Celebrate Burns Night at Ulster Folk Museum

A night to celebrate the life and work of Scotland’s most famous poet Rabbie Burns (1759-1796), author of such classic poems as ‘A Red, Red Rose’, ‘A Man's a Man for A' That’, ‘To a Mouse’, ‘The Battle of Sherramuir’, ‘Tam o' Shanter’ and ‘Ae Fond Kiss’ will be held at the Ulster Folk Museum, Holywood on Saturday January 28. Burns is of course celebrately annually on ‘Burns Night’ (traditionally January 25 with a few drams of whiskey, haggis and recitals and is an important purveyor of the Ulster Scots dialect). Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them and his poem (and song) ‘Auld Lang Syne’ is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), while ‘Scots Wha Hae’ served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country.

Recognised the world over, Burns' poetry focuses on love and nature with a touch of good old fashioned Scottish humour. Throughout the day, as part of general admission to the museum, on Saturday January 28, enjoy poetry readings in the ambient surroundings of the exhibition houses, try traditional 'neeps and tatties' (the 'neeps' means swede or turnip and the 'tatties' refer to potatoes and traditionally they're served mashed separately alongside haggis, although some recipes suggest mashing them together with some butter, salt and pepper) cooked on the griddle over an open fire, and visit the town school to take a lesson in Ulster Scots. Opening hours are from 11am until 4pm. For more information visit www.ulsterfolkmuseum.org.

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