Since 1835, the St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal has been celebrating all things Scottish. Traditionally on January 25, this has included the birthday of Robbie Burns, Scotland’s national poet. This year, with Burns Day falling on a Saturday, the Society combined the event with its sixth annual Great Canadian Kilt Skate, celebrating Scotland’s contribution to Canada with bare knees and ice.
Read MoreIn past years, Bryan Lyall organized a full Burns dinner for the Scottish Society of Ottawa (SSO), complete with remembering the Immortal Memory, toasts to Lassies and, of course, the Address to the haggis. This year, with Brian away on other responsibilities, we gathered for the fun and the fare at The Highlander Pub, where anyone wearing tartan gets a complementary dram.
Read MoreSo this weekend, let's feel for all the wee and slicket timorous beasties. Let's ponder how the best laid plans o' mice and men gang aft a-gley. Let's try to see ourselves as others see us. Let's acknowledge that that the finest hours that e'er we spend are spent among the lasses-o. Let's drink a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne. Let's be thankit because we hae meat and we can eat. Let's celebrate the man of independent mind who looks and laughs at a' that. Let's keep our hearts in the highlands, a-chasing the deer. Let's cherish our loves -- the red red roses, newly sprung in June. And let's admit that, had we never lov'd sae kindly, and had we never lov'd sae blindly, and never met—or never parted -- we had ne'er been broken-hearted.
Read MoreThis is the weekend where it is dangerous to be a "great chieftan o the puddin' race." Tonight around the world, Scots will honour the great national poet, Robbie Burns. One of the highlights of the evening will be the "Address to a Haggis" in which the knife is plunged into the poor beastie, "Trenching your gushing entrails bright."
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across canada, communities host kilt skates to celebrate scotland’s contribution to our multicultural fabric.
