The 2020 edition of the annual celebration took place on the evening of Saturday, Jan. 25 at Timothy Eaton Gardens, drawing a full house for a night of fun and memories and music, all with the taste of Scotland that the whole evening is about.
And making things all the more impressive this year was the number of attendees: a total of 110 tickets were printed for the event and all were sold, giving the event it’s first sell out in several years.
“We tried to promote it a bit more this year and people really responded so we’re really happy with that,” said event organizer Don Mitchell. “And there are quite a few younger people here, too, so it’s nice to see the new generation coming out.”
Burns is the 18th century poet, songwriter and political commentator known around the world for his prose, which included works such as ‘Auld Lang Syne’, ‘Tam o’ Shanter and ‘Scots Wha Hae’ among his hundreds of famous pieces.
More importantly, Burns is a national hero in Scotland and has come to represent all that the country is about, with his influence growing throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. He was chosen as the greatest Scot in the television poll in 2009.
“He was a songwriter and poet and was really into politics in his time,” Mitchell said. “There was a lot happening with the French Revolution, colonization, slavery was still a big thing and he was anti-slavery. Then there was the relationship with the English and the aristocracy and parliament being taken from them. He was critical of all that happening and the church, and he became more and more popular as time went on.”
Of course, a major part of any Robbie Burns Night is the haggis. A pudding made with sheep’s heart, liver and lungs mixed with oatmeal and spices and traditionally cooked in a sheep’s stomach, haggis has a stuffing-like quality but only far denser and with a unique meaty taste.
“The closest equivalent here would be something like oatmeal porridge, haggis was a basic staple for people from the highlands,” Mitchell said of the North American delicacy, which was prepared by Lisa McCormick for the Moose Jaw evening. “It was kind of a mixture of grain and meat and sausage, it’s been around since the 1400s.”
The haggis is treated with reverence by Robbie Burns Night patrons, with the local meal piped in by bagpiper Michelle Gallagher and carried by Andrew Gallagher. A native of Scotland himself, Gallagher also delivered an entertaining Toast to the Haggis.
St. Andrew’s United Church pastor Jim Tenford delivered the Toast to the Bard to kick off the run of traditional toasts that take place every Robbie Burns Night.
One thing that was touched on throughout the evening was Burns’ love of the fairer sex. That was naturally touched on in the Toast to the Lassies – delivered in traditional ribald fashion by Wayne Mitchell – and the Reply from the Lassies – given with slightly less ribaldry by Shelly Jones.
The evening included performances by the Moose Jaw Scottish Dancers as well as Desperate for Haggis.
