Robbie Burns Night at the Legion

Last night (January 26th) Jacquie and I went to Robbie Burns night at the Legion. We actually bought tickets for January 25th, however the entertainment Mr. David Francey got delayed in the airport in Ottawa and couldn't make it to Iqaluit until Saturday. Therefore they delayed the evening until Saturday night. The $55.00 tickets bought us a meal and some wonderful entertainment.

Robbie Burns day is traditionally celebrated on January 25th.
Robbie was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He was born on January 25, 1759 in Alloway Scotland and died July 21, 1796 in Dumfries Scotland. He was voted the most influential Scotsman ever born by the people of Scotland. He wrote close to 600 poems and songs in his lifetime. One of the songs that I didn't realize that he had created is Auld Lang Syne.

The event was full of tradition and ceremony. Firstly Scottish Pipers piped in the Haggis

The Pipers that Piped in the Haggis

Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish, considered the national dish of Scotland as a result of the Robert Burns poem "Address to a Haggis of 1787".

Haggis is a savory pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver and lungs) minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt, mixed with stock and traditionally encased in the animal's stomach and simmered for approximately three hours.

This is the Haggis that was piped in during the opening cerimonies.

The Mayor of Iqaluit John Graham, originally from Scotland was the master of Ceremonies for the event.

The Mayor of Iqaluit, John Graham, doing the Celebratory carving of the Haggis

Another interesting presentation during the evening was a recounting of Robert Burns life and some reading of his poetry by a very Gaelic Scottsman as shown below.

Admittedly, I only understood about every third word the gentleman said, however the presentation was interesting anyway with a certain amount of dramatic presentation to the reading.

We then had the awesome opportunity to eat the traditional "Robert Burns" day meal, which was haggis, turnup, potatoes, Scotch Egg (which is a hard boiled egg with pork around it in a breaded batter) and sherry filled trifle.

This was the second time I have had Haggis and although it seemed a little better than the first time, its not a dish I would go a long way out of my way to eat. Overall the meal was good. The Scotch eggs were amazing and the trifle excellent. ( I don't think it had anything to do with the fact that January is Jacquie an my non-drinking month and you could definetly taste the sherry)

The evening finished off with the fantastic music of David Francey. He is a Scottish Canadian that moved to Canada from Scotland in 1964. He currently resides in Perth Ontario. He played a mixture of his own music and Robbie Burns tunes. He has a beautiful voice and was accomanied by an acoustic guitar and mandolin.

Jacquie and I very much enjoyed the evening. It was only slightly dampened by the disco music and loud banging base coming from the main room in the legion. I really don't know why they couldn't turn the music down? Anyway, Jacquie and I had a wonderful time. The ceremonies were interesting, the food good and the entertainment exceptional.