January 25th marks the celebration of Burns’ Night in Scotland. The evening commemorates the birth of Robert Burns, who was born 25 January 1759, and who was a famous Scottish poet. Traditionally, the night is a formal event (women wear dresses; men wear kilts) consisting of a full supper: potato soup, haggis, neeps and tatties, whiskey, and more. Burns’ poetry is also read, and it usually ends with a celidh (a Scottish folk dance). The student union hosted a Burns’ Night tonight. It was definitely formal, and they served haggis, neeps, and tatties (I had the vegetarian variety… I can’t bring myself to eat real haggis). Then we went up to the celidh! It was so much fun! The dances were pretty difficult, so I only tried to learn a couple of them, but I’m so glad I went. It was definitely a “Wow! I’m in Scotland!” night. Here are some pictures:
![Haggis [vegetarian] is the brown stuff, "Neeps" (turnips) are orange, and "Tatties" (potatoes) are white. Yum!](http://blogs.pugetsound.edu/studyingabroad/files/2010/01/IMG_5724-300x225.jpg)
Haggis (the vegetarian variety) is the brown stuff; “neeps” (turnip mash) is orange; and “tatties” (potato mash) is white. Yum!!
Two pictures of ceilidh dancing… Notice the guys wearing the kilts!