis came out and to my surprised it didn't look to bad, possibly because our meal consisted of the haggis being stuffed inside of a chicken breast.  Here was the moment of truth..time to cut open the chicken and dig into some haggis.  Scary!  As I took my first bite was was thoroughly shocked.  The haggis tasted like stuffing.  No really, it was good!  I didn't mind it at all.  I was all worried about nothing, of course I still don't want to think about what it is made of, and there is no way I'd just eat it by itself, but it accompanied the chicken very nicely!  After dinner came dessert, and it was some fresh fruit and cheesecake.  So yummy.  Overall, the actually Burns supper was pretty good!



Liz, Sarah, and Rachael enjoying Burns Night



Cheers! We survived haggis!

After dinner came the fun part.  Time to try some traditional Scottish dances.  The dance floor became packed with all the guests who were ready to have some fun and let loose.  Some of the dances were really easy, but then some of them were definitely a struggle to pick up.  They gave out the instructions so quickly that you had to listen, or move out of the way once the music started.  I chose to follow people in front of me so it looked like I knew what was going on.  Slowly but surely, I picked up some Scottish dance moves and I blended in nicely! The dancing had to have been the entire part of the whole evening.  It was nice interacting with the others from the town.  Overall, Burns night was a success and I was glad I had the opportunity to experience it!



My roommate Sarah and I