Beloved Scottish poets life remembered

Times Reporter

 

The second annual Robbie Burns dinner put on by the Strathmore and Gleichen Masonic lodges will be taking place on Jan. 22. Many people celebrate the famous Scottish poet worldwide by holding a dinner on or near his birthday, with the first dinner taking place in 1802. 

“It happens all over the world, and not necessarily right on his birthday. Obviously people try to keep it around there,” said Kevin Keegan a member of the Strathmore Masonic lodge and one of the organizers. 

Robbie Burns’ birthday was January 25, 1759. Due to the number of dinners being held in his honour they are spread throughout the month of January. Burns was a poet and lyricist. One of his poems Auld Lang Syne, is still often sung on New Years Eve.  

The format for the dinner has always stayed the same, and here in Strathmore, Keegan said, dinner is also done the traditional way. 

“If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to get somebody with a good Scottish accent to do the address to the haggis, and then we celebrate dinner,” said Keegan. 

“In our program we put both what it says in brogue, as well as in English, it’s quite long.” 

The basic format of the dinner begins with a welcome and announcements, followed by the Selkirk Grace. After the grace is a bagpiper, and the cutting of the haggis where Burns’ ‘Address to a Haggis’ is read and the haggis is cut open. Last year women from the Anglican Church prepared dinner, and will once again prepare it this year. 

“They did it last year and they did a great job for us,” said Keegan. 

While the tradition has been running strong for many, many years, Keegan said it’s only new to the Gleichen and Strathmore lodges because they didn’t feel they were big enough to host such an event. 

“We’re just trying to make ourselves known in the community, and we are trying to support the community,” said Keegan. 

“All the proceeds from these dinners that we have all go back into charity.” 

It has not been determined yet which charity the funds will be donated to. Keegan said there will be as much entertainment as they can muster up. So far there will be singers from the Burns Club in Calgary, a Scottish dancer, and so much more. Feedback from the guests last year has given the members ideas on what they could improve on this year. They hope it will get better and grow every year. Keegan said they would like to grow slowly and properly over time. Last year 150 tickets were printed off for the dinner, which sold out. This year there have been some extra tickets printed up, but they are still going fairly quickly. The dinner takes place Jan. 22 and tickets are $25. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call Kevin at 403-934-3401 or Glen at 403-901-6038.