Today is Robert Burns Day!

Janice Tovey
2 min readJan 25, 2022

Who the heck is Robert Burns?

Photo by Jack Anstey on Unsplash

Today is January 25th in Scotland. Well everywhere in fact. But not every country has the opportunity to celebrate the life and times of a famous poet and lyricist.

Scottish people all over the world are celebrating the life and cultural legacy some 263 years later of Robert Burns.

Robert Burns, also known as Rabbie Burns was born on this day in 1759. He is also known by the National Bard, Bard of Ayrshire, the Ploughman Poet and various other names and epithets.

Some of his famous poems are: A Red, Red, Rose, Tam O’ Shanter and the famous Address to a Haggis.

Photo by Ergita Sela on Unsplash

The annual tradition of a celebratory dinner started 5 years after his death. A bunch of his devoted friends made the decision to host a dinner in honor of their good friend. This annual tradition spread like wild fire and it is more widely celebrated than St. Andrew’s Day, Scotland’s Official National Observance.

The night involves plenty of speeches, Burns Poetry and recitals. And of course numerous toasts with drams of Scotland’s finest golden elixir.

--

--

Janice Tovey

My passion is writing. I also love reading, teaching, animals, nature, music, and humor. I am curious about everything and enjoy writing about all things.